Given their passionate intensity, anti-vaxxers must be finding this week's ruling by the Ontario Human Rights Commission deeply galling. The long and short of it: they are not so special.
People who choose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine due to personal preferences or “singular beliefs” do not have a right to accommodations under Ontario’s human rights law, the province’s rights watchdog says.
While human rights law prohibits discrimination based on creed — someone’s religion, or a non-religious belief system that shapes their identity, world view and way of life — personal preferences or singular beliefs do not amount to a creed, the commission said, adding it “is not aware of any tribunal or court decision that found a singular belief against vaccinations or masks amounted to a creed within the meaning of the Code.”
Furthermore, even if someone can show they have been denied service or employment over their creed, “the duty to accommodate does not necessarily require they be exempted from vaccine mandates, certification or COVID testing requirements,” the commission said. “The duty to accommodate can be limited if it would significantly compromise health and safety amounting to undue hardship — such as during a pandemic.”
It is a setback for the truly fervid, those who have made it quite clear that they don't give a damn about anyone but themselves in this pandemic. But I have no doubt that they will continue their senseless crusade, even if it requires finding doctors with no integrity or falsifying vaccine certificates.
Consider this miscreant, Dr. Christopher Hassell:
Ministry of Health spokesperson David Jensen said Health Minister Christine Elliott is aware of the incident and ministry officials alerted the registrar of the province’s college of physicians. Jensen said if the allegations are true, it is a “serious offence and we expect the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to conduct a full review.”
Medical exemptions must align with definitions and parameters outlined in the ministry’s guidance, he said, adding it is an act of professional misconduct to sign or issue documents that are false or misleading. Potential sanctions range from fines to the revocation of a physician’s certification of registration, he said.
Investigations, as they say, are ongoing.
Then there is the avenue of fake vaccination certificates.
"There are no security features present on these documents. These documents are basically PDF documents," said Dr. Shabnam Preet Kaur, a forensic document examiner with Docufraud Canada, a Toronto-based company.
Kaur said different kinds of software can be used to manipulate PDFs. "It only take five minutes to make changes," she added.
There is no doubt that the most fanatical of the anti-vaxxers will resort to any ruse available to thwart the existing system. All the more reason that this profoundly selfish and willfully ignorant cadre of miscreants has my deep, abiding contempt.
