BC Judge to Decide If Class-Action Lawsuit Against Pandemic Health Orders Will Proceed

Signage for a COVID-19 screening centre is pictured at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C. Feb.19, 2021. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

A hearing was held last week in British Columbia to obtain court approval for a class-action lawsuit against the province and chief public health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

A court has to certify the proposed class-action lawsuit, brought by the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy (CSASPP), a B.C. not-for-profit organization before it can proceed. The legal action is being funded by ongoing donations and the individuals working with the society are volunteers.

The legal action challenges various public health orders and restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 endemic, and names Henry as a defendant. If the action is certified as a class action, the trial is scheduled to take place in April 2023.

Dr. Bonnie Henry leaves the podium after talking about the next steps in B.C.'s COVID-19 Immunization Plan during a press conference at Legislature in Victoria, B.C., Canada, on Jan. 22, 2021. Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press

“The [Public Health Act] orders do not discriminate between the sick and the healthy, collectively punishing a whole group. The reality is that either all or some of the ministerial orders were not necessary to ‘prevent, respond or alleviate’ the effects of COVID-19 to the population of British Columbia,” the filed claim states.

Justice David Crerar is hearing evidence to determine if the case is suitable to proceed as a class action with a representative claimant, under the province’s Class Proceedings Act. The judge told the court he plans to “truly remain open-minded” and has avoided other COVID-related cases.

For five days last week, Justice Crerar heard submissions.

CSASPP made an application for the court proceeding footage to be published and the judge agreed it was a matter of public interest, although there was some dispute between the government and the organization over the logistics of where the recordings could be placed online.

The lawyer for CSASPP in the case, Polina Furtula, suggested that if certified, the class action would have three subclasses: 328,000 people who had medical procedures delayed or cancelled, 376,752 who did not receive two COVID shots and were not given exemptions, and 37,000 people who declined COVID vaccination based on religious beliefs.

Furtula brought forward comments from a Sept. 20, 2021, staff forum when Vancouver Coastal Health’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Patricia Daly, said vaccine passports are not intended to prevent transmission. Furtula addressed other incidents where health experts had contradicted government policy.

‘Grave Harm’

If CSASPP achieves certification, Furtula says the society will seek both a lump sum as well as damage costs for individuals, which may result in up to three million claims.

The group wants a lump sum payment for the alleged breach of Charter rights by the province’s health orders, and for any individual damages allegedly suffered by individuals who join the class action.

The group’s claim, first filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. on Jan 26, 2021, alleges the provincial government “invoked extraordinary executive powers predicated on unsubstantiated scientific and legal grounds with catastrophic consequences.”

The lawsuit notes that the “emergency” response by B.C. closed larger sections of the economy, “prohibiting attendance at restaurants, fitness facilities, shopping centres, religious and other peaceful gatherings,” plus resulted in travel bans and cancelled medical treatments.

“We initiated our campaign to attempt to correct a wrong which caused, and continues to cause, grave harm to millions,” Kip Warner, executive director of CSASPP, told The Epoch Times.

This is not the first lawsuit brought by CSASPP. They also filed a legal action on behalf of health-care workers who lost their jobs for not complying with mandatory COVID vaccination policies, as well as legal action against vaccine passports, which they lost at a lower court and have since appealed.

Emily Lapper, the lawyer representing the B.C. government told the court on Dec. 16 that the case should be dismissed because CSASPP has advanced other cases and it is an “abuse of process.” She said the standard has not been met for the case to proceed to a trial.

A spokesperson for B.C. Health did not respond to questions on the case by press time.