Canadian Academics for Covid Ethics

Canadian Academics for Covid Ethics (CA4CE) is a group of researchers and scholars from fields spanning the natural and social sciences and humanities. We are greatly concerned about the mismanagement of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic response in Canada and around the world. We are publicly funded experts trained in thinking through problems, integrating knowledge, and sharing our findings in written and spoken form. Therefore, it is our duty to raise these concerns.

Please note that the following publications and media appearances do not necessarily represent CA4CE-wide consensus and should always be attributed to the named author(s) or speaker(s).

Completed Group Publications

• Post-secondary COVID-19 policies in Canada must end. Troy Media, 27 September 2022. In this commentary, we reiterate the ineffectiveness and outright absurdity of the "health & safety" policies for COVID-19 on Canadian post-secondary campuses. We extend the argument of the preceding open letter to mask mandates and natural immunity. References for scientific claims made include articles in Nature, Environmental Research and Public Health, and the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, which are available upon request.
• Re: Post-secondary COVID-19 vaccination policies in Canada must end now. Open letter, 27 August 2022. Letter to our faculty colleagues, campus unions, and college and university administrators reminding them of worker rights to decline coerced medical treatments as well as updated public health recommendations that make campus COVID-19 vaccination policies unfounded and irrational. For references, see Vaccination mandates on post-secondary campuses have run their course and must never return and Dr. Moore's press conferences.
• COVID-19 vaccination policies at post-secondary institutions in Ontario. Open letter, 9 February 2022. Letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, copied to Ministers Dunlop (Colleges and Universities) and Elliott (Health) and Drs. Moore (Chief Medical Officer of Health) and Gardner (Chair, Council of Ontario MOHs), requesting the immediate removal of campus vaccination policies in light of recent acknowledgements that the COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent virus transmission.
• Another year of chaos at Ontario’s universities and colleges. Troy Media, 23 December 2021. In this article, we discuss the futile attempts at the province's higher-education institutions to return to a "normal" winter 2022 semester. We are concerned about the push for total vaccination of students and the impact of campus mandates on employees like ourselves.
• Five facts all parents should know about the mRNA vaccines. Troy Media, 24 November 2021. In this article, we remind parents that the available mRNA injections are experimental, genetic-based therapeutics not comparable to traditional childhood vaccines; that the under-powered safety trials were not designed to detect serious side effects such as myocarditis; and that children are at statistically zero risk from COVID-19. Therefore, applying an oft-cited "abundance of caution", we should not be vaccinating children, youth, or any other sensitive group.
• Hands off our children! Open letter, 6 November 2021. Letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford emphasizing the unfavourable benefit-risk ratio of COVID-19 "vaccines" for children, the minimal contribution of young people to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and the existence of safe and effective drugs---written in response to a recent science brief by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table titled "Behavioural Science-Informed Strategies for Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Children and Youth".
• Mandatory experimental shots – Canadians are being tricked, not treated. TrialSiteNews, opinion article, 1 November 2021. Commentary on the experimental nature, unproven safety, and failing efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, co-authored with members of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance. Full text also available here.
• Response: COVID-19 vaccine mandates for Ontario's hospital workers. United Health Care Workers of Ontario, 28 October 2021. Open letter to Premier Doug Ford providing scientific evidence supporting the right of health care workers to make an informed decision about their own health.
• The problems with The Canadian Press - and those who spread its message. Exclusive to OpEdNews, 15 October 2021. Rebuttal of a Canadian Press article that perpetuates misinformation about early treatment options for COVID-19 and uncritically reports on the silencing of an independent physician.
• COVID Policies and Universities. Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, Newsletter No. 90, 10 October 2021. Special issue containing several contributions by CA4CE members.
• The Mandates, Restrictions and Propaganda: The Death Knell of Universities? Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization, 7 October 2021. Polemic arising from a group email thread about the failure of academics, faculty associations, and university leadership to support critical dialogue about the mishandling of the corona crisis.
• The Greater Toronto Declaration. Petition, 5 October 2021. We ask governments and public health officials to re-focus the global pandemic response on medical treatment options for the ill, encourage broader scientific and public discourse, and restore all suspended democratic processes and civil liberties.
• Vaccine concerns weighed against natural immunity. Ontario Civil Liberties Association, 21 September 2021. Informational summary of the state-of-the-science on natural immunity against COVID-19 compared to the limited protection from the vaccines, written for a lay audience.
• Open Letter to Public Health Officers. Ontario Civil Liberties Association, 13 September 2021. Call for the resignation of all medical officers of health in Ontario, due to their unfounded, ill-advised, and unconstitutional emergency orders.
• A Letter to the Vaccinated. Ontario Civil Liberties Association, 30 August 2021. Open letter denouncing the transient nature of 'fully vaccinated' status and the growing rift in society.
• No, COVID-19 vaccine passports and mandatory vaccination do not 'protect the health and safety of Canadians'. Running title "Mandatory vaccination for COVID has no rational basis". Toronto Sun, 24 August 2021. Op-ed about the flawed logic of vaccine mandates given unproven impact on transmission, plus disregard for natural immunity after recovery.
• A Letter to the Unvaccinated. Ontario Civil Liberties Association, 2 August 2021. Open letter supporting the vaccine-hesitant in their decision.
• It's time to follow the scientific method -- and re-evaluate Canada's COVID approach. Toronto Sun, 28 June 2021. Op-ed calling for updated science and risk/benefit analysis.

Media Appearances Related to CA4CE

• Drs. Julien Beillard, Jeff Graham, and Claus Rinner on The Amity Project Podcast with Curtis Heinen (multiple video snippets extracted from each interview, ca. 20 June to 25 July 2022).
• Dr. Jeff Graham on the The Richard Syrett Show, News Talk Sauga 960 AM, 1 April 2022 (starting at 0:47:00 into the recording).
• Dr. Daphene Francis in an Interview with Pastor Michael Thiessen, Liberty Coalition Canada, published 15 December 2021.
• Dr. Claus Rinner in an Interview with Pastor Michael Thiessen, Liberty Coalition Canada, published 10 November 2021.
• Dr. Claus Rinner on the The Richard Syrett Show, News Talk Sauga 960 AM, 3 November 2021 (starting at 0:12:30 into the recording).
• Dr. Claudia Chaufan in Covid: la guerra de la tiranía sanitaria contra la ivermectina y otros tratamientos, interview with La Prensa, Argentina, 26 September 2021 (Spanish).
• Dr. Anton de Ruiter on the The Richard Syrett Show, News Talk Sauga 960 AM, 14 September 2021 (starting at 1:02:00 into the recording).
• Drs. Angela Durante and Laurent Leduc in an Interview with Pastor Michael Thiessen, Liberty Coalition Canada, published 8 September 2021.
• Dr. Angela Durante on the The Richard Syrett Show, News Talk Sauga 960 AM, 2 September 2021 (starting at 1:00:00 into the recording).
• Dr. Claus Rinner in Carta de académicos a los no vacunados, interview with La Prensa, Argentina, 15 August 2021 (Spanish). Translated to English by People News Chronicle, 18 August 2021.

Seminal Essays, Letters, and Media Appearances by Other Canadian Academics

• Canada's freedom truckers inspire (some) academics to write in solidarity and support. The Toronto Moon, 4 February 2022.
• Academics Breaking the COVID Spell by Dr. Douglas Farrow, The Epoch Times, 26 November 2021.
• Why vaccine mandates are in legal trouble by Drs. Dionne Pohler and Rafael Gomez, The Line, 23 November 2021.
• Till We Have Faces: An Analysis of COVID-19 and Public Policy by Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh, Canadian Covid Care Alliance, 22 November 2021.
• Vaccine Mandates: Civil Liberties Trampled by a Panicked Mob by Dr. William McNally, C2C Journal, 8 November 2021.

• Letter to University of Toronto President Dr. Meric Gertler by Betty's Law, Counsel for Justice and Equity, regarding a group application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario about breaches of basic rights in the context of the university's vaccination mandate. See also March 21, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE: The University of Toronto continues to breach the rights of staff, faculty and students under the Ontario Human Rights Act as well as LifeSite News' report University of Toronto drops vaccine mandate after being hit with human rights complaint, The Epoch Times article University of Toronto Drops Vaccine Mandate After Staff, Students File Human Rights Complaint, and a mention in the National Post's commentary Canadians divided better than creepy conformity.

• Data scientist files internal appeal of Bank of Canada’s mandatory vaccination policy by Dr. Joseph Hickey (via Ontario Civil Liberties Association).
• Open letter to UW officials: Repeal the COVID vaccination and testing mandates by University of Waterloo professors Michael Palmer, Edward R. Vrscay, Richard Mann, Wayne Oldford, Samuel WK Wong, and Xiaosong Wang along with numerous University of Waterloo staff members, students, student parents, and alumni.
  See also other University of Waterloo correspondence and updates.
• Open Letter Regarding University Vaccination and Testing Mandates by University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University professors Daniel Smilek, David M. Haskell, William J. McNally, and Nikolai Kovalev (via Ontario Civil Liberties Association)
• A Plea Not to Deregister Laurier Students by Dr. David Haskell (via Ontario Civil Liberties Association)
• Open letter to the president of the University of Guelph by Dr. Byram Bridle (via Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms)
• Re: McMaster’s Vaccination Policy...A Good Faith Letter in Defense of Research Ethics and Human Dignity by Dr. Philip Britz-McKibbin (via Doctors for COVID Ethics)
• Letter to Ryerson regarding my rights by Dr. Paul Bali (scroll for letter or find PDF here)
• Request for accommodation with respect to the Bank of Canada’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy by Dr. Joseph Hickey (via Ontario Civil Liberties Association)
• RE: Mandatory mRNA vaccine mandate for Alberta physicians by Dr. Eric Payne (via Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms)
• Vaccine Mandates are the Rehearsal, the Future will be Worse by Dr. David Millard Haskell, professor of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University. Published 27 November 2021. Prof. Haskell is shown speaking at an event for students resisting coercion under campus vaccination policies across Ontario.
• Valentina Capurri: Canada imposing vaccine to 'protect' people will let her die without MS meds. Interview by Eva K. Bartlett, 16 October 2021.
• Ethics 101 - A Lesson in Courage and Integrity by Dr. Julie Ponesse, professor of ethics at Huron College, Western University. Published by Canadian Covid Care Alliance, 7 September 2021. Prof. Ponesse received her letter of termination a few days later, just before the start of an interview with Bright Light News, and continues to fight unethical vaccine mandates, e.g. in a recent speech at the Brownstone Institute.
• Hatred towards the unvaccinated is a result of continuing misinformation in the media about what COVID-19 vaccines can and cannot achieve by Drs. Steven Pelech, Julie Ponesse, and Claus Rinner on behalf of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, 30 August 2021. Letter to the editor of the Toronto Star in response to hate speech against unvaccinated Canadians published on the newspaper's front page.

Contact Information

Our group is growing organically. Canadian academics with doctorates in any field, please contact one of the signatories of our recent publications and ask them for the subscription link to our mailing list and a recommendation to the list admin.