Lawyer Testifies That Canadian Military Doctors Were Told Not to Report Vaccine Injuries

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces march in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

Following the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) doctors were told not to report serious adverse vaccine reactions, according to a lawyer for Canadian veterans.

“I have military doctors who provided sworn evidence that they were told not to report vaccine injuries, or if they asked how [to report] they were told, ‘just be quiet,’” Catherine Christensen, founder of Valour Law and Valour Legal Action Centre for military law, testified at the National Citizen’s Inquiry (NCI) hearing in Red Deer, Alberta, on April 26.

“They were told to diagnose them as other things, such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome [GBS], when young men were collapsing in the shower after injections. ... They were vaccine injured.”

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), GBS is a rare neurological disorder that causes the immune system to damage nerve cells, and “a small number of people” have developed GBS after receiving the COVID-19 viral vector vaccine, by AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson.

Christensen, who represents 360 soldiers affected by the CAF vaccine mandate, spoke about the impacts of the mandate. The NCI is examining how the pandemic measures put in place by all levels of government impacted Canadians in the categories of health, fundamental rights and freedoms, social well-being, and economic prosperity.

Christensen—who provided the NCI with a 1,226-page legal brief that included 19 affidavits from military members allegedly harmed by the COVID vaccination policy—said she believed the CAF purposely did not track vaccine injuries.

“They would have very quickly shown what was happening to an 18-to-45 [age] group that were the most affected by vaccine injuries. That showed up really quickly,” she said.

Christensen’s brief contains a sworn affidavit of a medical doctor with the rank of captain in the CAF, who said he was discouraged from attempting to report vaccine-related injuries. “I believe the CAF was not tracking the number and type of vaccine-related injuries for the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.

Christensen also said she believed the CAF failed to categorize all COVID vaccine injuries because she has “more people in my files with vaccine injuries than are officially listed as vaccine-injured.”

On the first day of the NCI, on March 16, Dr. Patrick Phillips also testified that he experienced barriers to reporting vaccine injuries. The Ontario physician said he filled out a total of 10 Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Reporting forms, but all except one were rejected. It was for a woman who experienced a light rash post-vaccination.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of National Defence but didn’t immediately hear back.

CAF Data

According to a response to an Inquiry of Ministry released by the federal government on April 17, “A total of 375,000 COVID-19 vaccines [doses] have been administered to CAF members with 0.09 percent reporting an adverse effect of some kind following their first, second or booster dose(s). The majority of these reported adverse effects were minor and self-resolving in nature.”

In addition, of the total number of CAF reported adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination between Jan. 7, 2021, and Feb. 1, 2023, 316 were considered non-serious while 26 were categorized as serious. Of those 26 cases, 9 were classified as myocarditis or pericarditis.

Christensen said she believes there are thousands of CAF members who were permanently damaged by the COVID vaccines.

“And what happens to those who followed the orders and took the injections and are now permanently disabled? Veterans Affairs Canada [VAC] is telling them no, not service-related,” she said. “Once again, veterans will face a procedural system that fails them or forces them to go to court for deserved compensation.”

VAC spokesperson Marc Lescoutre told The Epoch Times by email that veterans who are ill or injured as a result of their military service are encouraged to contact the department for assistance.

“VAC provides support to Veterans with a service-related condition,” he wrote. “However, every situation is unique, and we work with Veterans on a case-by-case basis.”

CAF Members’ Testimonials

During her testimony, Christensen highlighted the testimonials of over a dozen CAF members who were negatively impacted by COVID vaccines and vaccine mandates. “How do I even begin to explain the human cost of COVID-19 mandates on people and families of the Canadian Armed Forces?” she asked.

“Do I talk about a young soldier made to stand in the bitter cold of a Canadian winter for three months while his fellow troops taunted him? Do I talk about pregnant women in uniform hounded in their homes and charged with AWOL [absent without leave] after being hospitalized, even while the leadership had a policy to not vaccinate a pregnant member with any vaccine?” she said.

“Do I talk about young healthy people wanting nothing more than to serve their country being driven out and told they were morally weak and no better than alcoholics? ... Do I talk about the young women who have been sexually assaulted but stayed in uniform only to find senior leadership forcing them into yet another physical assault?”

Christensen said the list “goes on” of service members who had been harmed by the CAF’s vaccine policy and then silenced, “until today.”

“Canada needs to know that the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces did not let Canada down. All they wanted was to serve in order to protect the freedom and rights that Canadians hold dear and their predecessors fought for in the past. The blame lies in the current leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces.”