In January 2022, the City of Windsor Ontario fired 104 employees for refusing to be vaccinated or refusing to disclose their status. Of these, 20 have moved forward to pursue legal action against the city, with a list of plaintiffs that includes first responders, long-term care staff and a variety of other office and technical roles.

The statement of claim, filed by Courtney Betty, outlines the ways in which the city has breached sections 1, 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also points out, “the Gov. of Ontario has never issued any mandate or direction requiring that all unvaccinated employees be laid off, terminated or denied benefits to which they were otherwise entitled.”

Mayor Drew Dilkens announced January 4th that “in keeping with public health measures announced yesterday…we have returned to a work-from-home scenario for the majority of our employees…”. He then simultaneously fired the Plaintiffs, denying them the opportunity to earn their livelihood or work from home.

Just over 1 month later, Premier Doug Ford announced that the province would be ending their COVID-19 vaccine passport on March 1 and declared that Ontario would lift all proof of vaccination requirements for all settings at the same time.

Perhaps most egregious, these individuals were denied access to the benefits earned prior to being placed on leave, including medical benefits, pensions, banked time, floating holidays, vacation days and sick leave, effectively compounding their suffering by erasing all benefits accrued in ‘good standings’ by each employee. These purely punitive acts, to which Courtney Betty argues, serve the purpose of creating an identifiable group of the ‘unvaccinated’ for the sole purpose of willful discrimination. Betty correctly describes their actions as Ultra Vires (beyond the scope of their authority to perform).

Several reports released by legacy media have sought the opinions of lawyers, not associated with the case, to prejudice the reader, having us believe that these lawsuits have little chance of success. These are opinions, and far from the truth. The truth is that the Charter remains the highest law of our land. Case law has yet to be fully established in this context and it will be for the courts to decide. We have already heard judgements where our Charter rights have been upheld, and we hope to see many more in the months to come.

We stand with our Charter, now and always.

To read the Statement of Claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by City of Windsor employees, click here 

To read the CTV News Article regarding this matter, click here