Opening Statements
Day 1 · September 8, 2026 · 0:19:03
Key points Inquiry counsel opens by thanking vaccine-injured Canadians for testifying and states the four-day focus is listening to those reporting serious injuries following COVID-19 vaccination. A speaker cites federal figures of over 59,000 adverse event reports, including over 11,000 classified as serious, and questions how many injuries went unrecorded. The opening references Dr. Charles Hoffe, who reportedly submitted over 14 vaccine injury reports that were all rejected or dismissed as coincidence. Regarding compensation, the speaker notes the Vaccine Injury Support Program received about 3,500 claims but approved only 252, paying roughly $21.5 million. Inquiry Counsel Shawn Buckley says MPs, doctors, and CBC journalists feel unable to publicly discuss vaccine injury, and that some witnesses withdrew under family pressure. Buckley describes witnesses in wheelchairs, on dialysis, and with feeding tubes, saying many told him the hardest part was not being heard. Buckley promises viewers who watch all four days will be changed, framing listening as the first step to rebuilding trust in the health system.
MP Dean Allison
0:00 To each of you, thank you for trusting us with your story. 0:04 We know we cannot hear from everyone during these four days, but that does not mean your experience is any less important. 0:10 We still want to hear your story, and we will continue collecting and documenting these experiences. 0:16 Over the next four days, our primary focus will be listening to Canadians who reported serious injuries following COVID-19 vaccination. 0:25 We'll hear what happened to them, how their lives and families have been affected, 0:29 and what happened when they sought medical care, answers, recognition, and compensation. 0:36 And the federal government's own numbers provide important context. 0:41 Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada's COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Report 0:46 recorded over 59,000 adverse event reports following COVID-19 vaccination, including over 11,000 reports classified as serious. 0:58 But even those numbers may not tell us the whole story because one of the questions we need to examine is how difficult it was for some doctors and patients to have suspected vaccine injuries formally reported and recognized. 1:14 At her August 13th press conference, Dr. Charles Hoff, a family physician who served patients in and around Lytton, British Columbia for decades, described his own experience. 1:26 Dr. Hoff told us that after caring for many of these patients for 28 years, he began seeing serious medical problems following vaccination that he believed that needed to be reported. 1:38 He said that ultimately he submitted over 14 vaccine injury reports to provincial public health authorities. 1:47 And according to Dr. Hoff, every one of those 14 reports were rejected or dismissed as coincidence. 1:54 A physician who had known many of his patients for nearly three decades. 2:00 believed he was seeing serious safety signals, attempted to report them to the system, and he says he repeatedly encountered barriers to having those cases recognized. 2:12 That raises an important question for this inquiry. 2:15 If doctors had difficulty reporting suspected injuries, how many Canadians may never have made it into the official statistics at all? 2:25 Then there's the question of compensation. 2:28 The Federal Vaccine Injury Support Program received 3,500 claims under its former administration. 2:35 Of those, just over 3,000 were deemed admissible, yet only 252 claims had been approved by the Medical Review Board, with an additional 11 appeals approved. 2:46 The federal government reports approximately $21.5 million in financial support was paid to claimants. 2:53 And I want to acknowledge the journalists who helped bring greater scrutiny to this program. 2:58 I want to thank Tamara Ugolini from Rebel News. 3:01 She's in the room today, as is Dr. Hoff, for their relentless pursuit of answers, including through access to information requests and digging through documents and documentations and numbers surrounding the Vaccine Injury Support Program, 3:15 Their reporting helped bring information into the public domain that Canadians might otherwise have never seen, and it underscored why transparency and accountability matter. 3:26 I also want to thank Global News for pursuing the same story last fall and bringing a wider public attention to the difficulties surrounding the program and its questions of accountability. 3:37 A free press has an important role to play in asking questions, obtaining information, and putting facts before Canadians, particularly when institutions themselves have not provided the transparency behind that people deserve. 3:51 Those numbers raise important questions, but behind every number is a person, a family, and a story. 3:59 That is why we are here. 4:00 The purpose of this inquiry is to hear those stories and to examine the experiences of Canadians seeking medical care, recognition and compensation. 4:09 But before we do that, I believe we need to understand the broader context of how we got to this place. 4:15 More than 30 countries have undertaken some form of review or inquiry in their pandemic response. 4:21 Yet Canada has still not concluded this kind of comprehensive national public inquiry that many Canadians have been asking for. 4:28 South of the border, one of the people who has spent years asking difficult questions and examining the evidence is United States Senator Ron Johnson. 4:37 Over the past five years, Senator Johnson has convened dozens of meetings, hearings, and roundtables examining different aspects of the pandemic response and has heard testimony from doctors, scientists, researchers, and other experts. 4:52 I have asked Senator Johnson to begin her inquiry by giving us an overview of what he has heard and what he has learned through that work. 5:00 I believe that context is important for the vaccine-injured Canadians we will hear from this week. 5:06 Ultimately, this question is about people hearing from those who are injured, understanding the challenges they have faced, assessing care and compensation, and ensuring their experiences are documented and heard. 5:20 But before we examine where we are today, we need to have a better understanding of how we got here. 5:26 Senator Johnson, thank you very much for taking time out of your very busy schedule 5:32 I understand these things. 5:34 I know in your role, you're that much busier. 5:36 To join us and to share what you've learned over these past five years. Shawn Buckley
5:45 My name is Shawn Buckley and I'm Inquiry Counsel. 5:48 And I would like to thank everyone who is watching. 5:51 I would like to thank all of those volunteers that have tirelessly worked to have this happen. 5:59 And I'd like to thank the vaccine-injured that are traveling, often at great cost, to be here and the experts who have donated their time. 6:10 When this Allison inquiry began, we set out with the single purpose of listening to vaccine-injured Canadians. 6:21 And we knew that these people were the nations. 6:24 These were Canada's dirty little secret, the vaccine-injured. 6:31 Doctors are forbidden to speak about them. 6:35 A doctor in Canada today cannot openly be questioning the COVID-19 vaccines and not face discipline by their professional college. 6:48 MPs are forbidden to publicly speak about the vaccine injured. 6:55 Before this inquiry, we met with MP after MP after MP, and this would be about six months ago. 7:03 And at the time, we were just asking, would it be possible for you to sit at a table and publicly listen to vaccine-injured Canadians speak about their injuries? 7:16 And the answer was, 7:17 unanimously was, no, this is not politically possible. 7:22 It speaks volumes that the support for this inquiry and the bravery of the MPs that are at the table currently right now, and we thank them for being here, and the MPs that will be sitting as this week goes by. 7:36 But they are not allowed to speak. 7:39 We're hoping that this inquiry will allow all groups to speak. 7:44 I will say that it seems that CBC journalists are forbidden to speak about the vaccine injured. 7:51 But let's extend that to the wider mainstream media because it's the mainstream media that sets the pace and sets the message for much of this nation. 8:02 But we learned something else which is deeply troubling. 8:06 We learned that families in Canada are forbidden to be speaking about vaccine injury 8:14 I'd like to speak about two people that we selected. 8:17 As MP Dean Allison, the chair of this inquiry, has correctly stated, we've had over 1,400 applications. 8:25 And most of the nation doesn't know we exist. 8:29 So the fact that we've had 1,400 applications from people willing to testify in itself speaks that the number of people that are vaccine injured is dramatically higher than any of us have estimated. 8:44 But they get sorted and they go through this funneling process. 8:46 And by the time they get to me to interview, they're largely vetted. 8:52 And there were some that we interviewed and they were excited about coming. 8:55 They committed to coming. 8:56 We slotted them in. 9:00 And then they backed out because of family pressure. 9:03 So one of them told me, you know, my daughter-in-law made it clear that if I testify, I will never see my grandchildren again. 9:12 Think about that. 9:14 This is September 8th, 2026 in Canada. 9:19 And a family will be torn apart and destroyed if somebody who is vaccine injured publicly shares their story with us in this committee room. 9:33 We had another person I was terribly excited about her testifying. 9:37 We may use some of her video evidence from a different 9:42 time where she was allowed to testify years ago. 9:45 But she backed out and she says, you know, I lost my mother to the vaccine. 9:48 I lost another sibling to the vaccine. 9:51 And if I, the only person I have left, and I'm injured too, I'm suffering. 9:56 The only person I have left is my brother. 9:58 And my brother's made it clear to me that he will have nothing to do with me if I testify at the Allison Inquiry and share my story truthfully. 10:10 Yeah. 10:11 So that tells us that we have a real problem in this country because for some reason we are completely unable to have an honest and fair and open discussion where we actually will listen to the other side about vaccine injuries. 10:29 Another thing that occurred in our preparation is I'm interviewing the potential witnesses. 10:38 And many of them, as you'll see, they're in wheelchairs. 10:42 You know, one of them couldn't testify when we wanted them to because they had to schedule dialysis for while they're in Ottawa. 10:50 And so we had to move them in the schedule. 10:54 A different one, not only is he in a wheelchair, but his bowels don't move. 10:59 So he's got two IV bags. 11:03 Because the only way he can eat is IV straight into his veins. 11:07 and then a very slow drip into the stomach. 11:11 Actually, we had to get an extension cord so that the batteries on his pumps are functioning when he testifies in this room later this week. 11:21 I'm expecting, I asked these people the question at the end of the interview, what's been the hardest part of this journey? 11:29 And I'm expecting, I lost my kidneys. 11:32 I'm waiting for a transplant. 11:33 I'm in a wheelchair. 11:34 I'm in chronic pain. 11:35 And almost invariably, that's not the answer. 11:40 Almost every time these witnesses have said the worst part is not being heard. 11:46 I'm injured. 11:49 Did we go offline? 11:52 Okay, so we'll stop and start again. 11:54 Sorry, everyone, we've gone offline. Speaker 3
12:00 That's interesting. 12:03 When did it first drop? 12:07 okay Shawn Buckley
13:23 So for those of you watching online, we're having some technical difficulties, which is very curious for a committee room, Committee Room 415 on Parliament Hill in the Wellington Building. 13:40 I would expect that when normal committees are sitting in this room that they have flawless internet and that things run absolutely perfectly. 13:49 So you're just going to have to bear with us because the reality is that we're having internet problems even though we're trying with various things. 14:00 Can I ask David, our AV person, any idea at what point when I was speaking that we got cut off? 14:09 Okay. 14:11 So trusting that you've heard what I said earlier, and again, this is just part of the journey and part of the experience and part of the story. 14:21 This is a live inquiry being broadcast live, and we appreciate you all being here. 14:26 So I was sharing about how when I ask these people what's the worst part, that they're sharing that it's not their injuries, it's not their suffering. 14:37 It's not being heard. 14:42 You know, we have one witness that we have a video of him walking. 14:46 They were trying to walk. 14:47 It's awful. 14:48 And the neurologist is telling him at that time to go and see a psychiatrist. 14:53 And within days, he's hospitalized for six months and is in a wheelchair. 14:56 And this is the gentleman that has two feeding tubes. 15:00 So and that's just an example. 15:02 Witness after witness explains that they are they and they use the word gaslit that they're they're literally gaslit. 15:08 Can you imagine being seriously injured? 15:11 And when you go to engage medical attention, every single time that you're going to expect to actually be ridiculed, made fun of, to be treated with absolute derision, so that accessing medical care becomes a traumatic experience. 15:31 I've had several of the witnesses share with me that actually they would rather die than engage the hospital system. 15:39 And this is Canada. 15:41 in September of 2026. 15:44 Now the witnesses that are attending here, the vaccine injured witnesses are attending voluntarily. 15:51 This committee does not have subpoena power. 15:53 We're not compelling any of them to attend. 15:57 But I think that it's more fair to say that even though we're not compelling them to be here, that they're not coming voluntarily. 16:06 They feel obligated to take this single opportunity 16:11 to share their stories. 16:12 Many of them are travelling at great personal cost. 16:16 Some of those that you watch testify, they're going to be brave. 16:19 They're going to sit straight. 16:21 They're going to answer our questions and share with us their journeys. 16:25 But they're going to be in bed for weeks or months. 16:30 They're going to suffer terribly for both the journey, they're coming from across Canada, and for sitting in the chair. 16:37 And the experts are also all volunteering their time. 16:42 which is a huge commitment and we need to honour them. 16:46 Now many who are watching this and we we pray that the entire nation will be watching this but many that are watching this do not believe that the COVID-19 vaccines caused much harm at all let alone you know significant harm and they have a concern 17:08 about vaccine hesitancy and they have a concern that these proceedings will cause vaccine hesitancy and you know I say to you that listening is the first step to regaining trust because the reality is a significant portion of this nation no longer trusts in our health care system in public health and if you have concern about vaccine hesitancy if you 17:37 If you don't believe that these vaccines caused harm, that's okay. 17:40 And you can continue, you know, with whatever belief system you want, but understand listening to these people, don't change your mind, but listen to them. 17:53 I didn't mean that don't change your mind, but you don't have to, that's up to you. 17:56 That's voluntary, but listen to them because that's the first step to regaining trust and listening with an open mind, just listen. 18:06 to listen to their stories. 18:09 It's the first step to regaining trust. 18:12 It's the first step for us taking a step forward and treating them properly. 18:16 And I'm going to make everyone watching this a promise that if you watch all four days of the Allison Inquiry, you will never be the same. 18:26 It literally will be as if you've walked through a door and the door's closed behind you and then you realize the door's locked and you can't go back. 18:35 your perception will have changed. 18:38 We are about to be honoured here. 18:41 In the next four days, we are going to hear from vaccine-injured Canadians who have travelled at great cost to share their story with us. 18:50 They've travelled to share something precious with us, and they've travelled literally to free us. 18:57 They're travelling for us. 19:00 And so I'd like to just say God bless them.