Opening Statements
Day 4 · September 11, 2026 · 0:12:34
Key points The organizers open the fourth and final day of the Allison Inquiry, thanking those attending in Ottawa and watching online worldwide. They restate the inquiry's commitment to listen to Canadians injured following COVID-19 vaccination and to document their stories and struggles with the Vaccine Injury Support Program. They recap prior testimony, including a former fire chief, a deceased parliamentary staffer, and a former WHO employee who spent a quarter million dollars on her health. They note evidence raising serious questions about early safety signals and concerns that some signals were dismissed or insufficiently investigated. They highlight a recurring theme that the injured are helping the injured, sharing information and support when they could not find help elsewhere. A speaker describes the emotional impact of the testimony, calling the experience holy and praising alternative media for live-streaming it. They urge continued listening beyond the inquiry, noting more than 1,400 Canadians applied to appear and only a fraction could be heard.
Speaker 1
0:00 Good morning and welcome to the fourth and final day of the Allison Inquiry. 0:05 To everyone joining us here in Ottawa and to those watching us online across Canada and around the world, thank you for being with us. 0:14 Over the past three days, we've heard testimony that has been difficult, emotional, and at times deeply troubling. 0:20 We began this inquiry with one simple commitment, to listen. 0:24 to listen to Canadians who were injured following the COVID-19 vaccination, to give them an opportunity to tell their stories, to document what happened to them, to hear their challenges of accessing the Vaccine Injury Support Program. 0:39 Yesterday, once again, we heard why that commitment matters. 0:43 We heard from a former fire chief, someone who had spent her career serving and protecting others. 0:50 She described from going to being healthy and active to struggling to walk. 0:54 We heard the story of a former parliamentarian staffer, a husband and a father who was taken far too soon, leaving behind his wife and young children. 1:03 Behind every statistic is a person. 1:06 Behind every person is a family. 1:08 And behind every family is a story that deserves to be heard. 1:12 We heard from a former World Health Organization employee who has spent more than a quarter million dollars of her own money trying to regain her health. 1:20 Think about that for a moment. 1:22 A quarter of a million dollars. 1:24 Once again, we were reminded that for some of those who were injured, the consequences are not only physical, they can affect careers, finances, marriages, families, independence, and virtually every aspect of a person's life. 1:40 We also heard evidence raising serious questions about early safety signals. 1:45 When were they identified? 1:46 What was known? 1:48 And whether those signals received the attention they warranted. 1:51 Those are questions that deserve answers. 1:54 And we heard concerns that some safety signals continued to be dismissed or insufficiently investigated today. 2:00 Throughout this inquiry, another theme has emerged again and again. 2:04 The injured are helping the injured. 2:06 When people feel and felt they could not find answers elsewhere, they found one another. 2:12 They shared information. 2:13 They helped each other navigate the medical system. 2:16 They supported families and they even raised money. 2:18 And perhaps most importantly, they reminded one another that their voices mattered. 2:23 Yesterday, we heard from a brave young woman who simply would not take no for an answer. 2:28 When the doors were closed, she kept knocking. 2:30 When she felt she wasn't being heard, she kept asking and kept speaking. 2:33 When the system didn't provide the answers that she was looking for, she kept pushing. 2:37 There is something important in that determination. 2:40 People should not have to fight simply to be heard. 2:44 We also heard from two healthy, active young people, just 23 and 24 years old, who experienced myocarditis, heart damage, and the loss to actually move freely. 2:54 Whatever one's views on COVID-19 vaccination, when young Canadians experience serious medical events following vaccination, their cases deserve careful investigation, appropriate medical care and compassion. 3:08 Acknowledging people who report injuries should never be controversial. 3:11 And finally, 3:12 we heard from an Ottawa police officer who was punished for doing what she believed was her job. 3:17 Her testimony raises a broader question about what happens to people who ask questions, challenge decisions, or attempted to act accordingly to the professional responsibilities during an extraordinary difficult period in our country's history. 3:31 Over these four days, we have heard from people with every very different backgrounds, firefighters, police officers, healthcare professionals, government employees, parents, young people, business owners, 3:42 people who are athletes, and people who simply consider themselves healthy and active. 3:46 While their circumstances are different, many of the stories contain the same themes. 3:51 They became sick, they searched for answers, they struggled to find help, and too often they felt nobody was listening. 3:58 That is one of the most important lessons I will take away from this week. 4:01 While we may disagree about public policy, we may even disagree about decisions made during the pandemic, we may disagree about the vaccines, but we surely can agree on this. 4:10 When Canadians say they've been injured and are asking for our help, our first response should be compassion, not dismissal. 4:18 More than 1,400 Canadians applied to appear before this inquiry. 4:21 We could only hear from a fraction of them during these four days. 4:24 To those we could not hear from, I want you to know your stories still matter. 4:29 We want your stories to be documented. 4:31 We want your voices to be heard. 4:33 And the fact that you do not sit in the witness chair does not make what happened to you any less important. 4:39 For three days, 4:41 Canadians have entrusted us with extraordinary personal stories. 4:44 Today, on our final day, we owe them the same thing we promised them at their beginning. 4:50 Our attention, our respect, and our willingness to listen. 4:54 Yesterday, we heard again that the injured have helped the injured. 4:58 Perhaps the challenge for all of us, for governments, medical institutions, elected officials, and Canadians generally, is to ask a very simple question. 5:07 Why were so many of them left feeling that they had to do it alone? 5:13 That is a question worth pursuing long after these four days are over. 5:18 For too long, many of these Canadians have felt that nobody was listening. 5:21 This week we listened. 5:23 Today we will continue. 5:24 And after Sequoia ends, we must make sure we don't stop listening. 5:29 Thank you. 5:30 Let's get our day started. Speaker 2
5:38 This is the fourth and final day. Speaker 3
5:42 of this inquiry, we've had three days. 5:47 And I think I speak for everyone that has been in this room and for those that have participated online, that this has been an experience. 6:03 The way that these witnesses have shared to us and literally bared their hearts 6:12 has affected every single one of us. 6:15 I think many of us are going to be completely unsure on how to deal with this going forward. 6:25 And when I say this, just the emotional impact that these people have had on us. 6:30 There have been points where every eye had a tear in it in this room. 6:37 There have been points where, you know, when your heart's stopping because you're sensing the emotion of the other person so strongly and that we're having that. 6:46 There have been times where all of us have either cried or been doing all we can to prevent ourselves from crying. Speaker 2
6:58 Why has this been so impactful? Speaker 3
7:05 It's because we're hearing people honestly share what has been nothing but a tragic journey. 7:14 And we've listened to them. 7:16 We've heard them. 7:21 And that's what this inquiry is about. 7:24 I appreciate that we've had experts to help frame things. 7:28 And they are precious and we need that so that we understand the context of these 7:36 but this is about vaccine-injured Canadians, about their witnesses. 7:43 And, you know, I'd shared about the difficulties that they've had. 7:50 Some of them have been too afraid to travel mentally. 7:54 You know, we saw Michael McNair testify, a gentleman that was willing to sacrifice his life 8:04 for this country and his fellow soldiers for years being completely abandoned. 8:12 And it wasn't the words that he spoke. 8:20 It was the way he spoke them. 8:23 Actually the struggle to share a story that spoke about the moral injury. 8:29 We all saw it. 8:31 We all felt that it's undeniable. 8:35 And I hope that we all felt the collective sense of shame that we've left him to his own devices. 8:44 He can't even afford the medication he needs that they tell him he needs to stay alive. Speaker 2
8:51 A Canadian Army veteran. Speaker 3
8:59 We've had witnesses that have wanted to stay in this room and participate. 9:04 that have had to leave because they're just in too much distress, both physically and mentally, but something else has happened here for the vaccine-injured, is many of them have felt completely alone. 9:21 Do you remember Jasmine Gruel, 9:24 the young man sitting in a wheelchair with an IV pool with two pumps. 9:30 One goes into his chest, into an artery, and one goes into his stomach because for 12 hours a day they have to pump. 9:38 He can't swallow anything. 9:43 The only reason he's alive is these two bags, as we watched them pump during his testimony, keep him alive. 9:52 He felt alone. 9:54 before this inquiry and he's actually met his people. 10:03 We've made a choice because we've got a small gallery here that we were gonna reserve it for the vaccine injured and their support people. 10:14 And I'm glad we made that choice because some of them, we had, I thought we had lost a witness. 10:22 yesterday and have to adjust our schedule, but she couldn't be in the room and they need quiet places to be and the sound and the noise and everything. 10:31 And we wanted this to be a place where it's just them, where it's not busyness and where they can find each other. 10:39 And it's been precious that they've been finding a wider community. 10:49 I hope that they're not the only ones. 10:52 finding a wider community because we we're all sharing in a collective experience where there's something happening here what's happening here in my words is is holy i think we're god's presence is here and he's speaking through these people and we have a choice to accept that and we have a choice to experience the community that comes with peace and love and listening to each other and so um 11:22 I am so grateful and I know Chairperson Allison is so thankful for the alternative media that's here. 11:32 They are live streaming and there's alternative media not here live streaming. 11:38 And we've made it easy, but the world is watching this. 11:45 Something is happening here. 11:47 This is being blessed. 11:50 And the world is watching because of the alternative media and people that are tirelessly posting. 11:56 So I invite everyone, big or small, live stream this, pick this up. 12:02 You know, I had mentioned yesterday there are a lot of businesses that they have TVs in their waiting room and they're running CNN and CBC and the like. 12:12 Stream the Allison Inquiry. 12:14 Stream us live today and then we'll have four days up on the websites. 12:18 you know, for the next several weeks, stream it. 12:20 Just have that in your waiting room. 12:22 Share this experience because this is the first time in a long time that we're actually allowed to be Canadians.