Ottawa: Today the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) released the first recommendations of its four independent Commissioners following an investigation into how Canada’s governments responded to COVID-19.

NCI is a Canada-wide, citizen-led and citizen-funded initiative to investigate governments’ COVID-19 policies in a fair and impartial manner independent from government. Its findings are based on testimony provided to the Inquiry by individual Canadians and experts over the past six months, subject to cross-examination by legal counsel.

The Commissioners recommend that:

• A full judicial investigation of the process under which the Covid-19 vaccinations were authorized in Canada must be carried out. Criminal liability, if discovered, may be dealt with under existing Canadian law.
• The current use of Covid-19 vaccines in Canada that were authorized under the revised provisions of the Interim Order and the newly revised Food and Drug Regulations, should be stopped immediately.

The Commissioners’ recommendations are based on testimony provided to the Inquiry indicating that the conventional evaluation and endorsement process for vaccines was not adhered to by the Canadian Government in their evaluation of the COVID-19 vaccines.

According to testimony provided to the Inquiry, and summarized below:

• The initial authorization for the use of COVID-19 vaccines was provided under a temporary Interim Order which exempted them from the traditional regulations that demand manufacturers to demonstrate objective evidence of safety and effectiveness. The result was that while chief medical officers across the country repeatedly assured Canadians that the Covid-19 vaccines were “safe and effective” – the general Canadian population had no understanding that their authorization process had not required objective proof of safety nor efficacy.
• The Interim Order prevented the Minister of Health from revoking authorization once given. This prevented the Minister from taking action to protect the public if subsequent safety problems were discovered with the Covid-19 vaccines.
• The Federal Government placed itself in a conflict of interest by purchasing and importing vaccines prior to their authorization.
• As an Interim Order is only valid for one year, it was replaced on March 18, 2021, with permanent regulations that codify the subjective authorization test.