Wayne Lenhardt
Our next witness is Andre Boucher. So, Andre, if you could give us your full name and spell it for us, and then I’ll do an oath with you.

Andre Boucher
Sure. My name is Andre Boucher. It’s A-N-D-R-E B-O-U-C-H-E-R.

Wayne Lenhardt
Let me start you off in January of 2020, we’ll start this story. What were you doing at that point? Where were you living and what kind of job did you—

Commissioner Drysdale
Wayne, you didn’t swear in the witness

Wayne Lenhardt
You’re right. I’m having a bad day here. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in your testimony today?

Andre Boucher
I do.

Wayne Lenhardt
Thank you. Okay, back to 2020. You were working where and in what province and in which city?

Andre Boucher
So in 2020, I was working for Cameco Corporation in Saskatoon. I was running a department within the company called alphaNUCLEAR that made safety monitoring equipment for the mine sites. So when the pandemic was declared in 2020, I was considered an essential worker, so I kept working and had to go into the office every day. Cameco had a policy where the majority of the people stayed home, but I was one of the ones that went in to work.

Wayne Lenhardt
Okay. And you’d worked for them for quite a few years, correct?

Andre Boucher
Yeah, I’d already been working there for 21 years, I believe, at that time.

Wayne Lenhardt
So in 2020, there would not have been any mandates right off the bat in 2020 so—

Andre Boucher
No.

Wayne Lenhardt
When did they start talking about them and did they implement them?

Andre Boucher
Well the talk about mandates began probably around the time that the vaccine, supposed vaccine, was announced. So yeah, one of the first, in February of 2021, our CEO, Tim Gitzel, he had sent a communiqué to everyone on his personal blog that he has on our website. And he went through, you know, talking about safety and all this kind of stuff, but he did make a clear statement that Cameco won’t be enforcing a vaccine protocol. He says he believes it’s important that you get vaccinated when the time comes, but there would be no enforcement. So that was fine, but I was a little leery.

And he did mention, you know, if you had any anxiety or concerns, which I had—the word choice of anxiety made me feel a little paranoid—about getting the shot, he says, “I encourage you to educate yourself, talk to your family doctor, and seek out trusted sources of information to learn about the science.” And I took that to heart, you know. The whole time I worked there for 20-some years we were always told, always question the status quo, you know. There’s better ways to do things always.

Anyway, I took that to heart, and I spent a good year researching everything I could, listening to everybody that I could find on the Internet that wasn’t being censored. And I came to my own conclusion about this experimental gene therapy. I wasn’t impressed, so I said, no, that’s not for me. And I had made my choice at that point. So then the rest was how it rolled out within the corporation: how they went about, you know, they started out with a request.

If you wanted to volunteer your information on your vaccine status, that was okay. But if you didn’t want to tell them, you didn’t have to. You could just say, “Prefer not to say.” And that evolved over time to where it was, “Yeah, we’d like you to tell us, and we’re going to demand it.” So at one point, it became a demand. And at that point, I had to let them know I wasn’t vaccinated. And they had passed a policy, I guess, in early September of 2021 that everyone would have to be vaccinated to work there.

I was informed later that if I didn’t get vaccinated by November 15th, then I would be terminated. So that’s exactly what happened. I did not go to get vaccinated. And on November 15th, I was given a letter saying that I would no longer have a job. I was placed on unpaid leave for, oh I think it was something like eight or ten weeks, which just happened to coincide with my date of termination, which would be December 30th.

Wayne Lenhardt
I think it was 27th.

Andre Boucher
Oh, 27th. Okay, yeah, you looked over the documents. Anyway, it worked out so that I’d be fired just so I couldn’t get a bonus for that year. So, well, whatever. I guess they’ve got to save whatever they can. So yeah, that’s basically my story. And then I had applied for EI after that, and was told because of my misconduct I would be denied EI. And I asked them—I did appeal it, and it was kind of just a waste of time—but I asked the lady that took the appeal who said I wasn’t going to get EI, I said, “Well, could I at least have my premiums back?” And she just laughed. I paid for 40 years. I figured I should get the premiums.

Wayne Lenhardt
Exactly. Did you try to get another job or did you look or—?

Andre Boucher
Yeah, well it did take its toll on me, to say the least. You know, I was there 23 and a half years, and then nobody even said goodbye to me. Like it was a Friday and it’s, “Go home. Don’t come back.” If I had showed up, security would have escorted me off the property, so I didn’t bother showing up. But, yeah, I probably took a month, a month and a half off. And well first I applied for EI in January and was denied, and then started looking around. I did eventually end up getting another job working for a company that makes radiation equipment. And kind of funny in a way, the work that I do is for Cameco, so I still work for them indirectly through another company, because I guess they still needed my services but—

Wayne Lenhardt
Okay. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us before I turn you over to the commissioners?

Andre Boucher
The one year, you know, it was an interesting place to work for the year, because there was no other story. There was only one story. It was the official story, and you weren’t even allowed to speak of anything that could be considered negative towards the vaccine. One time, a lady that I worked with, she knew I had been researching it. She asked me some questions and I gave her the truth. I said, “You know, you should really listen to this doctor, and you should look at this.” And I didn’t tell her what to believe. I said, “Just get yourself informed. You know, look into this stuff. These people, they have nothing to gain by what they were telling people,” I said, “They’re people that seemed trustworthy.”

So anyway, I told the story, and a couple of days later, my direct supervisor came to me and he said, “You can’t talk to people about this at work. That lady was scared after you talked to her. You can’t talk to them anymore.” So I was banned from talking.

Wayne Lenhardt
Wow.

Andre Boucher
Yeah.

Wayne Lenhardt
Okay. Are there any questions from the commissioners?

Commissioner Kaikkonen
I just want to know. You were told in September that by November that you would have to have a vaccination. Wasn’t the company a little bit concerned in that two-month period that there might be issues with staff and COVID?

Andre Boucher
Possibly, I don’t know. I know before I left, I was asked to contact a former employee that had worked for me to see if he would come in when they fired me. So I found them a replacement for me.

Commissioner Kaikkonen
Thank you.

Andre Boucher
You’re welcome.

Wayne Lenhardt
Are there any other questions? On behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, I want to thank you very much for your testimony today, Andre.

Credentials

Andre Boucher is a highly experienced professional who spent over two decades working for Cameco Corporation in Saskatoon. His expertise lies in managing safety monitoring equipment for mine sites, demonstrating his commitment to workplace safety. Boucher’s long tenure at Cameco showcases his loyalty and dedication to his field. His willingness to question the status quo and conduct thorough research aligns with the company’s ethos of continuous improvement.

Summary

Andre Boucher testifies about his experience working at Cameco Corporation during the COVID-19 pandemic. He explains that he was considered an essential worker and continued to work in the office while others stayed home. Boucher describes the company’s initial stance on vaccinations, with CEO Tim Gitzel stating that Cameco wouldn’t enforce a vaccine protocol. However, as time progressed, the company’s policy evolved, eventually mandating vaccinations for all employees.

Boucher shares that he spent a year researching the vaccine and decided against getting it. He explains the gradual shift in the company’s approach, from voluntary disclosure of vaccination status to mandatory reporting. Boucher reveals that he was informed he would be terminated if not vaccinated by November 15th, 2021. He was subsequently placed on unpaid leave and terminated on December 27th, 2021.

The witness discusses his unsuccessful attempt to claim Employment Insurance (EI) and his experience finding new employment. Boucher also mentions the workplace restrictions on discussing alternative viewpoints regarding the vaccine, highlighting an incident where he was reprimanded for sharing information with a coworker.