[00:00:00]

Ches Crosbie
Thank you for attending as a witness, Mr. Anselm. Do you affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Artur Anselm
Yes, I do.

Ches Crosbie
Thank you.

Nicolle Snow
Good afternoon, Mr. Anselm. Where are you from?

Artur Anselm
I just live in Grand Lake, Nova Scotia. Just about 40 minutes from here.

Nicolle Snow
And who do you live there with?

Artur Anselm
Just in the backyard, in a small cabin. I live with my parents right now, but I’m building a house for my family, so.

Nicolle Snow
Nice. For your family, you said?

Artur Anselm
Yep, my wife and small daughter. She’s 14 months old.

Nicolle Snow
And are you employed?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, I work for Canadian National Railways.

Nicolle Snow
What do you do there?

Artur Anselm
I’m a track maintainer. I make sure the tracks are safe for the trains to run and we repair any defects and change rails. Stuff like that.

Nicolle Snow
And how long have you been employed with CN Rail?

Artur Anselm
Six years, it will be six years this year.

Nicolle Snow
And what policies or mandates did CN Rail adopt during the COVID crisis days?

Artur Anselm
November 2021, they implemented the vaccine mandate. And if you weren’t vaccinated, you were off paid, off work. Forever, basically.

Nicolle Snow
What was the deadline that employees were given to vaccinate by?

Artur Anselm
The deadline was November 15th, 2021.

Nicolle Snow
And did you receive notification of that directly from your employer?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, I received it from my supervisors and my managers. And work emails as well.

Nicolle Snow
Okay, and you brought in with you today an email dated September 8, 2021, from CN Communications, stating that there was a vaccine mandate that would be effective as of November 1st, 2021.

Artur Anselm
Yes, that’s correct.

Nicolle Snow
Okay, and that will be marked as an exhibit [exhibit number unavailable]. What happened after that?

Artur Anselm
Well, basically I was very much against taking any shots. Because I saw what was happening to my co-workers after the vaccines and they were getting sick. They weren’t feeling well.

And I really held my stand up until— I was becoming a new father and I had to put food on the table for my family. So I decided to bite the bullet. And on November 13th I took the first shot.

Nicolle Snow
And to clarify, did the timeline for vaccinating remain November 1st? Was it extended?

Artur Anselm
It was extended. It was November 1st and then I just kept not getting it and then they extended it to November 15th. And then on the 13th, I took the shot.

Nicolle Snow
Okay. Just to confirm, Mr. Anselm, you brought in with you today an email dated October 14, 2021, from CN Rail indicating that the mandatory vaccine deadline was extended to November 15th. And what you’re saying is, on the 13th, you went ahead and got your vaccination.

Artur Anselm
Yeah.

Nicolle Snow
Did you do so feeling coerced or pressured?

Artur Anselm
Definitely. I was getting phone calls daily from supervisors and everybody and telling me, “After the 15th, you can’t come to work, and you’ll be off pay.”

Nicolle Snow
All right, and so were they indicating that they were going to terminate you? Or put you on leave without pay.

Artur Anselm
They weren’t clear with it. They said either you’re terminated or you’re going to be off pay, basically laid off. So I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

Nicolle Snow
What happened on November 13th when you had your vaccination? Where did you go?

Artur Anselm
To be honest, I don’t remember the location—but it was just a walk-in clinic and a nurse vaccinated me.

Nicolle Snow
All right, and do you know that it was a nurse? Did she tell you it was a nurse?

Artur Anselm
She did not, but that’s my assumption.

Nicolle Snow
Okay. Do you know that the batch number of your vaccine?

Artur Anselm
No, I could look it up, but I don’t know it right now.

Nicolle Snow
Were you made aware of any of the potential risks associated with vaccine?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, I was aware from my own research from before.

Nicolle Snow
Sorry, I’ll cut you off. I mean, did the person who administered the vaccine have any discussion with you about the risks associated with the vaccine?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, she actually told me that, for guys my age, there is a potential risk of having heart problems. And she said, “Oh yeah, if you have any heart issues just go to the doctor’s office. They’ll give you some drugs and make you feel better.” And I was like, “Okay that sounds pretty good.” I didn’t want to take it, but I still did.

Nicolle Snow
It didn’t sound overly serious, in your view.

[00:05:00]

Artur Anselm
No. Like, why are you guys making me take this if there’s risks? And I’m perfectly healthy, right?

Nicolle Snow
What if any symptoms developed following the first vaccination?

Artur Anselm
Well, first of all: a week after my vaccine, I got seriously ill, just with very bad flu.
And I was basically out for a week. And then two weeks following my vaccination, I started to develop heart pain. And the heart palpitations, shortness of breath, weakness. And just I didn’t feel good at all. I felt like I knew something was wrong, especially with my chest. I kept getting stinging chest pain.

Nicolle Snow
And had you had any of these kinds of symptoms before in your life?

Artur Anselm
Never. No.

Nicolle Snow
And how old are you, Mr. Ansel?

Artur Anselm
Now I’m 26.

Nicolle Snow
And how old were you when you got the vaccine?

Artur Anselm
I would have been 25 years old.

Nicolle Snow
What did you do when you started experiencing these heart pain symptoms?

Artur Anselm
Well, I went to the emergency room at the Cobequid Health Center. Just did a walk-in emergency and they checked my vitals. They took my blood. They made sure I wasn’t having a heart attack and basically sent me on my way.

Nicolle Snow
Did you have any discussion with them about whether this could be vaccine-related?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, I did. I told them this all started after the vaccine. I never had any issues with my heart or anything like that. And they just said, “Oh yeah, like whatever, you’re good. You don’t have a heart attack, so.”

Nicolle Snow
Okay. And was there any discussion about completing a vaccine adverse event form?

Artur Anselm
No, I never heard anything about that.

Nicolle Snow
So as far as you know, that was never completed by the doctors?

Artur Anselm
No.

Nicolle Snow
And what happened after that?

Artur Anselm
After that, I went home, and I kept going to work. I kept fighting the pains. And then I decided to go to my family doctor as well. I told him what was going on after the vaccine, that I was having chest pains and shortness of breath. And same thing with him. He said, “No, it’s probably not from the vaccine. Just don’t smoke anything. Don’t drink anything. And you’ll be fine.” And I tried that. Symptoms never went away.

Nicolle Snow
Okay, and did your doctor or your family doctor have a discussion with you about whether or not to fill out an adverse event form?

Artur Anselm
No, we never had any discussions about that.

Nicolle Snow
And your doctor didn’t feel that there was any connection between the vaccination and the symptoms you were having?

Artur Anselm
No, he did not.

Nicolle Snow
What happened after that?

Artur Anselm
After that, I went in again to my family doctor. I told him, “Listen I’m going to lose my job if I don’t get the second shot.” I didn’t really want to get it at all, obviously. And I asked him, “Can you fill out a medical exemption for me?” And he said, “No, I can’t do it without any proof.” I just said, “All right, I guess I’ll be laid off.” Then I went in again—I think it was my third time—and he finally referred me to a cardiologist to get an MRI.

Nicolle Snow
Okay, and so then did you go to the cardiologist?

Artur Anselm
Yeah, I saw the cardiologist. They scanned my heart and did all the tests. And it turned out that the outer lining of my heart was inflamed. And I had pericarditis, myocarditis. And the cardiologist said, “This is from the vaccine.”

Nicolle Snow
Okay, and so who is the cardiologist that you saw?

Artur Anselm
His name is— One second, sorry. Dr. Douglas Bate, or, sorry, Hussain Beydoun. That was his name.

Nicolle Snow
B-E-Y-D-O-U-N. And you brought with you today a letter from Dr. Beydoun dated February 11, 2022. Do you have that in front of you?

Artur Anselm
Yep. I’ve got it right here.

Nicolle Snow
And would you look at page 2?

Artur Anselm
Yep.

Nicolle Snow
And just read the first line at the top of that page.

Artur Anselm
“Very likely, Mr. Anselm has pericarditis, myocarditis post-mRNA vaccine, echocardiogram done today was normal in the view the symptoms improved significantly. I would not start anti-inflammatory therapy. Any change, please let me know and I will be happy to reassess him. I would not recommend him for a second dose, and I am copying this to my colleague.”

Nicolle Snow
All right. Mr. Anselm, you received that exemption,

[00:10:00]

to not have to take the second dose, correct?

Artur Anselm
That’s correct.

Nicolle Snow
All right. And let’s go back to your employment. Had you been working through this at this point?

Artur Anselm
No, it turned out I had just had a kid, so I was able to get the parental benefits, even though I was laid off. So that kept me going, luckily.

Nicolle Snow
Okay, so you were on parental leave during this period. And what happened with respect to the exemption that you had? Were you able to use that to return to work?

Artur Anselm
No, I was still kind of pissed off. I didn’t really want to talk to anybody. And then my manager called me in July. He said the mandates were dropped and you can return to work. I said, “All right, I’ll take my whole leave until September and then I’ll come back to work.” September 2022 is when I returned to work.

Nicolle Snow
So there was no period where you had to return to work prior to the mandates being dropped.

Artur Anselm
Yeah, that’s correct.

Nicolle Snow
You remained off in your parental leave.

Artur Anselm
That’s correct.

Nicolle Snow
Did you have any conversation with them during that period when you were on parental leave as to whether or not they would take you back with the exemption?

Artur Anselm
No, I did not. I just didn’t even want to bother for now.

Nicolle Snow
Okay. How has your heart condition impacted your life?

Artur Anselm
It has impacted me in every aspect of my life. Physically, I can’t really do the things I used to anymore. Like with less vigor. Mentally, I was just full of regret, and it made me kind of a less of a father—not less of a father, but mentally I was down. It impacted my fatherhood. Mentally, physically, everything.

Nicolle Snow
All right. Thank you. Those are all my questions. And we’ll just pause for a moment to see whether the commissioners have any questions.

Commissioner Drysdale
You said that you had worked with CN Rail, I think you said six years?

Artur Anselm
Yep, six years.

Commissioner Drysdale
When you signed your contract with CN Rail, your employment contract, was there a clause in there requiring that you had to take whatever vaccines that they might require in the future?

Artur Anselm
No, there was none of that. In my eyes, it’s illegal what they did.

Nicolle Snow
Thank you, Mr. Anselm.

Artur Anselm
Thank you.

[00:12:55]

Final Review and Approval: Jodi Bruhn, August 3, 2023.

The evidence offered in this transcript is a true and faithful record of witness testimony given during the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) hearings. The transcript was prepared by members of a team of volunteers using an “intelligent verbatim” transcription method.

For further information on the transcription process, method, and team, see the NCI website: https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/about-these-transcripts/

Summary

Artur Anselm had been employed by Canadian National Railways for six years as a trucker maintainer when he was told that he would need to be vaccinated in order to keep his job. In November 2021 he was forced to get the first COVID vaccine and within two weeks started experiencing chest pains. He attended two doctors and the hospital and no one confirmed that this could be due to the vaccine, despite Mr. Anselm advising that he had just received a shot. He eventually was referred to a cardiologist to address his chest pains and it was confirmed that he had pericarditis and myocarditis, most likely from the vaccine. He was provided an exemption from getting a second shot. To this day he still is not able to do what he used to physically.