Shawn Buckley
So our next witness is also attending virtually, and that is Nadine Wilson. And so I’ll ask Nadine, first of all, if you can hear us. Also ask if you’ll turn your video on, please. So I’ll just try that again. Nadine, if you’re in the Zoom waiting room, it’d be great if you could indicate whether or not you can hear us, and also if you can turn your video on. Okay, there we go. Nadine, can you hear us?

Hon. Nadine Wilson
Hi.

Shawn Buckley
Hello, Nadine. It’s Shawn Buckley speaking. Can you hear us?

Nadine Wilson
Yes, I can, Shawn.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, is it possible for you to turn your video on?

Nadine Wilson
Yes. Okay, now I can see.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, we’ll try again. And Nadine and I hadn’t met before. So, Nadine, it’s Shawn Buckley. You’re being streamed live, and you’re appearing live in front of the commissioners of the National Citizens Inquiry. And we begin by swearing our witnesses. So I’ll ask, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Nadine Wilson
I so swear. Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Can you please state your full name for the record? Spelling your first name and spelling your last name.

Nadine Wilson
Nadine Wilson. N-A-D-I-N-E W-I-L-S-O-N.

Shawn Buckley
And, Nadine, I’m just going to run through some of your, I guess, past political experience. So, you are an MLA for the riding of Saskatchewan Rivers, and you were first elected in 2007 as a Saskatchewan Party MLA. Is that correct?

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley
And you have served four terms as an MLA for Saskatchewan Rivers, and you’re still a sitting MLA?

Nadine Wilson
Correct.

Shawn Buckley
Now, when you were first elected in 2007, the Saskatchewan Party formed the government under Brad Wall as Premier.

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
And you were Secretary to the Premier when it was Premier Brad Wall.

Nadine Wilson
Legislative Secretary. Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. I thought you were Secretary of the Premier for Wall and then Legislative Secretary under Premier Moe. Did I get that wrong?

Nadine Wilson
I put Legislative Secretary to the two Premiers as well as Provincial Secretary to the Province of Saskatchewan.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. And that’s serving under the Lieutenant Governor.

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley
And my understanding is also you’ve been Deputy Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature.

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. And I just pull that out so that the commissioners and those that are attending understand that you are a very experienced MLA and that you’ve held a lot of positions. Now, something changed, though, when COVID came along. And I’m wondering if you can tell us what your experience as an MLA with COVID was.

Nadine Wilson
Sure. Shall I start with my prepared statement?

Shawn Buckley
Okay. Well, we tend not to have people read, so as long as you’re not going to read, like you want to cover the points. Please do that.

Nadine Wilson
All right. As I’ve stated, my name is Nadine Wilson, and I’m a wife, grandmother and MLA of Saskatchewan Rivers. And prior to that, I was Reeve of a municipality, twice elected. So I’ve lived a long time and enjoyed life. I left my political party 14 years ago, in September of 2021, when their attempts to silence and oppress opposition of their mandated restrictions. Up until then, the Party, the Saskatchewan Party, had been my home. I thought I had really strong connections and friendships and bonds with my fellow colleagues in the government. We would join in barbecues, family weddings, family funerals. They stayed in my home. I stayed in theirs. But all that changed when I decided to leave my party over my vaccination status.

I saw lifelong friends and relatives turn their backs on one another. Our government policies created an overwhelming sense of loneliness and despair. I saw it crush families, my community, my province of Saskatchewan. And people were so desperate for guidance, so desperate for leadership from their elected representatives, and yet they received none. Thousands of people from across the province ended up reaching out to me, as their own elected officials turned off their phones, shut their offices, and would not reply. They would not communicate with the people that elected them. They ignored the tsunami of phone calls. So consequently, they came my way.

All these phone calls and emails came to my little office, and I had to hire more staff. And I’ll never forget the shock and bewilderment of all these people in Saskatchewan crying on the phone, talking about suicide, leaving the province, leaving Canada. And I’ll probably carry that with me forever, the impact of that time, as I was trying to navigate how to help these people, how to help them find physicians. School age children sometimes were at home bewildered because they couldn’t attend school. So, in fact, at this time, there were so many determined people reaching out to me, so many democratic, politically homeless people looking for a government they could trust. I was asked to lead a newly formed Saskatchewan United Party, which we established in November of 2022.

Also at that time, Saskatchewan watched other Canadian churches closed, congregations fined for going to church, and we watched pastors jailed for following their faith and following their convictions—for religious freedom in Canada evaporated in an instant. And this was all done under the use of emergency powers and executive orders. And it allowed for the concentration of power into the hands of a few, including unelected officials. The very essence of democracy was thrown away as decisions were made behind closed doors with little or no transparency, no accountability.

Shawn Buckley
Nadine, can I break in for a second?

Nadine Wilson
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
It’s just, I’m going to re-ask you a lot of the stuff you’re covering, and we tend not to let people read at the NCI. It truly is testimony, and I think it’s going to be more real for the commissioners and the people watching if actually I just have you answer some questions. If we’ve missed something, we’ll go back. But when COVID hits, you’re a sitting MLA in the governing party. You’re in the Government Caucus. Am I right about that?

Nadine Wilson
That’s true, yes.

Shawn Buckley
But you found yourself in a situation where you came to be very concerned about the direction the Premier was taking things with COVID. And I’m wondering if you can explain what were the problems that you saw? Because it was a big step for you to resign. So can you kind of share that journey with us?

Nadine Wilson
Well, when I was in Caucus, of course, they were asking for proof of our vaccinations. I’ve never been asked for proof of my vaccinations in my entire life. And I said, “Well, you shouldn’t be asking me these questions.” And I started arguing with house leadership. My last conversation with Premier Moe, after he said, “I’m going to make life uncomfortable for you. I’m going to make life uncomfortable for all the unvaccinated people in Saskatchewan,” I said, “How could you do this? How could you do this to the people of Saskatchewan?” And he said, “Well, I talked to Premier Kenny, Premier Ford, and the Prime Minister and we all agree, all our elected officials will be vaccinated.” And I said, “Well, when did we have a vote on this? When did we discuss it?” “Well, that’s the way it’s going to be.”

And that was the final straw, because I had been going home to my office and people were already very frightened, very frightened—frightful—saying, “We’re going to leave the country, Nadine, you’ve got to do something.” And in talking with the Premier, his mind was set up. His mind was set to do this. He forgot about who elected him, and the stage was set for this disaster and this chaos which occurred.

Shawn Buckley
Now, my understanding is you’re talking about Premier Moe. I mean, he lived about 30 miles from where you live.

Nadine Wilson
That’s right.

Shawn Buckley
And you are familiar with him and his family.

Nadine Wilson
That’s true.

Shawn Buckley
Yeah. I’m just pointing out there’s a lot—

Nadine Wilson
A wonderful farm family.

Shawn Buckley
And then you would have worked with him in the Party previously.

Nadine Wilson
That’s right, I did.

Shawn Buckley
Right. And you’re having a call because you’re feeling you’re having to leave the Party, am I right about that? Like, this is an important call between you and him, and the two of you are intimate. You talk freely.

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
And so you’re sharing with us: So during this call, you’re not wanting to leave the Party. I assume you’re trying to find a way out, but he’s basically telling, you know, every politician is going to get vaccinated.

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct. I felt the Premiere on my last phone call with me was one of—I was many people that didn’t matter. Nothing was special about me, and nothing is. I’m just another human being in Saskatchewan. But I was trying to speak for all of Saskatchewan that wanted an option, that choices matter, that we’re in a democracy, not a dictatorship. And I didn’t feel that the Premier was taking me seriously.

I remember listening on the phone call when he was chopping vegetables on a board, chop, chop, chop. And I thought to myself, well why isn’t he having a profound discussion, a very serious discussion? He’s about to leave an MLA, fourth-term MLA, who did wonderful things for the province as a group. I was a loyal, hard worker. I thought, why isn’t he debating? Why isn’t he discussing anything with me regarding the pandemic? I’m an elected four-term MLA with a great constituency, and I have big hopes for Saskatchewan. I had a great childhood, and I want the same to be for my grandchildren. I have ten grandchildren. And I have a wonderful community, and I just couldn’t understand why the Premier was so uncaring.

Shawn Buckley
Right.

Nadine Wilson
But that’s how it happened.

Shawn Buckley
And you just shared with us. So he’s describing to you that basically he’s on a call with several people. So he’s on a call with Premier Doug Ford from Ontario, he’s on a call with Premier Kenny from Alberta, and he’s on a call with Prime Minister Trudeau. And the four of them basically make a decision, as he’s telling you, that every politician needs to be vaccinated.

Nadine Wilson
That’s right. He was making decisions for my bodily autonomy as well as everyone else who was elected. And then at court, it trickled down to all Saskatchewan citizens, whether you object or not.

Shawn Buckley
Right. And my understanding actually is you found it personally offensive to have to share your vaccination status to Caucus. We’re talking actually about Caucus, right?

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
And I imagine that Caucus has never asked any other, you know, before: “What’s your cancer status? Are you diabetic?” Like, this is the first time ever in your long term since 2007 that Caucus was asking for medical information—personal.

Nadine Wilson
Right. And that’s something I would only share with my personal physician. That’s private and confidential.

Shawn Buckley
Now, my understanding is it wasn’t just that you were being asked to disclose your personal health information, but you were actually also concerned about the Premier in the province putting pressure on people to get vaccinated and treating them differently. Like, there were other things that were concerning you on this journey.

Nadine Wilson
Oh definitely, the massive collateral damage in mental health, mental health for children.

Shawn Buckley
Right. And the economic damage being done and the educational damage.

Nadine Wilson
Yes. The socializing opportunities, even for the growth and development of children. They used the word lockdown, which is a very primitive term. And they used the word lockdowns for senior centres. And the seniors were very lonely. I believe we could have done something else. We could have removed that fear campaign by the media, and we could have done maybe some positive things: instill confidence in the management of medical resources, enforce medical procedures. There are many terms that were quite negative during the pandemic.

Shawn Buckley
And that’s what I was just trying to get out, is my understanding from having the discussion with you is there were lots of parts of this that were concerning you: damage being done to people and basically overriding personal autonomy. There’s some other part of your testimony when you were reading your statement, I don’t think it came out as strong as it should have. So my understanding is you end up leaving the Party, and during COVID basically every other MLA in the province closed their office. Like yours was the only one that people could contact to speak to an MLA.

Nadine Wilson
Yes, that’s correct. I had people calling me from all over the province. And one man was very upset because he said, “A politician said, ‘how do we tolerate these people?’” meaning, discrimination against people who decided or opted out for many different reasons not to be vaccinated. There were many conversations on the phone where I had to act as a counsellor or just listen and try and calm people down: “You’re not alone. There are other people willing to help you.” Because at this time, fear was paramount. Fear from the government, fear from the media, it was just pounded into people.

The word ‘freedom’ kept coming up. It’s not merely a word. It’s a fundamental principle that we all want and enjoy. And as I said, we all had such great childhoods, and we want that for the next generation of our children and yet the unborn yet to come. Our province is full of resources and wonderful people, and I think we can be so much more if we move on and heal from what we experienced.

Shawn Buckley
Right. Okay, so I just wanted people to understand that you basically ended up also acting differently during COVID because you kept your office open. So you basically became the only MLA that would take calls, which is why you had to hire more staff. I just don’t think that came out as clearly when you were reading, so I had cut you off. I’m going to ask the commissioners if they have any questions for you. But before that, was there anything else that you thought was important to add about the COVID experience?

Nadine Wilson
Well, there was the emergency management in the province that was not followed. Every province has an emergency management procedure or policies. And I believe our Premiers all panicked and they didn’t follow it. So as to solutions, I think we have to have these prewritten response plans and follow them fully. You know, the people that write them are used to critical situations and challenges, and this would probably prevent a lot of the negative fallout and despair that happened, if we had followed proper protocol.

Shawn Buckley
Your point is of interest, I think, to the commissioners, because we had in Alberta Lieutenant Colonel David Redmond who had run the Alberta province’s disaster management team for several years and is a world expert on disaster management, and he made the same point. I mean, you’ve got the specific bureaucracy that even would have had a pandemic plan, and it wasn’t followed. And I’m curious, was there any discussion in Caucus—because you were in Caucus when the plan was not followed—as to not following the plan and not having the bureaucracies in place for that to actually do the disaster management?

Nadine Wilson
There was no discussion regarding it. In fact, the doctor who was on the media in Saskatchewan, we were instructed not to talk to that doctor. There was a lot of miscommunication and lack of communication to the elected officials of how to present the pandemic to our constituents and how to offer hope and guidance to them. The best I could do was listen and just be there and say, “No, this isn’t going to last forever.”

Shawn Buckley
So, I mean, you’re giving us some interesting insight, because COVID was really the largest intrusion into our lives, even in wartime. You know, the government basically locked us down and forced us to wear masks and imposed, literally, a police state identification system, which is what the vaccine passports were. And yet, as an elected MLA in a governing Party, so you guys aren’t even having a debate or a dialogue within Caucus. It’s all just happening from Cabinet?

Nadine Wilson
I’m not sure even if the cabinet ministers were briefed. I don’t believe it was the elected officials. It was someone else. But I’d also like to tell you, after I defected from the Saskatchewan Party and sat as an independent, I was able to ask questions of the government during the legislative assembly. And I want to let you know, on November 24 of 2022, I asked some written questions. Well, I did ask questions, but I also submitted written questions. And I asked about the costs of detention centres and how many people were detained and what was the cost.

And it was six months later, June 7 of 2022, that I finally received a written answer regarding these detention centres. And the answers I got were far from accountable or transparent. I didn’t get any answers. You know, they were talking about the costs were not calculated because the team varies in terms of working hours to a service agreement, and as to length of stay at these detention centres, I was advised that this occurred on a case-by-case basis.

So I would say this government had trouble being accountable and transparent. If they could not give me answers while I sat as opposition, the people of Saskatchewan were not getting any answers. And the government was elected to serve the people of Saskatchewan, and they sorely lacked it. And I’m very sorry for what happened to the people of Saskatchewan. In their dire, dire need they could not get answers. I could not get answers for them.

Shawn Buckley
You might have to write a book on what people were speaking about during this time. I’m going to turn you over to the commissioners and ask if they have any questions of you.

Nadine Wilson
Thank you.

Commissioner Kaikkonen
Thank you, Nadine. My question is around the accountability part of it and what you’re seeing in society now. You referenced that you were concerned about the students and vulnerable populations and the breakdown of our social fabric. So I’m just kind of wondering, have you seen healing in any form, or is there going to be in the future necessary government intervention to restore the social fabric that has been lost through the COVID years?

Nadine Wilson
Our social fabric has unravelled immensely. Where once we had a beautiful tartan scarf for Saskatchewan, it’s in tatters. What people are telling me that in order to heal, in order for them to move on, they need an apology, they need an acknowledgement from the Saskatchewan government that they were hurt. The people of Saskatchewan are really trying to move on, but I know it’s so difficult because they don’t trust the government anymore.

We talk about our rights of freedoms and our Charter of Rights that John Diefenbaker had in 1960, that when the crisis arose, where was our government? They were saying, “How do we tolerate these people?” “We’re going to make it uncomfortable for you,” our Premier said. And people have long memories when they are shaken and hurt and their loved ones are dying and their businesses go bankrupt and they are losing their homes because they can’t pay their mortgages. People need an acknowledgement of what happened during this pandemic, and I only truly believe that they can move on once someone says to them, “I hear you. I see you, and I understand what you’re going through.”

Commissioner Kaikkonen
Thank you, Nadine, for keeping the pulse of the community front and center. Thank you.

Nadine Wilson
You’re welcome.

Commissioner Drysdale
I want to make sure that I understood some of the things that you were saying. So you were in government for, or in provincial government as a sitting MLA for four terms. And you had held senior positions in the current government prior to and during the pandemic.

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Commissioner Drysdale
Did I understand you correctly to say that there were no internal debates, discussions, questioning about what the government was implementing in Saskatchewan, that you weren’t party to those kinds of discussions in any case.

Nadine Wilson
Thank you for that question. No, we did not discuss emergency preparation. That was already there. But we did discuss how to deal with the pandemic that is coming down. We did not discuss the options of vaccinations. It just suddenly came upon us when the Premier returned from a visit to Ottawa with some of the other premiers and then let it known to me personally that all of us had to be vaccinated. During Caucus, you know, they made mention then that everybody should be quite concerned.

And then finally at the end of Caucus, just before the fall session, that’s when they started asking for our vaccination records, which was a violation in my eyes and the last straw, because I could see we were deteriorating rapidly, not listening to the people. When I would come home to my office, I would hear conversation regarding what is happening, what is the government doing? And the government wasn’t quite clear yet until my last phone call with the Premier when I left, when I resigned. It was no talk of emergency procedures that were already there that we should have followed. And looking back, the government made a lot of mishaps and mistakes by maybe panicking. And then, of course, chaos ensued—

Commissioner Drysdale
I think Canadians have a certain expectation that when they elect an elected official to the government, that decisions that affect them in the government would be discussed with their representatives. Now you, if I understand, you didn’t give a direct exact date, but you left the party sometime in 2022. Was that the end of 2022? Mid-2022?

Nadine Wilson
It was September of 2022.

Commissioner Drysdale
Okay, so—

Nadine Wilson
I’m sorry, ‘21. I’m getting my dates wrong. It was September of ‘21 because the following year of ‘22, I helped form a new political party for the people who felt politically homeless.

Commissioner Drysdale
Okay, so I just want to make sure I get this right. So in September, sometime in September of 2021 or August of 2021, you were asked to provide your vaccine status, and that’s what precipitated you leaving the party. Is that correct?

Nadine Wilson
Correct.

Commissioner Drysdale
Okay. Now, the things that were related with the pandemic first started in March. We did our first lockdown, per se, in March. So you were in government then. Weren’t there any scientists that came in, qualified doctors that came in to discuss with you?

Nadine Wilson
No. Nope. There was none of that.

Commissioner Drysdale
Okay. Okay. Now, my next question is, when they implemented masks, did they bring in qualified doctors to discuss with the elected officials? When they shut down the schools, did they ask, did they bring in qualified doctors and scientists to explain to you?

Nadine Wilson
No.

Commissioner Drysdale
When they brought in mandatory vaccines, did they bring in qualified doctors, medical professionals—and I’m not talking about political medical officers, I’m talking about medical professionals who practice—did they bring them in to discuss this so you could make a decision of whether or not you were going to go with mandatory vaccines in Saskatchewan from the provincial government?

Nadine Wilson
No.

Commissioner Drysdale
I think what I heard you say, and I just want to confirm it, was that the only medical consultation that was had was perhaps between Premier Moe Green, Premier Doug Ford, Premier Kenny, and I think you said, Mr. Trudeau. And are any of them qualified doctors and scientists that would be qualified to make those kind of medical decisions for the people of Saskatchewan?

Nadine Wilson
I have not seen their degrees, no.

Commissioner Drysdale
So what you’re telling us is—I just want to make sure I get this right, and if I’m not getting it right, you tell me—what you’re telling me is that the elected representatives, number one, were not consulted, were not explained to, prior to the Saskatchewan government implementing these first-ever intrusions into the personal lives of every single person in Saskatchewan.

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct. We were told to go home and wait for further advice.

Commissioner Drysdale
And I think you also said, or at least I think what you said, is that when after these decisions were made without consulting or involving the elected representatives, that a lot of the elected representatives just shut down their offices and didn’t respond to their constituencies. Is that what you testified to?

Nadine Wilson
Yes. Fear was a big factor.

Commissioner Drysdale
Can you explain to me? Can you then explain to me how you kept your office open? Like, to your knowledge, could you catch COVID by speaking to one of your constituents over the phone?

Nadine Wilson
No, I don’t believe that could happen.

Commissioner Drysdale
So why did the other people’s representatives shut down their offices and no longer take calls, according to your testimony, from their constituents, when you don’t believe that they could catch COVID over the telephone?

Nadine Wilson
Well, that’s something you’d have to ask them, because I don’t understand it either. I only know I felt empathy and compassion, and I swore that I would uphold my duty to do everything for my constituents. And it was fairly easy for me to do that because I believed in what I was doing was helping people bring them hope and some humanity. But you would have to ask the other 60 MLAs why they chose to ignore their constituents.

Commissioner Drysdale
Also, is what you’re saying is, what your testimony is—and I want to make sure again, make sure I understand this—as leaders of the province, as elected representatives, did you not have access to all kinds of scientific and medical information that were not being made available to the public so that you could make these decisions? Or were you deprived of any other additional information that the public didn’t have?

Nadine Wilson
Unfortunately, we were on our own as elected officials. And I read a lot, and I just tried to get as much resources as possible, because the Ministry of Health was quite overwhelmed, and sometimes you couldn’t reach them. So we were essentially on our own.

Commissioner Drysdale
You brought it up, and Mr. Buckley brought it up too, the emergency measures organization in Saskatchewan. As a matter of fact, we’ve heard in testimony earlier today that the aim of what they were doing was to protect the medical system. Did you hear government officials talking about that their aim, their goal was to protect the medical system, as opposed to the goal was to protect the people of Saskatchewan?

Nadine Wilson
Yes, I did.

Commissioner Drysdale
When Lieutenant Colonel Redmond testified to this group, he had said that much of what happened—and I’m going to come around to what you saw—he said much of what happened, a lot of the things that went wrong were because, number one, the goal was set to protect the medical system as opposed to protect Canadians. And he said, number two, the medical departments were put in charge of managing an emergency when they didn’t have emergency training, and the emergency preparedness organization was sidelined. And he said some of the issues that happened, there were a lot of senior people involved with EMO, the Emergency Measures Organization, quit. Did you observe anything like that in Saskatchewan or did you hear discussions about that in Saskatchewan?

Nadine Wilson
I heard discussions regarding what you said.

Commissioner Drysdale
Okay, thank you. Nobody else?

Shawn Buckley
I have some follow up questions just because I think it’s important for people to understand, because a lot of people don’t understand government. So even when I say “Caucus,” Caucus is the governing Party. When the MLAs meet together as the government MLAs, that’s called a Caucus meeting. I’m correct about that?

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley
And so—

Nadine Wilson
Officers and government have Caucus meetings daily to brief you and prepare you for what’s happening in the assembly.

Shawn Buckley
Right. Yeah, so if the legislature is sitting, for example, and there’s bills working through, you guys will be meeting: We’ve got this vote, here’s what we’re doing, here’s why we’re doing it—that type of thing?

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. But with COVID, basically my understanding is as a government MLA, as a member of the government Caucus, you actually weren’t involved in any decision making at all in how the government was going to handle COVID.

Nadine Wilson
It was as if there was a cone of silence.

Shawn Buckley
Right. So you guys didn’t in Caucus, as Commissioner Drysdale pulled out, I mean, you didn’t make a decision on masking?

Nadine Wilson
No, we were just instructed to wear them.

Shawn Buckley
And you guys didn’t make a decision on school closures.

Nadine Wilson
Collectively I think we might have gone around the table offering an opinion, but at the end of the day, the decision was made by someone else and not Congress.

Shawn Buckley
And you weren’t involved in a decision where we’re going to have vaccine mandates for government employees.

Nadine Wilson
No.

Shawn Buckley
Or even just vaccine mandates where you can’t, you know, if you’re non-vaccinated, you can’t go to restaurants or non-essential services. There was no Caucus discussion about that?

Nadine Wilson
No.

Shawn Buckley
And you had indicated you’re not even sure that Cabinet had those discussions. And by Cabinet, just for those that don’t understand government: So you are a Minister, so you’re Minister of Transport, you’re Minister of Health, that forms kind of a mini-board within Caucus called Cabinet. You’re not even sure that Cabinet was the one making these decisions on masking and mandates and school closures.

Nadine Wilson
That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. But you did indicate: So Premier Moe went to Ottawa with the other premiers to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau, and when he came back, basically these things were all being dictated to the province.

Nadine Wilson
Correct.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. So is it your belief that basically decisions were made in Ottawa by the Premiers and the Prime Minister on how this was going to be run, and Saskatchewan followed suit?

Nadine Wilson
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Thank you. So I’ve got no further questions. And, Nadine, thank you so much for joining us on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry. We sincerely thank you for your testimony today.

Nadine Wilson
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss with NCI, and thank you for what you’re doing.

Credentials

Hon. Nadine Wilson has had a distinguished career in public service, serving as an MLA for Saskatchewan Rivers since 2007. She has held several important positions, including Legislative Secretary to two premiers, Provincial Secretary to the Province of Saskatchewan, and Deputy Speaker of the Saskatchewan legislature. Wilson’s extensive experience and dedication to her constituents have made her a respected figure in Saskatchewan politics. Her commitment to transparency and accountability has been evident throughout her career, as she strives to represent the interests of her constituents and the people of Saskatchewan.

Summary

Nadine Wilson testifies about her experiences as an MLA during the COVID-19 pandemic. She describes her growing concerns with the government’s handling of the crisis, particularly the lack of debate and transparency in decision-making processes. Wilson explains that she left the Saskatchewan Party in September 2021 due to disagreements over vaccination requirements for MLAs and the government’s approach to pandemic policies.

Wilson shares that there was little to no discussion within the caucus about major policy decisions such as masking, school closures, and vaccine mandates. She expresses surprise at the lack of consultation with medical experts and emergency management professionals. Wilson also reveals that many of her fellow MLAs closed their offices and became unresponsive to constituents during the pandemic, while she kept her office open and became a point of contact for people across the province seeking help and information.

The witness describes a phone call with Premier Scott Moe, during which he informed her that all elected officials would need to be vaccinated, a decision apparently made in consultation with other premiers and the Prime Minister. Wilson expresses concern about the impact of government policies on mental health, education, and the economy, as well as the erosion of personal freedoms and democratic processes.

Wilson emphasizes the need for accountability and transparency from the government, sharing her difficulties in obtaining information about detention centers and other pandemic-related measures. She concludes by stating that many Saskatchewan residents are still struggling to heal from the pandemic experience and are seeking acknowledgment and an apology from the government for the harm caused during this period.