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Geneviève Eliany
Kimberly, can you hear us?

Kimberly Snow
I can.

Geneviève Eliany
Great. Could you turn your video on, please?

Kimberly Snow
Oh, okay. There we are.

Geneviève Eliany
Thank you so much. Could you state and spell your name for the record, please?

Kimberly Snow
My name is Kimberly Snow, K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y S-N-O-W.

Geneviève Eliany
Do you promise to tell the truth today?

Kimberly Snow
I do.

Geneviève Eliany
Thank you so much for your patience, I know we’re quite behind. You worked at the management level of retail. Correct?

Kimberly Snow
That is correct

Geneviève Eliany
And can you tell us a little bit about your role at the corporate offices?

Kimberly Snow
I worked for TJX Canada. I held a director-level position overseeing the workplace services department for their head office in Canada.

Geneviève Eliany
Can you tell us about their vaccine mandate?

Kimberly Snow
Yes. So we, at the corporate office— I was working from home over a two-year period. And when the pandemic hit, everybody went home and we had to learn to work in a new way.

And it wasn’t until, I would say, late 2021 that the U.S.—the corporate headquarters in Boston—started considering putting some kind of vaccine mandate in place. And in fact, they did by September of that year. And they were discussing whether they were going to do this in Canada. Based on the culture that TJX embodied— And that was one of the things I absolutely loved about this company, was the values that they held, the respect, the kindness and respect that they promoted. The education on diversity and inclusion in that company was, you know, something I’d never experienced in any other company before.
And on the committees that I was sitting on and participating in, I started seeing that this was something that Canada was considering as well. They started discussing this at the leadership level. And I could see that it was heading in the same direction for Canada, that they were going to probably implement the vaccine mandate as well.

And, you know, they started taking surveys. I think they were trying to get a pulse from the employees to understand whether or not people were already vaccinated; if they were to put a mandate in place, how many people would actually get vaccinated; and then how many people, what percentage would be left that they would have to deal with as far as paying some kind of severance out.

It wasn’t until a week before Christmas—in December 2021, I think it was—that they finally announced that they were putting this in place. And anyone that did not comply with the vaccine mandate by February 28, 2022 would be terminated. So there was time for us to look for jobs. But you still had that time period to make a decision and become vaccinated and you could still keep your job.

Geneviève Eliany
Can you tell us about your experience with your attempt to get a conscious belief exemption?

Kimberly Snow
Yeah. So, you know, they did allow us the opportunity to provide an exemption. For me, it was a conscious belief exemption that I wanted to apply for. I had been working with the people in HR for many years—for the six years that I had been there. And then all of a sudden, I had to sit through questioning from my colleagues based on criteria that this company had set to determine whether the beliefs that I had in place fell in line with the criteria that they had identified to satisfy the requirements to remain at the company to keep my job—you know, whether my beliefs fell in line.

And I had conversations; I had emails back and forth. I was very open in communicating that I was not in agreement with what they were doing. And I had to go back and give them some kind of background on my beliefs and sort of prove that I was not in agreement with vaccinations.

I had stopped vaccinating my daughter when she was younger. I had to get exemptions for her to go to school.

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And I had to provide all of this evidence to them. And it didn’t help, they didn’t— I was still denied. I’m not aware of anyone that submitted any kind of exemption, whether it was for medical or conscious belief or religious or anything. There was no one in that I was aware of that was approved for the exemption at all.

Geneviève Eliany
And to make matters worse, it was people that you worked closely with who questioned you, right?

Kimberly Snow
It was humiliating. You know, you’re working with these people in a professional manner. And they’re questioning the validity of your beliefs. And you’re trying to explain to them something very personal about what you believe, things that I hadn’t shared with these people. And of course, it wasn’t necessary. But I had to come forward and try to justify that the beliefs that I had were valid and should qualify for this exemption, of which they did not approve. But it was a very humiliating process.

Geneviève Eliany
Were you ever called back after your termination once the mandate ended?

Kimberly Snow
No. No, I was not.

Geneviève Eliany
It’s curious because retail of course didn’t have the shopping passes, or the vaccine passports to enter the store to shop. So the office—the corporate staff, as you’re explaining it—had to be vaccinated. But unvaccinated shoppers were welcome to attend the stores.

Kimberly Snow
And in fact, when they did put the mandate in place for the corporate office, it was a requirement for the corporate office and management level only. There was no requirement for store employees. In the 500-plus stores we had across Canada, there was no requirement for the store employees, unless you were in management, to be vaccinated. The vaccine mandate did not apply to them, nor did it apply to the distribution centres that handled the merchandise and processed the merchandise—except for management. There were thousands and thousands of employees that worked at these distribution centres. It did not apply to them. I mean, that was so illogical.

Geneviève Eliany
Yeah, it makes no sense. That completes my questions. We’ll see if the commissioners have any questions for you.

Kimberly Snow
Thank you.

Geneviève Eliany
They’re shaking their heads. Thank you so much for sharing your story with the National Citizens Inquiry.

Kimberly Snow
Thank you so much.

[00:08:00]

Final Review and Approval: Jodi Bruhn, August 16, 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

Ms. Snow worked in a director- level position for TJX Canada overseeing the Workplace Services Department for their head office in Canada. Ms. Snow worked from home during the pandemic until late 2021. The corporate headquarters (in Boston) started considering vaccine mandates, and started surveying employees. A mandate was put in place in December 2021 stating that by February 28, 2022 all staff must be vaccinated, or they would be terminated. Ms. Snow was fired.

Ms. Snow was not in agreement, and she tried for a “Conscious Belief” exemption, but was denied. No staff were granted any exemptions to her knowledge. Oddly, there was no requirement for the store employees in the 500 plus stores across Canada to be vaccinated, nor did it apply to the distribution centres that handled the merchandise and processed the merchandise, only the corporate office and the management level staff.