[00:00:00]

Ches Crosbie
Welcome, Peter.

Peter Van Caulart
Thank you. Good morning.

Ches Crosbie
Good morning. Do you affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Peter Van Caulart
I absolutely do.

Ches Crosbie
Thank you.

Criss Hochhold
Good morning.

Peter Van Caulart
Hi Criss.

Criss Hochhold
Can you please just repeat your full name for us.

Peter Van Caulart
My name is Peter Van Caulart. I’m a resident of Kelvin Grove, Prince Edward Island. I have been there since 2019, in November, and moved from Niagara, Ontario, to Prince Edward Island. My family and I moved because we have a business and discovered a business opportunity that was going to work for us, provided we weren’t interfered with. And as everybody knows, March 11th, the interference came and it’s changed our lives drastically.

Criss Hochhold
March 11th of—?

Peter Van Caulart
2020.

Criss Hochhold
Peter, you said you moved from Ontario to Prince Edward Island for business development opportunities?

Peter Van Caulart
Yeah. That’s correct.

Criss Hochhold
Can you tell me more about your business, please?

Peter Van Caulart
My wife and I run a business that is a private post-secondary institution for training the people who are the professional operators running water treatment plants and wastewater treatment facilities in this country. Our work is comprised of preparing those people for their provincial examinations for recertification and initial licensing. It’s the only profession that I know of that requires individuals in the profession to recertify on a cyclical period of typically three years.

Criss Hochhold
And what exactly—to make sure everyone understands what that means—do you teach them? What is the subject matter?

Peter Van Caulart
Yes. We provide the training in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences: hydraulics, the engineering, the chemistry, the biochemistry of treatment of drinking water, public drinking water, the conveyance of that drinking water in the distribution systems, the collection in the wastewater collection systems, and the ultimate treatment in the wastewater treatment facilities for final-end disposal.

Criss Hochhold
And when you say, “final-end disposal,” what does that mean?

Peter Van Caulart
Wastewater has to go back to where it came from.

Criss Hochhold
And how long have you been doing this?

Peter Van Caulart
Since 1987.

Criss Hochhold
And when you instruct, how does that typically take place?

Peter Van Caulart
The instruction largely is in-class, in-person instruction with small numbers of students. It’s somewhat boutique training, mostly hands-on because there are many skills that have to be transmitted through verbal communication and reinforcement. I’ve brought some photos that I’d like to introduce to the Commission, and I’ll hold them up and then pass them on. The first photo is a photo of me with a class of students in a laboratory doing this kind of work. The second photo is a photo of the students performing an analysis after the instruction. This is very typical, so initially we’d have a small classroom briefing, then go into the laboratory and perform the work. And, I’ve done this for over 33,000 students in the period of time that I’ve been instructing in this field.

Criss Hochhold
Incredible. Where do your students come from: All over the world? Canada? The United States?

Peter Van Caulart
We’ve had students from the United Nations Human Resources branch, from Cyprus. I’ve conducted classes in Australia. I’ve conducted training throughout Ontario, the military bases across the country, Newfoundland, Labrador, Ontario, here in Nova Scotia, Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia.

Criss Hochhold
You have clearly a breadth of experience. For the commissioners, those pictures that Peter held up are exhibits number TR-0009 as well as TR-0009a.

[00:05:00]

Peter, then you made a choice to move from Ontario to Prince Edward Island for those business development opportunities. Were you impacted, or was your business impacted by the lockdowns, restrictions, or government mandates?

Peter Van Caulart
The simple answer is yes, but I will elaborate. We discovered a business niche that almost compelled us to consider moving to Prince Edward Island from Ontario for several reasons. I’m getting close to the end of my career and my ability to want to keep teaching. We discovered that we really enjoyed Prince Edward Island from frequent visits in the past. My wife and I discussed this. If we were going to settle down, this was a great place to do it. And all of the pieces worked with my insight in believing that the Maritime provinces were underserved in the level of instruction that I was able to bring, that I had been doing in Ontario for a number of years.

I ascertained that I could travel back and forth to Ontario, still maintain the business that we had there, and develop new business here in the Maritimes, particularly with the indigenous communities of the North Shore of New Brunswick. And we have made inroads and it’s been great. Our reception initially when we were advertising and putting out the information that we were here was, “Oh, thank God somebody like you is here in the Maritimes”—both from the Maritime operators that I came in contact with and the people who run municipalities, who own and operate these kinds of facilities.

Criss Hochhold
Peter, what were some of your biggest challenges that you faced during those times to keep your business going? Because you said that it happens in person because you need to have access to a laboratory, so there’s a lot of hands-on. So when restrictions and mandates came in, how did that impact you? And so what were those challenges that you faced?

Peter Van Caulart
You have to understand civil servants—and I don’t wish to disparage all of them—, but I will explain, having been one once for the Province of Ontario. There is a mentality that you must follow the group-think, and whatever is currently in favour is the thing that’s going to be done. So there are lots of people who like to build empires and lots of people who like to run their own little show.

That said, many of the municipalities simply followed what was a directive from their provincial governments, which was a directive from the national government. And those facilities were deemed closed, so there was no access to drinking water facilities, there was no access to wastewater treatment facilities, the laboratories associated with them, or the people who staffed them.

Criss Hochhold
So the treatment facilities and the freshwater facilities, drinking water facilities were closed, meaning you could not provide any instruction whatsoever. How did that impact—

Peter Van Caulart
The impact was huge. Revenues essentially went from one level to zero.

Criss Hochhold
Because, as you’ve mentioned, this has to be done in person, so an online type of teaching is not something that’s feasible.

Peter Van Caulart
Yeah, the Zoom type of instruction that many people experienced during this time simply didn’t work. I teach adults. Adults, predictably, are kind of like herding cats when you get them into a classroom. In particular, individuals who do not sit in an office on a daily basis that are active throughout a facility, maintaining, monitoring, and operating the facilities. So many of my students, the feedback that came back was, “We really don’t want to play Hollywood Squares, and we prefer that— We’ll wait until you can come in for live interaction and training,” which is exactly what we did. In buying the time, I have to stress that I had to dissolve assets. So corporate assets, personal assets, monies we had saved for retirement, that sort of thing, was all used to try and keep our lives afloat.

Criss Hochhold
So in order to make ends meet, so to speak, you had no choice but to essentially shut down your business because of these mandates and restrictions.

[00:10:00]

Peter Van Caulart
The business essentially shut down, and I refused to take the vaccine until the last possible moment. And unfortunately, I had to take the vaccine because I was faced with an economic crisis that I didn’t want to go through.

Criss Hochhold
And the necessity for taking the vaccination, what was that for?

Peter Van Caulart
The federal government declared that nobody could travel on an aircraft without vaccines or without the injections, and I had an economic benefit that was available to me in Ontario. My own province, however, constrained me from traveling by car because I could not return back to the island unless I had been vaccinated. For all the mandates that happened everywhere else, the mandates on Prince Edward Island were even more draconian. Because basically a bunker mentality was set up on the island to prevent any sort of person from coming onto the island. And if anybody was following numbers and stats, there was a period of time when everybody was glib about the fact that we were an island. We were isolated, therefore we were very lucky and the angel of death had passed over us, and we were not going to be impacted nearly as bad as what we saw in the news in other places.

Criss Hochhold
How did it make you feel? Because it sounds as though, based in what you said, you had to wait until the very last minute and then you got the vaccinations simply for—simply is not is not the right word to use—but for an economic benefit. How did that make you feel?

Peter Van Caulart
It’s the decision I most regret in my life. My wife and I both went to go and get the first shot. And I had to do it for us and for our family. She did not have to do it. And she turned to me and said, “I just, I just can’t do it.” And I said, “That’s fine, don’t do it. I completely understand it.” She supported that I had to do it, but she did not agree that I should have it, and I certainly did not want to take it. I regret it, and I have done everything in my power to research the detoxification protocols that are available. And for anyone listening, nattokinase is one of those things that’s on the list. And I believe Dr. McCullough probably spoke about it yesterday. Chaga, vitamin D3, vitamin C, liposomal.

Criss Hochhold
Terry, sorry to interject, but we do have to move on, and I appreciate the seriousness and the consequence. But I’m also aware that you have—aside from a significant economic impact on you and your family—I also understand you have some personal impact with relation to a family member.

Peter Van Caulart
Correct. So in staving off the inevitable injection, for me it was not until September of 2021, I believe. I was not able to travel to my mother who was in care in Ontario. And my second biggest decision is, regrettably: I had to sign the form that required her to get her vaccine in care. I was faced with the conundrum as her medical power of attorney, that if I did not sign it, they would eject my mother from care. This is a woman in a wheelchair who could not move, and they were going to eject her from care. They were going to turn her out, and I would have to find alternative accommodation for me being in PEI, she being in Ontario. And my third photo I’m going to hold up is the photo of my dear mother, Adele [Exhibit TR-009b]. And this is a, a great photo.

But that’s the last time I saw her [Exhibit TR-009c].

[00:15:00]

That was through a window at a healthcare facility in November of ’20, when I was able to fly before vaccines were made available. Under the constraints that were imposed at the time, she was on a second-floor window in her room. We had an hour and a half conversation because I was fully aware that that was perhaps the last time I was going to see her for a long time. And after she had her second injection, she developed vaginal bleeding. And this is a woman in her 80s who’d never had any problem with her reproductive system whatsoever. She bore four children naturally. And to develop vaginal bleeding was curious at the most. And her wishes were carried out very quickly after her death. And I wish to hell I had insisted on an autopsy and a particular investigation as to the cause of what really killed her.

Criss Hochhold
Thank you, Terry [sic]. You said that your, once again the word, “choice” that you faced was because of your medical authority of attorney, that you had to sign for your mother to get vaccinated in the care facility. If not, she faced ejection.

Peter Van Caulart
Correct. The care facility was a not-for-profit care facility in Ontario, and the care she had received up till that time was exemplary. It was much better than many of the places my wife and I had sussed out. The year previous, we had seen horrible places. And so we were very confident that she was in the best care possible at the time. But they of course went full mandate, full blinkers on. There were no deviations from their rules. And their imposed rules: they claim they came from the government. I know that everybody claims they come from the government, but they pile on their own little twist to them. And by the time every one of us had to deal with people who said, “You have to wear a mask here or have to show your pass there,” we all had some pretty stiff encounters with zealots.

Criss Hochhold
Thank you. I’ll have more questions. We are running short on time, so I think you’ve already presented a great testimony. So I will defer to the commissioners for any questions for follow-up.

Commissioner DiGregorio
Thank you for your testimony.

Peter Van Caulart
Of course, thank you for your service.

Commissioner DiGregorio
I just have a few clarifying questions about your business. You mentioned that you had adult students. I’m just wondering if you can tell me who a typical student would have been in your business.

Peter Van Caulart
Oh, certainly. All my students are adults. None of my students are directly out of college or university. They’re all people who are actively employed. As a result of their employment in this industry, the water and wastewater industry, they have to seek provincial licensing in order to continue to work in the business. That licensing is only valid unless they recertify. The recertification usually takes place every three years. They have to show a certain number of continuing education units and contact hours in order to get that recertification. In Ontario, it’s quite high. It’s a little less here in Atlantic Canada, but nonetheless, if they do not have it, they cease to be able to be employed.

Commissioner DiGregorio
Thank you. And one other question. I think I heard you say that one of the reasons your business became depressed in PEI was because of the closure of facilities, but that if you could travel to Ontario, you could still work. And was that something different in Ontario from PEI at that time?

Peter Van Caulart
No, the net kept getting tighter and tighter. Every time I made an overture to arrange something—and I had made several things work at the last minute—it was somebody within the municipality who suddenly came down with a:

[00:20:00]

“No, no, we can’t have anybody from outside our group to infiltrate and potentially infect us. And, therefore, we’re closed.”

Commissioner DiGregorio
Okay, thank you.

Peter Van Caulart
You’re welcome.

Commissioner Massie
You alluded to the protocol that had been developed and still developing for detoxification from the vax injuries. Did you personally suffer any vax injuries?

Peter Van Caulart
No vax injuries, but I am grateful that I have used the knowledge and skill I have to find the things that I needed necessary to diminish whatever potential I believe is out there for a vax injury. I do question a change in my overall energy level, but I cannot conclusively say. Because part of the problem of all of what has gone on in the last three years is that everything is broken. Access to the medical system is broken. Access to get tests and confirmatory things done are broken.

I happen to be a pilot, and I’ve been a pilot since I was 17, and I can tell you that a two-year medical examination that was a normal course of events is no longer a normal course of events. It’s a telephone conversation with a medical practitioner to get reassessed. And being a pilot, I have two major concerns. That is those pilots in this country and other places who got the vaccine: If they have a potential for some sort of vaccine injury, I have a real concern about being in the air with those pilots. And the second thing is that the pilots that didn’t get the vaccine, who were furloughed for whatever reason because their airlines had mandates, or their mandates were imposed on them by the federal government, those people are the ones that you definitely want to seek out and fly with and support whatever airlines they might be with. And lastly, I think there’s going to be a large amount of Canadians who when it comes time to receive or transfuse blood in medically necessary conditions: a condition about whether or not you’re receiving vaccine available blood or non-vaccine available blood will be an issue as well.

Commissioner Massie
Thank you.

Commissioner Drysdale
Sorry, I have just a couple of quick questions about your mother.

Peter Van Caulart
Thank you.

Commissioner Drysdale
How long after she got the second injection did her medical condition start, and how long after did she pass away?

Peter Van Caulart
She passed away four months after the second shot. Her medical conditions occurred within three weeks of the first shot.

Commissioner Drysdale
Secondly, did you have any discussions with the medical personnel that you thought it might be a reaction to the vaccine?

Peter Van Caulart
I did. And you can probably understand what that reaction would have been. “Oh no, you can’t possibly know anything because you’re not a doctor.”

Commissioner Drysdale
So then is it safe to say that it was not registered in the CAEFISS [Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance] system as an adverse reaction?

Peter Van Caulart
I believe it wasn’t.

Commissioner Drysdale
Thank you.

Peter Van Caulart
You’re welcome.

Commissioner Kaikkonen
Thank you for your testimony. I just would like to ask: you refer to the PEI protocols and mandates as draconian. Could you kind of expand on that, please?

Peter Van Caulart
I don’t think I have enough time. The initial response on the island was to literally barricade the bridge, and they put up a barricade. Everybody was required to go through some sort of search procedure questioning that was, I’m going to say, literally unCanadian. Things that you’d never expect to hear or experience in Canada. These are the same kinds of questions that I answered routinely going across the border 30 years that I lived in Niagara because I was only 15 minutes from the Canadian/US border. I’m quite used to answering the nature of those kinds of questions for border security. But I never expected to experience that in PEI or New Brunswick when I once came over to New Brunswick. Because I got myself declared essential because of the nature of the work I did—and in traveling to Sydney, Nova Scotia, I can tell you that I was stopped at the border between Sydney and New Brunswick—

[00:25:00]

by a group of angry people who had been locked down, and by individuals wielding bats threatening to smash cars as a result of their reaction of being locked down at this point for over a year. The only reason I got through that roadblock was because I was declared an essential, and I explained it to the individual wielding the bat, and he acquiesced and allowed me to pass through. I was able to deliver the training in Sydney, Nova Scotia to the people who were waiting for me there. Sadly, I was only into that training two days before
Nova Scotia locked down Nova Scotia, and I was required to return back to Prince Edward Island. So that training was postponed for another period of time, and I was able to go back and complete it. But almost three or four months later.

Criss Hochhold
Thank you very much, Peter. I really appreciate your time this morning.

Peter Van Caulart
Thank you. And my fellow Canadians, thank you. We’re awake.

[00:26:17]

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

Peter is a Canadian who moved from Ontario to Prince Edward Island for business development opportunities. He was considered an “essential” worker as he trains personnel in the waste water treatment facilities around the world for over 30 years. He describes the severe pandemic measures taken by PEI and how they effected his business that he eventually had to shut down.

As his mother’s power of attorney, he was forced to make a decision to vaccinate her. She was in a care facility in Ontario and was told that if she didn’t get the COVID vaccine that she would be ejected. Three weeks after the first jab his 80+ year old mother started vaginal bleeding. Peter expressed his concern with doctors about this being a possible adverse effect of the vaccine but was ignored. This continued and 4 months after her second injection of the COVID vaccine, she died.

Ultimately he felt he had no choice but to get vaccinated himself, and did so. He details the numerous natural sources that he has been using to avoid any potential adverse effects from the COVID vaccine.