[00:00:00]

Shawn Buckley

And our next witness is going to be a Mr. Steven Kiedyk.

Wayne Lenhardt

Good morning, Steven. Could you give us your name and then spell it for us. And then you’re going to have to swear an oath for me.

Steven Kiedyk

My name is Steven Kiedyk, S-T-E-V-E-N  K-I-E-D-Y-K.

Wayne Lenhardt

Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth during your testimony here today?

Steven Kiedyk

I do. I will.

Wayne Lenhardt

Your testimony today is going to relate to your injuries that you’ve suffered from the vaccine. So let’s start with a bit of background. Your profession is that of a land surveyor in Manitoba, correct?

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

And when did you first start doing land surveying?

Steven Kiedyk

2007, I believe.

Wayne Lenhardt

So by October 2020, you were still doing that and you were doing it for the Manitoba government, correct?

Steven Kiedyk

I was, yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

That job terminated in April of 2021 for no COVID reasons, am I right?

Steven Kiedyk

That is correct, yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

As a restructuring of the government. You continue to do surveying and went back to your original company in June of 2021. Am I correct?

Steven Kiedyk

Correct.

Wayne Lenhardt

Tell me why and when you were convinced to get one shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

Steven Kiedyk

Well, it took me a while to actually finally convince myself to go in and get a shot. I finally got it in July of 2021. Up to that point, I was pretty adamant on not wanting to get it, only because I believed I should have the right to choose on whether I should get it or not. Secondly, because I wasn’t really a part of the demographic that was at risk for the disease. So therefore, I just didn’t want to put myself through that risk. But eventually, after months of being essentially cast out of society and being told that I was a horrible person for not joining the vaccination campaign, I finally decided in July. I just woke up one morning and decided to get my one shot to regain my presence in society, I guess.

Wayne Lenhardt

At that point, you are pretty healthy. I understand that you did a marathon in July of 2019.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes, I’m a fairly avid gym-goer. I go to the gym, roughly about five days a week. I ran. Like I said, I did my first marathon in 2019. I actually did really, really well and tried to continue on going down that path of being as healthy as possible. Because I’m only getting older, so I may as well try to stay healthier.

Wayne Lenhardt

And did you have any ailments of any kind?

Steven Kiedyk

Up to that point, no. I was fairly healthy. I was a fairly healthy 35-year-old, just trying to learn how to run.

Wayne Lenhardt

So in July you had your one shot of Pfizer.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

And when did you have your first health concern?

Steven Kiedyk

So it was only the one vaccination that I had, so I was still kind of locked out of most of society. I wasn’t able to go to the gym and I wasn’t able to do much physical activity. But it wasn’t until October. I got together with some friends and we decided to play some basketball, where just playing a regular game of pickup with some friends,

[00:05:00]

I ended up losing consciousness and collapsing on the floor. Just playing regular basketball. It was really alarming because it had never actually happened to me before under strain, losing consciousness and blacking out and getting all tingly. So that was kind of alarming. But now I realize that it has not stopped, actually. I’m finding myself losing consciousness on overexertion, actually a lot of times. My body goes tingly, I lose vision. I have to take a knee or I have to take a second to regain my composure.

Wayne Lenhardt

And how often does this happen?

Steven Kiedyk

Well, in the beginning, it could happen almost three times a day, depending on what I was doing that day. Now, I’m a little bit better at regulating how much stress and how much strain I can put on my body so that it doesn’t happen. But it does happen still quite regularly if I over-strenuate myself, I guess.

Wayne Lenhardt

Has this interfered with your surveying job in any way?

Steven Kiedyk

Indirectly, yes. I’m not as good at my job as I was before. I’m finding myself taking a few more breaks during my work. When I’m doing my physical activity during my work, I’m not getting as much work done as I did before. Again, because of breaks, because of having to catch my breath, because of having to make sure I don’t collapse and lose consciousness.

Wayne Lenhardt

Yes. We talked earlier about your work and how you, as you put it, you do a certain number of bars per day.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

Could you explain what that means for the commissioners?

Steven Kiedyk

Sure. For an example, let’s say I was on a regular day, I would be able to place about 12 bars. These are iron bars about three feet long, about one inch by one inch. I’d use a sledgehammer and I would be pounding those into the ground on property corners.

Wayne Lenhardt

Okay, so let me take an example so this is understandable. If you’re surveying, let’s say, a lot out in the field somewhere, you will want to locate the corners of that lot.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

And when you do, you will put an iron bar at each corner of the lot.

Steven Kiedyk

Exactly, yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

And it’s about two and a half feet long and it’s about an inch by an inch in outer dimension.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes. In outer diameter, I guess.

Wayne Lenhardt

So what you’ll do is, you’ll put that bar and then you’ll get your sledgehammer out, and you’ll drive that bar into the ground.

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

Okay and then that becomes the precise location of the corners of the lot.

Steven Kiedyk

Exactly.

Wayne Lenhardt

Previously, we had said that you could do something like 12 bars a day. And you’re now only able to do, sometimes, three bars, sometimes five a day.

Steven Kiedyk

Yeah, depending, again, on how tough the ground is and how much strain I’m actually having to put onto that. I am actually doing much less than what I was doing before because, again, I’m not able to just continuously work like I did before. I’m finding I’m having to take a lot more breaks and catch my breath.

Wayne Lenhardt

Have these sessions of blackouts, let’s call them that, have they gotten worse or better? Or have they stayed the same roughly since October 2021?

Steven Kiedyk

You know, I’d like to be hopeful and say they’ve been getting better. But I think it’s just I’m better at regulating exactly how much strain I can put. Maybe they’ve gotten slightly better. But for the most part, they’re very evident and they are very continuous in my daily life.

Wayne Lenhardt

Okay. Have you gone to a doctor to have him or her look at this?

Steven Kiedyk

That’s the one thing I have not done. Mostly because of the whole scenario that has gone on during the pandemic. I’ve lost a lot of faith in the medical industry; I mean, I didn’t really want to. But I just really don’t know who to trust and if I’m just going to be cast aside and now your problems are unimportant.

[00:10:00]

I know my body. I know what I know. For the last 37 years I’ve been living with this body.

Wayne Lenhardt

So is it fair to say, then, that you’re able to manage it to some extent so that you can still work?

Steven Kiedyk

Yes.

Wayne Lenhardt

But has it gotten better or worse or stayed the same?

Steven Kiedyk

I definitely wouldn’t say it’s gotten— It hasn’t gotten better enough, to say that it’s very noticeable.

Wayne Lenhardt

You have learned how to manage it to some extent?

Steven Kiedyk

Yes, and that’s probably about the way I could say it’s gotten better.

Wayne Lenhardt

Okay. I think, at this point, I’ll ask the commissioners if they have any questions they would like to dig into. Yes, Dr. Massie.

Commissioner Massie

Did you try to report your side effect to the authority?

Steven Kiedyk

I did. I signed a form, one of the forms that was circulating on the internet, but that was about as far as I went. Again, mostly because of the medical industry: I was hearing a lot of people complaining about side effects that were going unheard, so I just didn’t really know the right person to give my complaints to that would actually get traction. I’m under the impression that it just wouldn’t get much traction—hence why I actually even signed up for this, so that my story could get heard.

Commissioner Massie

And my other question is, has your partially vaccinated status affected your ability to work or your social life?

Steven Kiedyk

Yeah, it definitely has affected it, two ways. One way it’s affected it is because the people who are on the vaccine campaign give me flack for not getting my second one. And then, also the fact that I got my first one. Like I said, it impacts my life, every day. It’s very strenuous on my life.

Commissioner Massie

Can you also specify the delay between the vaccination you had and the first onset of symptoms that you have noticed.

Steven Kiedyk

Yeah, it was the first week in July when I got the vaccination. And it was about the second week in October when I actually realized I had that first symptoms and I noticed that I couldn’t exercise like I used to.

Commissioner Massie

Thank you.

Wayne Lenhardt

Any other questions? No. Okay, on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, thank you for your testimony.

Steven Kiedyk

Thank you.

[00:13:18]

Final Review and Approval: Margaret Phillips, August 10, 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

Steven Kiedyk, aged thirty-seven, works as a land surveyor, a profession that requires a degree of physical activity. Mr. Kiedyk was an active gym attendee and completed a marathon in 2019.

Mr. Kiedyk was adamant that he did not want to take the COVID vaccine, however increasing pressure from society restrictions and harassment resulted in him getting the Pfizer vaccine in July 2021.

In October 2021, during a game of basketball, Mr. Kiedyk collapsed and lost consciousness. The blackout symptoms persist to date and Mr. Kiedyk has learnt to moderate the physical strain he can put on himself, including his work ability.