Open Letter to the Unvaccinated

You are not alone! As of 28 July 2021, 29% of Canadians have not received a COVID-19 vaccine, and an additional 14% have received one shot. In the US and in the European Union, less than half the population is fully vaccinated, and even in Israel, the “world’s lab” according to Pfizer, one third of people remain completely unvaccinated. Politicians and the media have taken a uniform view, scapegoating the unvaccinated for the troubles that have ensued after eighteen months of fearmongering and lockdowns. It’s time to set the record straight.It is entirely reasonable and legitimate to say ‘no’ to insufficiently tested vaccines for which there is no reliable science. You have a right to assert guardianship of your body and to refuse medical treatments if you see fit. You are right to say ‘no’ to a violation of your dignity, your integrity and your bodily autonomy. It is your body, and you have the right to choose. You are right to fight for your children against their mass vaccination in school.You are right to question whether free and informed consent is at all possible under present circumstances. Long-term effects are unknown. Transgenerational effects are unknown. Vaccine-induced deregulation of natural immunity is unknown. Potential harm is unknown as the adverse event reporting is delayed, incomplete and inconsistent between jurisdictions.You are being targeted by mainstream media, government social engineering campaigns, unjust rules and policies, collaborating employers, and the social-media mob. You are being told that you are now the problem and that the world cannot get back to normal unless you get vaccinated. You are being viciously scapegoated by propaganda and pressured by others around you. Remember; there is nothing wrong with you.You are inaccurately accused of being a factory for new SARS-CoV-2 variants, when in fact, according to leading scientists, your natural immune system generates immunity to multiple components of the virus. This will promote your protection against a vast range of viral variants and abrogates further spread to anyone else.You are justified in demanding independent peer-reviewed studies, not funded by multinational pharmaceutical companies. All the peer-reviewed studies of short-term safety and short-term efficacy have been funded, organized, coordinated, and supported by these for-profit corporations; and none of the study data have been made public or available to researchers who don’t work for these companies.You are right to question the preliminary vaccine trial results. The claimed high values of relative efficacy rely on small numbers of tenuously determined “infections.” The studies were also not blind, where people giving the injections admittedly knew or could deduce whether they were injecting the experimental vaccine or the placebo. This is not acceptable scientific methodology for vaccine trials.You are correct in your calls for a diversity of scientific opinions. Like in nature, we need a polyculture of information and its interpretations. And we don’t have that right now. Choosing not to take the vaccine is holding space for reason, transparency and accountability to emerge. You are right to ask, ‘What comes next when we give away authority over our own bodies?’Do not be intimidated. You are showing resilience, integrity and grit. You are coming together in your communities, making plans to help one another and standing for scientific accountability and free speech, which are required for society to thrive. We are among many who stand with you.

Angela Durante, PhD

Denis Rancourt, PhD

Claus Rinner, PhD

Laurent Leduc, PhD

Donald Welsh, PhD

John Zwaagstra, PhD

Jan Vrbik, PhD

Valentina Capurri, PhD

Advertisement

Choppy waters: Ontario canoe maker posts jobs only for ‘unvaccinated individuals’

Souris River Canoes has posted a job ad that reads, ‘Please DO NOT apply if you have taken any vaccines for COVID-19’

Author of the article:Stephanie Hughes

Publishing date:Sep 07, 2021  •  6 minutes ago  •  3 minute read  

Company owners Keith and Arlene 
 Robinson have stood by their position in the face of criticism: “We stand against government and corporate bullying of people's right to health freedom using vaccine mandates and vaccine passports."
Company owners Keith and Arlene Robinson have stood by their position in the face of criticism: “We stand against government and corporate bullying of people’s right to health freedom using vaccine mandates and vaccine passports.” PHOTO BY SOURISRIVER.COM

An Ontario canoe company turned heads this week when it posted a job ad requiring applicants to not be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Please DO NOT apply if you have taken any vaccines for COVID-19,” read the job posting for watercraft retailer Souris River Canoes. “We will only be considering unvaccinated individuals.”

The posting is aiming to fill two full-time roles and one part-time position for workers to start in October with six-month renewable positions. The company in Atikokan, Ont., was established in 1985 and is owned by a husband and wife team.

The ad prompted backlash on social media, including critical responses among their own customers on their Facebook page.

“I will never buy from Souris River again,” said Kevin Ride, a resident of Thunder Bay, Ont.

“Nor will I,” responded a user that goes by Rob Prdn, “Requiring staff to be unvaccinated for Covid-19 as a condition of employment is both irresponsible and reckless at this stage of the pandemic.”

The job ad also made the rounds on Twitter and prompted negative Google reviews of the company.

The company stood by its position in an emailed response to one of its critics that has since been shared on Reddit.com. In their statement, owners Arlene and Keith Robinson said, “We stand against government and corporate bullying of people’s right to health freedom using vaccine mandates and vaccine passports.”

They said they support the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Constitution and the Nuremburg Code.

“You have a right to your judgemental attitudes and opinions, just as we have a right to make our own business hiring decisions.”

The Robinsons did not respond to the Post’s requests for further comment Monday.

Wojtek Dabrowski, managing partner at Toronto public relations firm Provident Communications, Inc., said the ad could damage the Souris brand.

“Anytime you get in the way of that by throwing up something as off-putting, as offensive, and frankly to many people, as dangerous as asking only for unvaccinated people to come work at your store, you’re getting in the way of what it means to run a successful business.”

Dabrowski said that given the politically charged nature of the vaccine debate with anti-vaxxers at odds with government mandates, a small business might wade into the argument to give itself a branded position on a public issue.

“The first order impact of this is very, very political,” Dabrowski said. “The person putting this up clearly said, ‘I am willing to take some impact to the business over making this very important point that I feel super passionately about’, despite a global consensus of medical and infectious disease experts that says that vaccines are absolutely crucial and critical to solving this thing in stopping the spread of Coronavirus worldwide.”

Despite the backlash, Yuval Deutsch, professor of entrepreneurship and strategic management at the Schulich School of Business, thinks that the controversy could put a small business’s name on the radar of a mainstream customer base.

“Because it’s a small company, it’s a niche company,” Deutsch said. “So, at the end of the day, it will get exposure. Maybe it’s the reason they did it in the first place.”

Deutsch said that while the company is seeing a negative reaction in the days after it published the job posting, the name might stick with customers shopping for canoes after the controversy subsides.

The issue of mandatory vaccination as a topic among small businesses is far from over, according to Dabrowski. He expects to see more companies signalling their stance.

“There are small business owners who hold these beliefs and I’m willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that everybody who thinks something similar to what the owners of this company believe in is going to be watching this one very closely to see exactly how it plays out and what they can learn in terms of either buttressing their viewpoint, or spreading it publicly,” Dabrowski said.

%d bloggers like this: