Problematical Ethics Overruled

"People have beliefs, personal beliefs, and personal ethics about many, many things but if they collide with the employer's rules and policies, you've got to basically leave them at the door if you want to work for that employer."

Howard Levitt employment lawyer, Levitt Sheikh, Toronto

"There is no testing option for those who choose not to be vaccinated."

"Those without proof of vaccination or an exemption will not be permitted on campus."

Huron University College website, affiliate, University of Western Ontario

Julie Ponesse screengrab from video

"It was within, I think, half an hour of sending that email that I received an email from my dean stating that I would be dismissed and put on temporary paid leave."

"[You] will be placed on a temporary paid leave and you will not be allowed to attend campus."

"[I may qualify for an exemption, but seeking one] acquiesces to the mandate in some sense [which she objects to]."

"I want to be very clear in rejecting it in principle, I don't think we ever should have been in the place where we're looking at the situation of mandates, so I'm not just seeking an exemption to one, I'm challenging the very foundation of the idea."

Julie Ponesse, professor of philosophy, Huron University College 

Entitlements, entitlements. As a professor of philosophy Professor Ponesse who has taught ethics for twenty years has raised strenuous objection to her college's mandatory vaccination policies. So much so that even at real risk of losing her position at the college she steadfastly refuses to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This is a viral disease proven to be deadly to millions of people around the world as a global pandemic of widespread upheaval. Vaccines were formulated and scientifically tested for efficacy and safety as a first-line defence against the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19.

Epidemiologists advising governments speak of the necessity to inoculate as many people within a population as conceivably possible, with the exception of those who are medically compromised and cannot be exposed to a vaccine. A small yet still considerable percentage of populations all over the world take personal exception to the very concept of vaccinations and refuse to submit to the urging of government and the medical community. 

 

That someone who has taught ethics for the past two decades is among the estimated 3.7 million Canadians refusing vaccination is rather mind-boggling.

 

According to employment lawyer Howard Levitt, exemptions based on religion or medial issues are quite limited, under Ontario's human rights code. And even though unions' collective bargaining rights may have a clause touching on such issues, more generally such issues as employers demanding their employees in such circumstances follow medical advice leading to employment security, are fairly straightforward. 

 

In the case of Huron University College, there is a requirement that mandates vaccinations on campus excepting those who have an exemption for either medical reasons, creed or religion. In those situations people must undergo daily testing. The College has made it quite clear in their correspondence with the recalcitrant professor that were she to obtain an exemption on any grounds, she would be expected to submit to rapid testing and mask wearing, both of which she had refused. 

Professor Ponesse's objections don't begin and end with her refusal to respect her employer's mandate. She has stated publicly her distrust of the safety and effectiveness of COVID vaccines. She speaks of the vaccines as "experimental" in a video posted online. Making her sentiments abundantly clear. Studies concluded the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are judged to be about 90 percent effective. New surging cases of COVID occur mostly among the unvaccinated population.

Among universities and businesses Canada-wide, some manner of vaccination mandate has become the norm. All federal public service employees have been mandated to be vaccinated with the stated exemptions. The same applies to regulated federal transportation sectors. And the provinces are beginning to announce vaccine passports. Abacus Data reported that of the 29.5 million adult population in Canada, seven percent (two million) were vaccine hesitant, six percent (1.77 million) adamantly refuse vaccination.

Professor Ponesse has approached the help of the faculty association of Heron University College with the knowledge that many unions are supportive of vaccine mandates to begin with. She has consolidated her stance on vaccination mandates by appearing on right-wing blogs and podcasts over the past few months to express her skepticism about vaccines and public-health measures in place to control the pandemic. 

Her concerns, she states, are ethical in nature, relating to policies coercing compliance. "As Canadians, as rational, autonomous people, my view is that we have a right to decide what goes into our body, even if we have the worst reasons for it", she insists. As a professor of ethics it might seem to many that her academic credentials have been overruled by her authority opposition complex.

"I am facing imminent dismissal after 20 years on the job because I will not submit to having an experimental vaccine injected into my body."

"I don’t work in a high-risk environment. I’m not a doctor in an emergency room. I’m a teacher. I’m a university professor."

Julie Ponesse, statements from video

 

"I think she is flat out wrong and it’s not just a difference in opinion about morals, some of her facts are just incorrect."

"She’s impugning the vaccine, calling it experimental, those are just not true assertions."

Arthur Caplan, founding director, Division of Medical Ethics,  New York University Langone Medical Center

 

"I’ve asked a lot of questions of [Western University] both privately and publicly. Asked a bunch today, in fact. This [Ponesse’s video] is about refusing to take a vaccination, a policy that is legally enforceable and ethically justifiable."

"[Her crying on the video?] Crocodile tears – but not for those that died, or suffered, or who have been harmed."

Jacob Shelley, professor of health ethics, University of Western Ontario