To:
Premier of Ontario, Hon. Doug Ford
Ontario Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kieran Moore
Minister of Education, Hon. Stephen Lecce
From:
Free and Critical Thinking Educators (FACT Educators)
February 1, 2022
We are writing this letter to ask you to recall the current COVID-19 immunization disclosure policy for the education sector.
Ontario public education sector employees who have not disclosed their COVID-19 vaccination status or stated they were unvaccinated are still being asked to complete Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) three times a week or have been placed on unpaid leave/terminated.
Mounting irrefutable evidence and data suggest that COVID-19 vaccination does not prevent transmission and spread of the SARS-COV2 virus. Therefore, it is unclear why Ontario public education sector employees who chose not to disclose their vaccination status/not get vaccinated are required to submit test results three times a week. If they refuse to take the test, they will be placed on unpaid leave. In some jurisdictions such employees have been terminated.
When the policy was put in place, the above-mentioned group of the Ontario public education sector employees were required to do RATs only if they were asymptomatic. The situation has since changed drastically and all employees/families have now been instructed to complete RATs when they are indeed symptomatic. Therefore, the purpose of testing three times a week is obsolete as RATs are now being used for diagnostic purposes.
In addition, we would like to remind you that according to Ontario Health Protection and Promotion Act the Chief Medical Officer of Health (or agents) cannot compel an individual to provide a bodily sample or submit to tests without the individual’s consent (2009, c. 33, Sched. 18, s. 12 (8)).
Dr. Kieran Moore has recently stated that we need to learn to live with COVID-19. Therefore, we are asking you to recall the current COVID-19 immunization disclosure policy for the education sector immediately.
Please end the discriminatory and unconstitutional practices.
Sincerely,
Free and Critical Thinking Educators (FACT Educators)