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Former Toronto Metropolitan University Students Cleared to Sue School Over COVID Vaccination Policy
A lawsuit launched more than two years ago by a group of former Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students over the school’s COVID vaccination policy has been given clearance to proceed.
“[TMU lawyers] wanted to appear in court to attempt to schedule a summary judgment motion and have the lawsuit tossed, claiming there was no viable cause for action that the students had against the university,” Mr. O’Connor said.
However, in February the court decided “this is a case that ought to go through the normal legal process,” he said. He expects the sharing of evidence and oral cross-examinations to begin sometime this summer.
“This is an opportunity to review the university’s evidence and the rationale behind why it decided to adopt the policy it did,” Mr. O’Connor said. “And let’s be clear, they had to adopt a vaccine policy but they were not required to deregister or otherwise discipline students who were not able to be vaccinated for whatever reason.”
He said the more time passes since the policy was adopted, “the more we’re understanding the risk [of vaccination] far outweighed any sort of reward. We also knew that at the time, the vaccines were not stopping transmission. And the university would have had that evidence at the time the policy was adopted in the fall of 2021.”
Vina Quiambao is one of the plaintiffs. When the policy came in, she already had bachelor’s degrees in commerce and philosophy and had met the demanding qualifications to pursue her master’s in philosophy. She was also working two jobs on campus.
Distracted and worried, her choice to remain vaccine-free would lead to her expulsion and loss of employment, she says she struggled to meet her academic requirements.
‘My Entire Life Was on the Line’
“I basically had to fail the course because I didn’t have it in me to write when my entire life was on the line,” she said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“Because of that, they had to withdraw me. So I actually can’t enrol in that program anymore.” She said the loss left her devastated.
Ms. Quiambao found other TMU students in the same situation. Together, they tried working with the school’s administration to find a solution, she said. Many had applied for exemptions but were rejected, she noted, and were told by the school there were no plans to accommodate them.
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TMU has not rescinded the mandate, he said, and it could be reinstated at any point. “They still hold the position that it was entirely justified and they haven’t given any indication that they’ll never do this again.”
Like Ms. Quiambao, Mr. Heinen said school administrators made little effort to dialogue with students or budge from the position that the policy was required by the provincial government.
“But at some point, the chief medical officer of health himself said that he never mandated universities to do what they did. They were never required to deregister students, we know this. So it’s only a matter of time before that argument falls on its face.”
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Featured image source, university campus: https://www.torontomu.ca/graduate/student-guide/services/
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