Essential workers are at risk of losing their job. Last year’s front-line heroes will be this year’s unemployed. Some of the same employees who were employed as a result of the pandemic, now face losing their job for that very same reason: the pandemic.

The Region of Durham employs many of Durham’s essential workers. This includes Durham Regional Police, Paramedics, Long-Term Care Nurses, Durham Region Transit, Child Care / Daycare Centres, Case Workers, Public Works staff (who ensure you have running water,  waste collected and snow plowed), and everyone in between. These are people willing to work, but Region of Durham CAO Elaine Baxter-Trahair will refuse to let them due to a new policy.

On September 20, 2021, Elaine introduced that she would be implementing a mandatory Covid-19 Vaccination Policy for all staff. Joining the CAO in the creation of this policy is Don Beaton, Commissioner of Corporate Services, and Robert Kyle, Medical Officer of Health for Durham Region Health Department.

Noted in this email was that all employees have to disclose their vaccination status by October 20, 2021 and confirm that they are fully vaccinated no later than December 20, 2021. But some staff have an even shorter deadline to meet.

After being told in a recorded staff event that non-compliance would result in “consequences, up to and including termination”, the policy was then released to staff on September 23, 2021.

While it’s illegal to fire an employee for refusing to disclose medical information or undergo a medical procedure, we can’t stop them from terminating us. WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Here’s what we know:

• This policy violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 2(a), 2(b), 7 and 15. It is an infringement on our rights to be forced to reveal our medical status, without a court order, and face consequences. This policy also violates the Privacy Act, the Ontario Health and Safety Act Section 63(2), and the Nuremberg Code, Article 6 Sections 1 and 3.

• An undetermined number of employees are at risk of losing their job by the end of the year (termination or unpaid leave).

• This is coercion. Many of us are scared. Scared that we won’t be able to pay bills, put food on the table, or find a new job. And some of us are just scared of taking the vaccine.

• Fully vaccinated doesn’t stop at two vaccines. By complying with this policy, we truly don’t know the length or extent of what we’re complying with.

• In April 2021, the Region of Durham suffered a massive breach of privacy (https://bit.ly/3iM2u4f). We simply can’t trust that the same thing won’t happen with our private medical information.

This is people’s livelihood we are trying to save. Some have gone to school, worked on contract, worked for free, worked for decades and are close to retirement. Some are on the front-lines and others work from home.

Policies like this are popping up across workplaces in Durham, affecting nurses and healthcare staff, teachers, municipal employees, and many more. The essential workers employed by the Region of Durham are just some of the countless staff that risk unemployment due to unnecessary vaccine policies.

All of us need your help.

Will you sign this petition in support of, not only Regional employees but all employees across Durham, whether vaccinated or not, to NOT have their livelihood threatened because of a personal medical choice?

*FREEDOM AND PRIVACY TO CHOOSE SHOULD NOT LEAD TO UNEMPLOYMENT*