A Quebec Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a request to suspend the province’s COVID-19 vaccine passport system, ruling there was little evidence to suggest that the harm caused by the health order went beyond disappointment or inconvenience.
Lawyer Hans Mercier, who was vaccinated against COVID-19, and businessman Gaston Vachon, who was not, had asked the judge to urgently suspend the health order while his challenge made its way through the judicial system. They argued that the passport system, imposed to reduce the spread of COVID-19, was a violation of people’s rights, tore the social fabric of society, and turned unvaccinated people into social outcasts.
According to the court decision, Mercier argued that the passport system obliges Quebecers to get vaccinated. “For me it is unthinkable to live in a society that forces people to perform a medical act that threatens their physical integrity.”
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The government imposed vaccine passports throughout the province on September 1. Individuals must show proof of vaccination to enter businesses deemed nonessential by the government, as well as hospitals and the legislature in Quebec City.
Judge Nancy Bonsaint said the complainants did not prove that the province’s vaccine passport system caused serious or irreparable harm and should be immediately suspended.
Being banned from certain non-essential social activities, he said, is not a serious injustice. “In the absence of convincing evidence that prejudice goes beyond disappointment or discomfort? the court concludes that we are not in the presence of serious prejudice. “
Quebecers, for their part, will continue to have to present proof of vaccination to enter certain businesses, such as bars and restaurants, until the merits of the judicial challenge are known. No date has been set for a full challenge to the passport system.
Earlier on Wednesday, Quebec reported 672 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death attributed to the new coronavirus. Health officials said COVID-19-related hospitalizations increased by one, to 220, while the number of people in intensive care remained stable at 45.
The Health Department said 10,487 doses of vaccines were administered in the previous 24 hours. The Quebec Public Health Institute said that about 90.8 percent of residents 12 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 88.3 percent are considered adequately vaccinated.
The northern territory of Nunavik remains the most affected region in the province, with 1,339 active cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants. Montreal, by contrast, has about 78 active cases per 100,000 residents.
Quebec has 5,377 reported active cases of COVID-19.
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