The court begins to hear the challenge of Quebec’s mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers

Article content

A legal challenge to Quebec’s vaccination mandate for healthcare workers was filed in Quebec’s Superior Court on Wednesday, with the judge saying it will proceed even if the province decides to further delay a deadline set for next month.

Article content

The provincial government is threatening to suspend unvaccinated health network staff without pay from November 15, but Prime Minister François Legault raised the possibility this week of postponing the deadline. It has already been postponed once after being initially scheduled for October 15.

Superior Court Judge Michel Yergeau began hearing arguments in favor of a court order on Wednesday and said he will make a decision on the morning of November 15, regardless of what the government decides. Unvaccinated healthcare workers seek to have the vaccination edict delayed until their full legal challenge is heard.

The fundamental question before the court is whether mandatory vaccination and suspension without pay for those who refuse is legal and constitutional. The judgment on that matter will not be until next year.

Article content

An attorney representing unvaccinated employees argued that the government is legally obligated to ensure the protection of the population and “protect, maintain and improve” health services.

Natalia Manole argued that the decision to postpone the October 15 deadline, citing concerns about a disruption in service, shows that the application of the decree would do more harm than good to the population.

Manole cited the recent reduction in service at the Lachine Hospital emergency department as an example of the kind of impact a full-scale suspension would cause.

She raised the possibility of unnecessary deaths, delayed surgeries and the closure of hospital beds and long-term care throughout the province. “You are the only one who can intervene so that this situation does not occur,” he told the judge.

Article content

Outside the courtroom, he said the “deaths, suffering, absolutely catastrophic situations” that would result if unvaccinated workers were suspended meet the irreparable harm test required to grant a court order.

Yergeau said in court that the government has already postponed the deadline, citing dangerous consequences. He also reminded Manole that he is obliged to assume that the government was acting in the public interest. He told the court that his role is limited to evaluating the legality of the decree and not its political merits.

“If the government made the wrong decision, it will have to answer to the population,” said the judge.

Lawyers for the provincial government dismissed the disaster scenario in their own arguments, telling the court that there was no evidence that the health system collapsed when the decree is applied in mid-November.

Article content

Stephanie Garon, an attorney representing the province’s attorney general, noted an affidavit from Dr. Lucie Opatrny, the province’s vice minister of health, noting that while a vaccine mandate would lead to a decrease in certain types of care She personally assured that critics would be offered urgent care and attention.

All of our coronavirus-related news can be found at montrealgazette.com/tag/coronavirus.

For information on the vaccine passport, touch here.

Sign up for our email newsletter dedicated to local coverage of COVID-19 at montrealgazette.com/coronavirusnews.

Help support our local journalism by subscribing to the Montreal Gazette here.