The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) exempted 74 employees from mandatory vaccinations due to their religious beliefs, although most of them gave reasons containing misinformation.
“Vaccines manipulate the fundamental functions of human cells [ce qui] It is like taking on a power that only God should have.”
Documents obtained by our investigations bureau through Access to Information Act information show this is the argument successfully made by an employee to avoid being suspended without pay during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From fall 2021 to summer 2022, the Canadian government required its entire public service, as well as all travellers on transportation under federal jurisdiction, to be vaccinated.
Most CBSA employees granted exemptions for religious reasons held misconceptions about vaccinations, which Transport Canada also deemed invalid in granting exemptions to travellers.
“There is a perception that the vaccine […] The claims that these involve aborted human or animal fetal cells or that mRNA vaccines have altered DNA are empirically incorrect and should not be used as justification, the ministry wrote in its guidance to railway companies.
However, most exemptions granted by the CBSA cited similar reasons.
The organization specifies that “the measures applicable to passengers […] This was the responsibility of the Public Health Agency of Canada, not the CBSA. Exemptions for employees were approved based on an assessment grid developed by Justice Canada.
“Temple” in the image of God.
For example, one evangelical Christian employee who was able to continue working without consequences wrote, “God says “thou shalt not kill”, I am pro-life so I cannot allow aborted fetal cells to enter my body.”
Some employees who reject the federal government’s authority have also obtained exemptions on religious grounds, including one employee who calls it “tyranny” that his “employer/country” requires him to be vaccinated.
“The federal government has no authority over our bodies, which belong to God. They are His temples, made in His image,” says another.
Also exempt is a “naturist,” someone who adopts a “natural lifestyle” and who “excludes man-made substances, GMOs and anything that is artificial and interferes with the body’s natural ability to defend itself.”
The CBSA indicates that it “does not make a practice of commenting publicly on information that appears in the personnel files of its employees.”
Note that our investigations bureau asked 11 federal organizations for the reasons they granted religious exemptions, and only the CBSA agreed to provide the documentation.
Other reasons recognized by the CBSA
“We believe that our body is a living temple that should be free from all man-made substances, including vaccines.”
“Christians must protect the sanctity of human life, including prenatal life, and so I must protect the unborn child from medical experimentation in the production of COVID-19 vaccines.”
“This mandatory vaccination was pushed and implemented to isolate and divide us as a nation.”
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have no fear, because Jesus saved me from the fear of death, because in him I have eternal life.”
“God decides what will happen in the universe, our salvation and our end were determined before our lives began. Getting vaccinated will interfere with this predetermined destiny and change it.”
only a few cases
- 18,000 employees in CBSA in 2021-2022
- 174 requests for exemption for religious reasons
- 74 requests accepted
- 10 complaints filed for refusal
- 120 employees are on unpaid leave in connection with vaccination