COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – The COVID vaccine-injured: disbelieved, abandoned and neglected

Last week, I received the heartbreaking news that a House of Commons staff member, who had several years ago suffered a heart attack blamed on a COVID vaccine injury, passed away. Scott Gorry loved politics and dedicated his career to serving his country by supporting and advising members of parliament. He believed that government could improve the lives of Canadians, and his work reflected that passion. Scott was a devoted father of two school-aged children and leaves them behind together his wife Mylene.

Amid the pressures of vaccine mandates, providing for his family, and a sincere belief in doing the right thing, Scott rolled up his sleeve and got vaccinated. Later, while playing in a baseball game, he experienced a heart attack, and fellow ballplayers sprang into action and saved his life. His heart was permanently damaged. Scott eventually returned to work part-time. He cautioned his co-workers that because of his pacemaker, should anything happen to him during a meeting, using the defibrillator hanging outside the door could just kill him.

Scott’s injury was recognized, by the Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP), and he was approved for some meager financial compensation. But no amount of financial assistance could undo the devastating toll his injury took on him and his family. His family’s last hope was a heart transplant, but other complications made him ineligible for the procedure.

Scott was not alone. Many Canadians and victims from around the world face similar circumstances. In Canada, many of the victims feel the medical world and the VISP program were and are dismissive of their tragedies.

VISP operated through an external contractor, Oxaro Inc., received $50.6 million in taxpayer money to administer the program. Of this amount, $33.7 million went to administrative costs. These are obscene administrative costs. Many Canadians, when submitting claims indicated they couldn’t reach anyone in the office, as their files continued to accumulate in backlogs. This, while their bodies succumbed to life-changing, debilitating symptoms such as neuropathy, fibromyalgia, presyncope, tremors, extreme sensitivities, just to name a few.

Our very own Provencher resident Mandy Neufeld explains that her life was turned upside down from the day she received the vaccine. Ironically, she agreed to the vaccine to watch her son play hockey, but such regular activities are now only dreams from her past. Still, Mandy has had to resubmit her claim twice, requiring significant time, energy, and expense to complete the extensive paperwork and have medical professionals provide the required documentation. It has been emotionally and physically draining for the single mother who must contend with multiple doctors’ appointments and no income. Her vaccine injuries continue to be debilitating.

B.C. resident Ross Wightman, who was featured in headlines as one of the first to be compensated by VISP, spent two months in the hospital after developing paralysis and other neurological symptoms following vaccination.

In 2025, Global News published a three-part investigative series focused on the administration of the VISP program. It found that for many vaccine-injured Canadians, navigating the program has been painful. Their stories point to a system they describe as failing those it was created to support—one marked by delays, obstacles, and promises that were not fulfilled.

One such story is that of 46-year-old Michelle Worton, who once loved her career as a dentist. She describes her condition as dynamic and continually evolving. In 2023 and 2024, after being dismissed by our medical system, she travelled to the United States in search of private medical care. She was forced to sell her dental practice, turn to crowdfunding for support, and eventually undergo brain surgery to relieve pressure caused by brain compression. The surgery alone cost $148,000. Michelle explained, “No one in Canada would help me. They would see the onset of my injuries and reject the referrals.”

Since then, she has been diagnosed with numerous additional conditions allegedly caused by the COVID-19 injection. It has taken years of self-advocacy. Her devastation, exhaustion, distress, and the damage have never truly healed. The physical pain is relentless. For the last five years, Michelle has faced these conditions every moment of every day. Now, she is bedbound 90 percent of the time.

It is important for us to recognize that COVID-19 injection injuries have affected real people and families. So far, we know very little about why some people reacted so severely and others didn’t. Those infected could have very well been our neighbours, loved ones—and they deserve the same respect, compassion, and attention we hope to receive in their place.

Many of those who were injured trusted government authorities who kept insisting the vaccines were “safe and effective”. You may also recall all levels of government shaming Canadians who wouldn’t comply. Our prime minister at the time called anyone who chose not to get the vaccine “a small fringe minority… angry… doesn’t believe in science… lashing out with racist, misogynistic attacks.”

It was a difficult time. Probing questions were not encouraged, yet more than ever, critical thinking mattered.

It took a lawsuit by a group of scientists and medical researchers to compel the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to release the data it relied upon to license the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA had initially sought to keep those documents confidential for up to 75 years, sparking a broader debate about transparency, public access to information, and accountability in the approval process.

Last May, I asked an Order Paper question about the contractual confidentiality provisions in Canada. My answer still awaits.

As Michelle Worton cautioned us, “A society that refuses to learn from its past eventually relives what it refuses to confront.”

Canada, let’s learn from this horrible time in history—especially from those who carry much of the heaviness of the choices that were made for us.