Witness Testimony

Vincent Cantin, a senior civil engineering technician, testified that he received his first COVID-19 vaccine dose (AstraZeneca) on April 15, 2021, as what he described as a civic duty. Approximately 20 days later, he developed dizziness, numbness, headache, and nausea and was hospitalized with an ischemic stroke involving basilar artery thrombosis. He stated that prior to vaccination he had been in excellent health. He spent approximately 80 days in hospital and rehabilitation at the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec and subsequently experienced a total of five strokes and five transient ischemic attacks.
During rehabilitation, he received a second dose (Moderna) after physicians strongly recommended vaccination due to his medical vulnerability. He later received a third dose on the advice of his family doctor and to maintain access to medical care and his mother’s seniors’ residence. He reported that the second and third doses did not worsen his condition but did not improve it. Following his stroke, he was recognized as permanently disabled and lost his driver’s licence and employment.
Cantin described extensive ongoing neurological impairments, including hemianopia (loss of vision on one side), anterograde amnesia, hemiplegia with body-wide paresthesia, dyschromatopsia affecting colour perception, visuospatial disorientation, prosopagnosia (inability to recognize new faces), and new-onset hypertension. He testified that some physicians informally acknowledged a possible link between vaccination and thrombosis but declined to formally report it. He applied to Quebec’s vaccine injury compensation program but stated that multiple physicians refused to act as required medical representatives, creating barriers to his claim.