Witness Testimony

James Matthew Erskine testified that he served 11 years as a constable with the Winnipeg Police Service and had strong performance reviews, over 650 arrests, and prospects for promotion prior to November 15, 2021. He stated that the service implemented a policy requiring proof of vaccination or, alternatively, three-times-weekly testing on personal time and continuous masking when others were not required to do so. He refused to disclose his medical status, stating that he believed the policy constituted a violation of rights and freedoms and represented coercive conduct inconsistent with his duty to serve the public.
Erskine testified that he was placed on unpaid “non-disciplinary” leave, denied access to accumulated holiday and banked time, and ultimately resigned in order to trigger payout of earned benefits. He stated that his departure resulted in the effective loss of a 25-year pension trajectory and a reduction of family income from approximately $120,000 annually to roughly one-third of that amount. He further testified that union efforts were unsuccessful and that a complaint to the Labour Board was dismissed, which he characterized as lacking due process.
He described the broader impact on his family, including his wife losing employment early in the pandemic and the decision to withdraw their children from private school to homeschool due to escalating mandates. He compared the coercive nature of vaccine policies to serious criminal conduct, emphasizing bodily integrity as paramount. He concluded that, in his view, the measures imposed within his organization and society at large should not have occurred in the manner they did.