Witness Testimony

Sheila Lewis testified that she developed a life-threatening medical condition in 2019 requiring a double organ transplant and underwent approximately one year of extensive medical testing to qualify for placement on a transplant list. She stated she was considered an ideal candidate and complied with all medical requirements, including repeating childhood vaccinations when records could not be located. After being placed at the highest transplant priority level, she was informed that receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine would be required to remain eligible.
Lewis stated she declined the COVID-19 vaccine after questioning its safety and later obtained independent testing indicating high levels of natural immunity following prior COVID-19 infection. She testified that refusal to vaccinate resulted in her being moved to inactive transplant status, effectively removing her from active organ matching. According to her account, the vaccination requirement was instituted at the hospital level, and without compliance she would not receive the transplant.
She described initiating constitutional legal proceedings with assistance from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, challenging the policy under Charter protections. She testified that both the Court of King’s Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled against her and upheld a gag order restricting certain details of her case. At the time of testimony, she had applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, stating that without a successful outcome she would be permanently removed from the transplant list.