Witness Testimony

Maureen Somers testified that as a descendant of Holocaust survivors who endured both Nazi and Soviet occupations in Hungary, she never expected to witness what she described as fascist governance in Canada. She stated that based on her family’s historical accounts, fascism involves targeting and mistreating specific groups, and she believed unvaccinated individuals and seniors were treated unjustly during the pandemic. She testified that the unvaccinated were pitted against the vaccinated, creating social division that echoed historical patterns she had been warned about in her education and family history.
She further testified about the psychological impact on her grandchildren, describing one grandchild in “utter terror” that they might bring home a virus that could kill their parents. She said her greatest fear was not COVID itself but the possibility of outliving grandchildren who had been vaccinated. She expressed concern about long-term effects and societal fear messaging directed at children.
Somers also described an incident in October 2022 when her husband was transported by ambulance to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain. She testified that the attending physician prioritized questioning his vaccination status rather than addressing his medical emergency, and allegedly told him that if he did not receive the vaccine he would be dead within two years. After the physician left and did not return, a new doctor assessed him following a shift change, ordered tests, and determined he required immediate appendectomy surgery. She concluded that vaccine status was treated as a higher priority than urgent medical care.