Witness Testimony

Serena Steven testified that she was employed as a nurse in a rural hospital within Vancouver Island Health Authority during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. She stated that hospitals in her region were emptied in anticipation of COVID-19 admissions and that staff were directed to send home non-emergency patients, despite public messaging that hospitals were overwhelmed. She described receiving work emails identifying specific approved “sources of truth” and reported experiencing significant internal conflict between official directives and her own review of external data. She testified that the resulting stress led to workplace panic attacks, which she reported as work-related injuries.
Steven stated that she ultimately received a COVID-19 vaccination under what she characterized as employment-related coercion. She described multiple attempts to resist vaccination before proceeding and testified that informed consent was limited to brief comments about minor side effects. Within hours of injection, she reported heart palpitations, rash, shortness of breath, and escalating tachycardia. Over a ten-day period, she experienced severe cardiac symptoms leading to hospital assessment, where diagnostic testing and a Holter monitor later recorded heart rates approaching 160 beats per minute at rest. She further testified that her asthma worsened, that she avoided inhaler use due to tachycardia concerns, and that she developed bowel incontinence, which she described as psychologically distressing.
She testified that her family physician downplayed her cardiac findings and concerns, while a cardiology specialist acknowledged adverse response and supported exemption from further doses. Despite specialist documentation, her exemption request was initially denied by health authority officials and required escalation through multiple administrative levels. Months later, she received what she described as a temporary medical exemption subject to conditions. She also expressed concerns regarding medical confidentiality, third-party access to personal health records, and workplace disclosure of vaccination status.