Dear OCLA Supporter,
This email is to give you an update on the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA)’s work in 2022.
As a reminder, OCLA has consistently opposed Canadian governments’ egregious COVID-era measures since April 2020, as summarized at our COVID page.
Launch of CORRELATION Research in the Public Interest
Members of OCLA have launched CORRELATION Research in the Public Interest, a new, registered non-profit organization conducting independent scientific research on topics of great public interest.
You can read CORRELATION’s first newsletter about our first funding campaign and set of research reports at the link here: https://mailchi.mp/f7c498d36d9c/news-from-correlation-research-in-the-public-interest
Please SIGN UP for CORRELATION’s email list to receive our updates!
Three OCLA Reports
OCLA released three research reports in 2022:
1) OCLA Report 2022-1 (ver. 1) (February 2022): “Nature of the toxicity of the COVID-19 vaccines in the USA”
2) OCLA Report 2022-2 (September 2022):
3) OCLA Report 2022-3 (October 2022):
- Covered by Tribunal de l’Infaux (in French) here.
OCLA’s criticisms of the Fisman et al. modeling article claiming unvaccinated people “disproportionately harm” vaccinated people
A mathematical modeling article by Fisman et al. in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) became the source of intense vilification of people who refused COVID-19 vaccination.
The collage of headlines pictured below summarizes the media and governmental frenzy that emerged within hours of the CMAJ publication on April 25, 2022:
OCLA researchers immediately dissected the CMAJ article and exposed crucial mathematical flaws in it, in a statement on our website and letter to the editor in CMAJ. Beyond unreasonable parameter choices – which many other critics also noted – the model itself does not predict what Fisman et al. claimed regarding “harm” to vaccinated from unvaccinated people.
Here is a video of OCLA researcher Dr. Denis Rancourt explaining our criticism to members of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance: https://ocla.ca/dr-denis-rancourt-presents-oclas-criticism-of-the-cmaj-fisman-et-al-paper-to-the-canadian-covid-care-alliance/
Our analysis of the flawed Fisman et al. model also led us to conduct a fundamental study of how segregating people based on vaccination status affects disease spread in epidemic models. This became the first medRxiv pre-print by CORRELATION Research in the Public Interest.
In the pre-print, we show that segregation can have negative outcomes for both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Also, Appendix 3 of version 1 of the pre-print spells out the fundamental mistakes made by Fisman et al. in their paper.
OCLA’s public statements condemning the use of the Emergencies Act against the Freedom Convoy
The Freedom Convoy movement that arrived at Parliament Hill in late January was an outstanding example of effective peaceful protest against authoritarian government policy, in this case vaccination mandates that objectively violate the fundamental freedoms of religion, conscience, and life, liberty, and security of the person.
The Convoy’s successes were summarized in their Statement of Accomplishments, which OCLA posted on our site at the link here.
Throughout the Freedom Convoy’s presence on Parliament Hill, OCLA researchers attended and observed the protest, which informed our following public statements in support of the protesters’ rights and against the government’s extreme and unnecessary use of the Emergencies Act:
- 2022-02-15: “OCLA Statement on the Government’s Use of the Emergencies Act”
- 2022-02-17: “OCLA Calls on MPs to Reject the Use of the Emergencies Act to Crush Peaceful Protest at Parliament Hill”
- 2022-09-20: OCLA’s submissions to Public Order Emergency Commission
OCLA director’s submissions appealing the Bank of Canada’s decision to suspend him without pay for declining vaccination
OCLA Executive Director Dr. Joseph Hickey was placed on unpaid leave for declining vaccination by his employer the Bank of Canada, in November 2021.
In March 2022, Hickey submitted a 766-page internal appeal of his employer’s decision, containing detailed scientific and legal arguments. A media article about his appeal was published by the Western Standard.
Hickey and the Bank eventually mutually agreed to end his employment. Joseph continues to appeal the government’s denial of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits to him, and his appeal is currently before the Social Security Tribunal of Canada.
OCLA in the media
- 2022-12-23: “Federal tribunal overturns government’s refusal to grant EI benefits to worker fired for refusing to be vaccinated”, Rebel News
- 2022-12-01: “What Really Killed Millions? Interview with Denis Rancourt”, Iron Will Report
- 2022-08-11: “Study finds COVID vaccines were ‘useless’ in reducing all-cause mortality in USA”, Western Standard
- 2022-04-28: “Critics say widely shared study on mixing with unvaccinated contain ‘massive errors’”, Western Standard
- 2022-04-27: “Civil Liberties Group Raises Concerns Over Proposed Criminal Law Under ‘Antisemitism’ Title”, Epoch Times
- 2022-03-22: “What Did the Government Know? And When Did They Know It?”, Freedom Feature with Dr. Barry W. Bussey
- 2022-02-15: “Threat to Democracy: Canadian Civil Liberties Groups Slam Trudeau Use of Emergencies Act”, Breitbart News
All past media articles featuring OCLA’s work can be read here.
Donations
As an independent non-profit organization with a very small budget, we depend on donations to continue our work, and appreciate any contribution you can make. Donations can be made in the following ways:
- e-transfer in Canada to: donations@ocla.ca
- Debit or credit card via PayPal (HERE)
- Through our Patreon account (HERE)
- Cryptocurrency via Coinbase (HERE)
- By cheque made out to “Ontario Civil Liberties Association” and sent to our mailing address: Ontario Civil Liberties Association, 28 Concourse Gate, Unit 105, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2E 7T7
OCLA is not affiliated with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) or the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). All three associations are separate and distinct.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Joseph Hickey, PhD
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (ocla.ca)
OCLA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oncivlib
