MESSAGES TO GOVERNMENT                                  via Pharmaceutical companies, official consultatIon, petitions & ORDER PAPER QUESTIONS (IN ADDITION TO CITIZEN LETTERS)

SCROLL DOWN TO GO BACK IN TIME. SEE WHAT ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO GET CLARITY FROM THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AND/OR PROVIDE THEM  WITH FEEDBACK/SUGGESTIONS/ADVICE.

NOTE: "OPQ" is short for  "Questions Passed as Orders for Returns Routine Proceedings" aka "Order Paper Questions"

ON THIS PAGE...

NOTE: We have begun collecting instances when MPs discuss matters around the WHO in Parliament. It is important to see that some MPs are breaking the silence around the WHO's recommendations during the declared COVID-19 pandemic. So while not all listings below specifically mention Canada's role in supporting the WHO, they are being included on this page. Please let us know at canadaexitwho@proton.me if you become aware of other instances where MPs or Senators discuss WHO and/or recommendations of the WHO that had an impact on Canadians. Thank you.

OPQ re: Fisman study (May 6, 2024)

MP Wagantail asked about Canadian Institutes for Health Research funding of a study by Dr. David Fisman:

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/5/6/cathay-wagantall-1/ 

OPQ re: Ottawa Infant deaths (May 1, 2024)

MP Wagantail asked about NACI, the Ottawa Police and information from Detective Helen Grus:

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/5/1/cathay-wagantall-1/ 

OPQ re: Health can approval (April 10, 2024) 

MPs Carrie and Wagantail posed a series of questions in the House of Commons:

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/4/10/colin-carrie-1/ 

OPQ re: mrna/dna (April 8, 2024) 

MP Carrie asked a series of questions and received a spoken reply from MP Yasir Naqvi Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/4/8/colin-carrie-2/ 

Second Petition
(CLOSED & filed on March 22, 2024) 

e-4623 (Foreign affairs): Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled


Status: Was open for signature until February 7, 2024, and received 90,089 signatures.

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4623 

See Dr. Leslyn Lewis' response to the government response to the petition (dated May 10, 2024) https://leslynlewis.substack.com/p/world-health-organization-upcoming 


WHEREAS:


WE, THE UNDERSIGNED Citizens and Residents of Canada CALL UPON THE House of Commons in Parliament Assembled  TO Urgently implement Canada's expeditious withdrawal from the UN and all of its subsidiary organizations, including WHO.

Open for signature:
October 10, 2023, at 8:42 a.m. (EDT)

Closed for signature:
February 7, 2024, at 8:42 a.m. (EDT)

Vet Affairs Committee Question (February 12, 2024)

MP Wagantail asks Steven Harris  (Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs) re: the "federal position" re: Canadian Armed Forces and COVID-19 vaccination:

ORDER Paper questions (January 29, 2024)


https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/1/29/cathay-wagantall-3/ 

Question No.1872—

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

Routine Proceedings

December 12th, 2023 / 10:30

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2023/12/12/leslyn-lewis-2/


NOTE: Similar questions were posed by Dr. Lewis in September 2022 (See  https://openparliament.ca/debates/2022/9/20/leslyn-lewis-2/)  


MP Lewis requested a response to questions on December 12, 2023

With regard to Canada’s participation in the World Health Organization's (WHO) proposed international treaty on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response: (a) what is the government’s formal position with regard to a proposed legally binding international treaty, and why; (b) what are the details of all documents the government has provided to the WHO or the World Health Assembly (WHA) related to the treaty or the International Health Regulations since July 2022, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) subject matter, (vi) summary of contents, (vii) file number; (c) what are the details of Canada’s submission or contribution to the 76th WHA meeting with regard to strengthening WHO preparedness for and response to health emergencies; (d) which elected and unelected officials led Canada’s delegation at the 2023 WHA meeting, including the number of people in the delegations and their titles and positions; (e) what are the details of Canada’s contributions to the WHO’s Executive Board since May 2022, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) subject matter, (vi) summary of contents, (vii) file number; (f) what meetings, including the Global Affairs Canada call on July 11, 2022, have been and will be scheduled for public consultation with Canadians; (g) for each public consultation meeting in (f), what are the details of the meetings, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) names and titles of the attendees, (iii) purpose of the meeting, (iv) agenda items, (v) summary of what occurred at the meeting, including anything that was agreed to; (h) does the government have any plans to undertake a formal and public review of Canada’s whole-of-government pandemic response to inform future national pandemic planning, and, if so, what are the details; (i) what input fed into and/or informed the government’s rationale for recommending that the WHO include “other global health threats”, including climate change impacts in the scope of a pandemic instrument; and (j) what criteria did the government envision the WHO would use to determine when climate change impacts would reach a pandemic threshold?

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2023/9/26/leslyn-lewis-1 


First Petition (Sept 2023) + 

Government response (Nov 2023)  

e-4401 (Health): Petition to the Government of Canada

Status: Closed for signature
Presented to the House of Commons September 26, 2023 .

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4401

WHEREAS:

We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to urgently allow Parliament the opportunity to debate and vote on the amendments to the IHRs that have already been adopted by the 75th World Health Assembly and to allow opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny of the proposed amendments currently being negotiated by WHO delegates.

Open for signature
April 20, 2023, at 3:33 p.m. (EDT)

Closed for signature
May 20, 2023, at 3:33 p.m. (EDT)

Presentation of the petition to the House of Commons

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2023/9/26/leslyn-lewis-1 

https://www.noscommunes.ca/DocumentViewer/fr/44-1/chambre/seance-224/debats

SEE the video here on our Video Wall

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to present a petition that was signed by constituents of Haldimand—Norfolk and Canadians across the country. There are 18,973, almost 20,000, Canadians from every provinces and territory who have signed this petition.

The petition addresses the changes to the international health regulations of the World Health Organization, which is the legally-binding rules that govern the conduct of nations when it comes to responding to public health events and emergencies, such as pandemics.

Understanding that since this petition was signed, further changes were made to the international health regulations this summer, the petitioners are still concerned that the proposed expansion of the World Health Organization's powers and authorities could have far-reaching impacts on health care, sovereignty and the lives and human rights of Canadians.

The petitioners are calling for an urgent parliamentary debate on the international health regulations amendments and on the World Health Organization pandemic treaty, which is due to be signed in May 2024.


=========================================

The response from Health Minister Mark Holland can be seen at the same link. It essentially restates the WHO talking points that national sovereignty will NOT be impacted by the Treaty. Much has changed in the drafts since that time.

Comments from the Pharmaceutical Industry         (July 2023)

On July 7, 2023 the national association representing the voice of Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry (Innovative Medicines Canada) submitted their written submission in response to THE PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY OF CANADA’S PANDEMIC INSTRUMENT PARTNER AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT FORUM. They urged Canada to vote against many of the terms in the "Zero Draft" being circulated by the WHO.https://innovativemedicines.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pandemic-Instrument-Engagement-Forum_IMC-Submission.pdf


In October 2023, the  International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations  commented on the draft of the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body’s (INB) international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, commonly referred to as the Pandemic Accord, circulated to member states. IFPMA Director General, Thomas Cueni said: 

“It would be better to have no pandemic treaty than a bad pandemic treaty, which the draft circulated to member states clearly represents. 

“We must ensure future pandemic preparedness is informed by lessons from COVID-19, preserve what worked well, the innovation ecosystem that made possible the development of vaccines and treatment at record speed and scale, and fix what needs to be fixed, the inequity we saw in the roll out of these vaccines and treatments. 

“The ability of the private sector to develop new vaccines and treatments in response to COVID-19 was driven by decades of R&D investment supported by the intellectual property framework and the ability of scientists to rapidly access data on pathogens. If adopted, the draft treaty would undermine both and leave us weaker ahead of the next pandemic than we were in December 2019, and we urge governments to make significant revisions to the current text.”

https://www.ifpma.org/news/innovative-pharmaceutical-industry-statement-on-draft-who-pandemic-treaty-we-need-to-preserve-what-went-well-and-address-what-went-wrong/ 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS' public engagement FORUM (Mar 2023)


As stated on the government website: "From March 21 to 22, 2023, the Office of International Affairs for the Health Portfolio hosted the Pandemic Instrument Partner and Stakeholder Engagement Forum to facilitate conversations with Canadian partners and stakeholders on issues that may be included in the Pandemic Instrument....Forum planners consulted relevant departments from across the Government of Canada, who had been regularly interacting with partners and stakeholders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, to identify who might be interested in participating. Planners analyzed the list to ensure representatives from all relevant sectors and disciplines were included. As a result, over 600 invitations went out to a diverse range of partners and stakeholders. Invitees were also encouraged to recommend others who should be invited." See Figure 1 for a breakdown of attendees, which included academics, NGOs, private and public sector individuals, etc. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/emergency-preparedness-response/canada-role-international-pandemic-instrument/engagement-forum.html Among the many topics included in the discussion were pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) as well as Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICs).


Simon Fraser University Global Health Governance Research Chair Dr. Kelley Lee submitted a reflective essay outlining the observations of some of the Canadians who participated in the WHO feedback process mentioned in this post:

https://genevahealthfiles.substack.com/p/towards-meaningful-country-level.   NOTE: at that time, it was likely assumed that by January 27, 2024 the final drafts of the two documents would be available four months prior to the vote. We now know this is not the case.

Question: how would the Forum attendees respond to the current drafts of the Pandemic Treaty and IHR ammendments?

Questions to the PM (MAY 2022)

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis Haldimand—Norfolk, ON asked:

Mr. Speaker, on May 22 to May 28, representatives from 194 countries will meet in Geneva at the World Health Assembly to discuss the WHO global pandemic treaty and to vote on amendments to the international health regulations. Why did the Prime Minister not establish a public health inquiry into our COVID response before considering signing amendments to the international health regulations?


PM Justin Trudeau responded: 

Mr. Speaker, as an active member of the WHO, Canada has always been there to push for better science and to push for better impacts in the way we collaborate around the world. Canada is a leading voice on ensuring not only that we make it through this pandemic, which is continuing to be ongoing, but also that we prepare for future pandemics, which, unfortunately, may well be the reality for decades and generations to come. We will continue to be active, strong participants in international fora around health while always respecting and protecting Canada's sovereignty and choices to make the right decisions for its own citizens.

See: https://openparliament.ca/debates/2022/5/18/leslyn-lewis-1/ 

IT IS NOW KNOWN THAT THE VOTE THAT TOOK PLACE IN GENEVA IN 2022 WAS NOT DONE ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS: https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/follow-the-damn-rules


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