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There are no mandatory vaccination laws in Canada. An unvaccinated child cannot be denied entry to a public school.

And yet school officials and vaccine providers use the threat of exclusion from school to coerce parents into complying with the vaccine agenda–an agenda in which the number of “required” vaccines is increasing every year. Today, a child may be injected with over 40 doses of various vaccines by age six.

Ontario, Manitoba, and New Brunswick have enacted specific legislation governing vaccination of school children. Included in each of these legislated acts are legal exemptions which enable families to opt out of the vaccine schedule for reasons of conscience and/or religion. Exemption forms can be obtained from any health unit and are kept in the child’s file at school as proof that the child is not required to be vaccinated. Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act stipulates that the form must also be notarized.

The degree of coercion in provinces without legislated vaccine exemptions is often more intense. The absence of specific vaccine exemptions seems to give public health nurses and doctors license to indulge more frequently in the “it’s the law: your child won’t be allowed in school” threat to intimidate parents into compliance. They know most people won’t dig a little deeper to discover that these are empty threats without any legal basis.

The absence of provincial legislation also means that institutions like private schools and daycares can refuse to accept unvaccinated children at their discretion. In the absence of specific legislation, a parent’s only recourse may be to mount a legal challenge against the private institution.

Health Canada confirms the absence of mandatory vaccination laws in Canada. The text of this statement is available from their website www.hc-sc.gc.ca. The statements says that “immunization is not mandatory in Canada; it cannot be made mandatory because of the Canadian Constitution.” It further explains what vaccinations are required in each province that has vaccination regulations. This statement should be used by anyone experiencing intimidation and threats by school officials and vaccinators to demonstrate their right to freedom from forced vaccinations.

In provinces without legislated exemption guarantees, we encourage parents to write a strongly worded letter to the school administration (to be kept in the child’s file) indicating that their child is not to receive any vaccines offered on the school premises. To protect their children, many parents keep their children home on school vaccination days.

Educating children about your family’s health philosophy is essential. Children need to understand their rights to refuse shots and to phone their parents immediately if anyone forces a vaccine on them. Awareness and vigilance are the keys to protecting children from forced vaccination.

For more information, visit the Vaccination Risk Awareness Network at vran.org.

Edda West is the coordinator of the Vaccination Risk Awareness Network.

Source: alive #263, September 2004