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LONDON, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) – Dr. Julie Ponesse, a Canadian professor of ethics at Western University, gave a powerful farewell message to her students in a recent video after she was fired for refusing to comply with a vaccine mandate.
Ponesse, a professor at Huron University College, which is an affiliate campus of the university, recorded a short video explaining her position and the ethical dilemma she faced in a final lesson for her first-year students.
In the video, Dr. Ponesse explained the reasons why, in her opinion as a trained ethicist, that the mandatory vaccination policies of her workplace are unethical.
Western University has a mandatory vaccination policy in place that allows accommodations for medical reasons and for reasons protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code, which include religious reasons. However, those who are accommodated for exemptions are severely limited in what they can do on campus and must produce frequent rapid antigen tests to prove a negative COVID result.
Huron University College has mandated the same policy.
She began the video by saying, “Today I am going to teach you a short lesson on the universally accepted ethics of coercing people into medical procedures.”
“My employer has just mandated that I must get a vaccine for COVID-19,” she said. “If I want to keep working at my job as a professor, I have to take this vaccine. Here’s my conundrum: My school employs me to be an authority on the subject of ethics; I hold a Ph.D. in ethics and ancient philosophy. And I’m here to tell you it’s ethically wrong to coerce someone to take a vaccine. If it happens to you, you don’t have to do it.”
The stipulations are severe for those who resist the jab. Testing requirements are onerous, with individuals required to provide proof of two negative COVID-19 rapid antigen tests per seven-day period. The tests must be separated by a minimum of 72 hours.
The policy also states, “All Proof of Vaccination, requests for accommodation, supporting documents and proof of negative COVID-19 test results will be collected, used, and stored in accordance with the University’s obligations pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act … and the Personal Health Information and POLICY … ”
According to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, the Personal Health Information Protection Act states that Ontarians have the right to “refuse or give consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal health information, except in certain circumstances; and to withdraw your consent by providing notice.”
The policy used by Western and Huron College does state: “This Policy is effective September 7, 2021 and will apply until September 7, 2022. It will be reviewed by the University on a regular basis, and in any event by no later than September 1, 2022, in order to ensure that the protective measures outlined herein remain appropriate in consideration of the circumstances and any recommendations which may be made by the provincial government and public health officials.”
It is not clear whether the “circumstances” that the policy refers to in order to justify the policy are in fact circumstances that justify the mandatory collection of personal medial information of staff and students.
Dr. Ponesse said in her video that “it’s your own business” regarding a person’s vaccination status, and that no one has the right to demand that information. She added that the university has required that she be vaccinated “immediately or not report for work.”
She continued, “So with the school year beginning in a few days, I am facing imminent dismissal after 20 years on the job, because I will not submit to having an experimental vaccine injected into my body.”
In case any of her critics decided to portray Ponesse as an “anti-vaxxer,” she made it clear that she has had other vaccines in the past, but they were taken of her own volition.
She also stated that she has done extensive research by reading medical journals and consulting colleagues in the requisite departments at the university. She raised questions about the safety of the vaccine, which have been attested to at length, with strong evidence suggesting disastrous consequences for people who take the jab. More than 100 Ontario youth have suffered heart swelling due to the jab, and recently an infant died of blood clots after nursing from the mother who recently took the shot.
Ponesse stated, “There are questions about how well they work, nobody’s promising that I won’t get COVID or transmit COVID if I get the vaccine.” She is not wrong in asking these questions, as recent data from Israel shows that “breakthrough” cases continue to occur amongst the fully vaccinated.
After having stated the medical reasons why the jab mandate is suspect, Dr. Ponesse said, “Ultimately, none of that matters to me, because I am a professor of ethics and I’m a Canadian. I’m entitled to make choices about what does and does not enter my body regardless of my reasons. If I’m allowed back into my university, it’s my job to teach my students that this is wrong. I’m hired to teach them that it is ethically wrong to impose an experimental medical procedure as a condition of employment.”
She finished the video by posing a question to the students. “Is this right, or is this wrong? I already know the answer.”
She broke down at the end of the video, emotional about what she had said, and the prospect of losing a position she has held for so long as a result of the jab mandate.
At the end of the video, text appeared on the screen that claimed she was dismissed from her position.
Huron University College spokesperson Drew Davidson said, “While I can’t comment on individual HR matters, I can confirm to you that at this time, no one at Huron has been dismissed as a result of this policy.” He was referring to the claim that Dr. Ponesse was fired for refusing the vaccine. However, he also said that anyone who has not submitted proof of vaccination by September 7 “will not be allowed on campus.”
It is unclear how it is possible for an employee to work at the school if she is not allowed to enter campus, and it is unclear why he did not mention any of the available exemptions. If Ponesse did not seek an exemption under the policy, then it is possible she has or will be dismissed as Western officials announced the school was making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for anyone to access the campus, eliminating the option of regular testing for students and staff “who simply choose not to be vaccinated.” Western was one of the first schools to make such a move, and has one of the harshest policies in the country.
Dr. Ponesse has spoken up about the ethical issues surround COVID restrictions before. PPC leader Maxime Bernier shared a video of hers in the spring where she raised serious questions about the ethics of COVID measures.
Ponesse is currently working with the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, a group dedicated to providing information about alternative cures such as Ivermectin. Dr. Ponesse recorded a video for them providing ethical insight into vaccination coercion.