TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – A labour arbitrator ruled in favour of a group of Toronto firefighters who fought against being fired earlier this year for not taking an abortion-tainted experimental COVID jab.
Unreasonable for Toronto to dismiss firefighters over vaccine status, arbitrator sayshttps://t.co/MKa26xfmqt
— Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (@JCCFCanada) August 29, 2022
The Toronto Star reported that arbitrator Derek Rogers decided that the city improperly dealt with the fired emergency responders, although he did not think it was unreasonable to have a vaccine mandated.
Rogers believed that vaccinations requirements were reasonable, but from an employment perspective it was unreasonable to have termination as a consequence for not being jabbed.
Howard Goldblatt, one of the lawyers who represented the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association in the case, said the ruling was “a significant step” and “precedent setting” and that it could have “very broad implications” province or even nationwide.
Although given that the arbitrator still opined that jab mandates were not necessarily unreasonable, Goldblatt said there are still many questions. “We now have a number of firefighters who are, at a minimum, reinstated,” he said.
The situation has been referred back to the city and the association, which will have to negotiate on how to proceed.
Vaccine mandates have been dropped in a number of private and public sector settings, including banks and health care. However, the city of Toronto has remained committed to jab mandates and has “no plans to end the policy.”
In June, it was ruled that a Catholic nurse in Ontario was discriminated against and wrongfully fired for not taking the jab in Sudbury.
In that case, it was ruled that the employer had encroached on her religious freedom as it is understood by the Ontario Human Rights code.
Over 400 Toronto city workers had been fired for not complying with coercive jab mandates.