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CELISTA, British Columbia (LifeSiteNews) – After pressure from a constitutional legal group, a Canadian firefighter who lost his job for refusing COVID vaccines was reinstated to his position.
According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), volunteer firefighter Craig Nygard of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) in British Columbia was able to get his job back after it sent a legal warning letter to the fire department in April.
The JCCF demanded that “Mr. Nygard be accommodated in his request for a religious exemption from CSRD’s mandatory Covid vaccine policy.”
“Mr. Nygard is pleased that CSRD granted an exemption, and is hopeful the District either cancels the vaccine mandate altogether, or will grant exemptions to other firefighters who are unable to take a Covid vaccine for various legitimate reasons,” JCCF lawyer Charlene Le Beau said.
“The community is safer having Mr. Nygard back on duty, and will be safer still if the 30 members lost can resume their duties.”
The JCCF noted that the “CSRD has reinstated Mr. Nygard on the condition he comply with weekly rapid-antigen testing for Covid.”
No less than 30 firefighters from the CSRD lost their jobs for refusing to comply with a workplace COVID vaccine mandate despite the fire department experiencing worker shortages.
Le Beau had requested an exemption for Nygard “from the mandate based on his religious beliefs, research and weighing of the vaccines’ benefits and risks, and the fact that he has naturally acquired immunity to Covid.”
The JCCF noted that Nygard had himself conducted “extensive research on the Covid vaccines and their associated risks, including severe allergic reactions and death.”
This included warnings on jab labels from Health Canada, noting warnings for “conditions of myocarditis, pericarditis, blood clots, and Bell’s Palsy.”
“To accept this medical procedure, he said, would violate his conscience and religious convictions,” the JCCF noted.
Nygard said the JCCF is not willing to “compromise his commitment to his faith.”
“Mr. Nygard caught Covid during the summer of 2021 when he was away fighting forest fires as part of the CSRD team and now has natural immunity to Covid,” the JCCF noted.
While Nygard was able to get his job back with a legal warning letter, other Canadian firefighters have had to resort to taking direct legal action to seek justice from draconian COVID workplace jab mandates.
A group of 19 firefighters suing the Calgary Fire Department (CFD) and the city over COVID workplace jab mandates recently told LifeSiteNews that their lawsuit has had success in terms of causing city officials and those in the fire department to sweat.
LifeSiteNews first reported that on July 7 the group served the City of Calgary and the CFD with the Statement of Claim in the Court of Queens Bench of Alberta. The firefighters are seeking $2 million in damages each for mental duress, violations of their Charter rights, violations under the Criminal Code, and “Punitive and exemplary damages.”
Virtually all Canadian provinces had COVID mandates in place for healthcare workers. While these mandates have been dropped except for British Columbia, many provinces are desperately now looking to rehire the unvaccinated workers.