people are free to control what happens to their bodies, caplan said. “no one has proposed, and i’m not, sending the vaccine police to your house to force vaccination on you and your family.” but freedoms come with responsibilities, obligations and duties, he said. “there are all sorts of freedoms, and they impact when they offend or restrict the liberty of others.”
he believes choosing not to vaccinate could meet a necessary degree of negligence, if the person is wandering around and not acting in a reasonable way. “if you make a reasonable effort to be prudent, then i think, ok. you still might infect somebody, but that’s different.”
in ontario, under the supporting ontario’s recovery act, people can’t be sued for exposing someone to covid, provided they made a “good faith effort” to comply with public health guidelines and the “act or omission of the person does not constitute gross negligence.” nova scotia and b.c. have similar laws.
“basically, the statutory defence is, if you’re acting in accordance with public health guidance, you’re scot-free. but it is not public health guidance to go unvaccinated now,” said university of ottawa law professor amir attaran.
no vaccines are mandatory in canada. charter rights protect people from unwanted vaccination. however, if someone who intentionally forfeits vaccination “then knowingly goes out and makes absolutely no effort to protect others when they know, or ought to know, they have symptoms of covid — they have a fever, a cough — those are the cases that might see the light of day in a courtroom,” said barrie, ont., lawyer robert durante, who is helping lead a $50-million class action lawsuit against roberta place, a long-term care home where a devastating covid outbreak claimed 71 lives. “but again the wrongdoer would have to be someone who knowingly passed on the covid.”