For Immediate Release: January 16, 2025
VICTORIA – The certification hearing for two class action lawsuits, launched on behalf of civil servants and health care workers who were affected by the provincial COVID-19 vaccine mandates, will be held April 28 to May 2, 2025 in B.C. Supreme Court.
The representative plaintiffs for the lawsuits are members of the BCPS Employees for Freedom Society (BCPSEF) and United Health Care Workers of BC Society (UHCWBC), respectively.
BCPSEF member Jason Baldwin, a terminated, former unionized employee of the BC Public Service, filed a class action lawsuit as representative plaintiff on behalf of the approximately 30,000 provincial employees who are union members of the BCGEU (BC General Employees Union) or PEA (Professional Employees Association). Terminated and former unionized B.C. health care workers Jed Ferguson and Terri Perepolkin, both UHCWBC members, filed a class action lawsuit as representative plaintiffs on behalf of the thousands of health care workers and ambulance service paramedics affected by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate orders.
The certification of the two actions will be heard together in a process called joinder due to the similarities of the legal issues to be decided. If the two class actions are successful at certification, they may still be heard separately when they proceed to trial. The representative plaintiffs for both actions have engaged Umar Sheikh of Sheikh Law in Victoria, B.C., to represent them.
“A similar lawsuit filed by federal civil servants, who claim their Charter rights were violated by the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, will proceed after a motion by the federal government to dismiss it,” said Jason Baldwin. “That makes me cautiously optimistic for my case.”
“As we all know, B.C’s health care system is in crisis. We need as many qualified health care professionals as we can get. If government supports ‘bodily autonomy,’ it can’t just be some things but not others. Letting people make their own decisions about their health care will not only bring B.C. health care workers back to their professions, it will encourage others to consider health care careers,“ said Terri Perepolkin.
BCPSEF was formed to support medical privacy and bodily autonomy for all Peoples in British Columbia. Learn more about BCPSEF and UHCWBC and the class action cases they are supporting: