Juno News - The case of Dr. Julie Ponesse： ethics professor placed on leave for not getting the vaccine

00:00:00.000 you may have seen a video that went viral on social media of dr julie panessi an ethics

00:00:09.200 professor at huron university college who has been placed on a paid leave and is not allowed

00:00:15.200 to go on her university campus because she declined to take the covid vaccine my school

00:00:21.600 employs me to be an authority on the subject of ethics i hold a phd in ethics and ancient philosophy

00:00:30.320 and i'm here to tell you it's ethically wrong to coerce someone to take a vaccine

00:00:36.880 if it happens to you you don't have to do it if you don't want a covid vaccine don't take one end

00:00:44.560 of discussion it's your own business but that is not the approach of the university of western ontario

00:00:53.120 which has suddenly required that i be vaccinated immediately or not report for work

00:01:00.560 so with the school year beginning in a few days i am facing imminent dismissal

00:01:06.480 after 20 years on the job because i will not submit to having an experimental vaccine

00:01:13.200 injected into my body i've had plenty of vaccines in my life but i've never been forced to take one

00:01:21.120 it's always been my choice now what i like about julie panessi is she's being very principled about

00:01:27.440 this she told the national post that although she may qualify for an exemption she doesn't want to get

00:01:33.200 one because that would be acquiescing to the mandate in some sense she said i want to be very clear in

00:01:39.600 rejecting it in principle i don't think we ever should have to be in the place where we're looking

00:01:43.920 at the situation of mandates so i'm not just seeking an exemption to one i'm challenging the

00:01:48.640 very foundation of the idea another thing i like is she has been making the point that even if you

00:01:53.840 don't have the the best explanation or reason for not getting the vaccine that doesn't mean

00:02:00.480 you should be coerced into getting it so unfortunately i hear a lot of people who are

00:02:06.240 to their credit pro-choice when it comes to the covid vaccine but they always add on caveats like

00:02:13.200 well if you don't have a legitimate exemption then you should get it and then they kind of make digs

00:02:18.320 at people who aren't getting it for personal reasons and saying that you know oh some people

00:02:22.880 are just very conspiratorial and they're tin hat tinfoil hat people and uh it's just they're subject

00:02:29.360 to misinformation that kind of thing so there's a lot of people willing to get behind people with

00:02:36.080 exemptions but in my view the only argument that really matters is if someone is personally unsettled by

00:02:43.920 getting a pharmaceutical product injected into their body then they shouldn't be intimidated into

00:02:49.920 getting it end of story now of course we're seeing the usual attacks on dr panessi as a way to

00:02:55.760 delegitimize her concerns and her arguments and what she's going through uh there is an emphasis

00:03:02.400 on the fact that she has been on maxime bernier's youtube channel and spoke at a people's party rally

00:03:08.080 as if that makes her a terrible person or something then there are the expected attacks on

00:03:12.800 her professional legitimacy because of course your education and your experiences only matter

00:03:18.640 if you are on the right side of an issue otherwise you're just some sort of fraud and

00:03:22.080 you don't really deserve your phd but in any case panessi is on a temporary leave she's not allowed

00:03:28.800 to access her campus and we will see what happens with this case it's a very important one to follow

00:03:34.160 if we want to assume the best of the university then you know maybe they'll try to work something

00:03:38.720 out with her but uh if not and she does end up fired then i think this could be one of the first

00:03:44.960 high-profile public incidents where someone who is not a healthcare worker is losing their job over

00:03:51.520 the mandate i'm lindsay shepherd with true north thanks so much for watching if you like our coverage

00:03:57.360 and commentary please consider supporting us at donate.tnc.news i will see you next time bye

Juno News - September 11, 2021