Ronald Reagan, in his inaugural address as the Governor of California on January 5th, 1967, poignantly stated the following on the fragility of freedom:

Perhaps you and I have lived too long with this miracle to properly be appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.[1]

These words ring as true today as they did when they were first uttered. And yet, over 55 years later, the majority of countries throughout the world and the majority of people living in them have been quick to relinquish their rights and freedoms under the pretext of “health safety.”

            Since March of 2020, the world has been brought to its knees by what I would argue are unscientific and unethical mandates related to the COVID-19 crisis. These mandates have had a tremendously negative impact on the world economy and the lives of countless individuals. The “cure” that has been offered by medical bureaucrats and politicians has been more deadly than the disease (COVID-19).[2] The imposition of lockdowns, mask wearing, coerced vaccination, and vaccine passports has not only proved to be ineffective but also much more harmful than SARS-CoV-2 and all its variants.[3] Some have argued that many lives have been lost because of the administration of harmful medical treatments[4]  and the rejection of effective treatments that follow genuine science.[5] In the process, our rights and freedoms that we have taken for granted for decades have been disparaged, trampled on, and desecrated, including our freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom to peacefully assemble, mobility rights, equality rights, and legal rights. Consequently, our governments have made a mockery of informed consent. We have had pastors like Artur Pawlowski[6] and freedom fighters like Pat King[7] and Tamara Lich[8] arbitrarily, unjustifiably, and illegally detained and imprisoned. The last surviving signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Brian A. Peckford, has vocalized his discontents with these mandates and government overreach with the invocation of the Emergencies Act,[9] only to be met with silence by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada. Despite the actions of the past two and a half years, the role of government is not to tell us what to do and what to think but to protect our civil rights and civil liberties. Regrettably, Canada, a country that was once the admiration of the world for its unwavering commitment to protecting people’s rights and freedoms, has rapidly become the ridicule of the world. And still, remarkably, many Canadians seem oblivious to it all.[10]

            In this paper, I will provide a critical reflection as to why ordinary citizens of the world, including well-meaning Catholics, were so quick to relinquish their rights and freedoms despite the lack of scientific evidence, ethical grounding, and rational argumentation. I will then offer a final reflection on how we ought to view our rights and freedoms with the aid of Jacques Maritain’s thought.

Compliance, Coercion, and Deception

What has been striking since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis is how quick we were to abandon our civil liberties by keeping six feet apart, not seeing people outside of those we live with, wearing a mask (even outdoors), staying away from parks, following arrows at essential stores, etc. When governments and medical authorities instill fear, as has been the case with COVID-19, it is remarkable how compliant and credulous a population becomes without questioning what is really emerging. Even more remarkable is that most North Americans initially supported extended government control and lockdowns. Some went so far as to report churches and other groups that did not abide by these stringent restrictions. This sort of behaviour can be thought of as “unthinking compliance,” whereby some people just follow whatever they are told without any serious reflection. Unthinking compliance can also be understood as transpiring when individuals just follow whatever directives, no matter how arbitrary, without any further thought. In many instances, it can be seen as a form of self-deception or self-gaslighting since many people tend to assume that the majority must be right. On the other hand, people who follow certain rules out of fear of repercussions due to government coercion exhibit what I have dubbed “thinking compliance.”

Conformity Experiments

These two modes of compliance can be explained by what are known as the “conformity experiments,” which were originally conducted by social psychologist Solomon Asch in 1951.[11] Two cards were provided to the subjects in these experiments: one card had one line, while the other had three lines of varying lengths. Next, the participants were instructed to match the first card’s line with the second card’s line of the same length. When the subjects completed this activity independently, they almost never made a mistake. However, when they were with other participants—actors who deliberately provided false answers—roughly 75% of the subjects copied the incorrect response at least once. The individuals who gave incorrect responses acknowledged after the trial that they understood the correct answers but were frightened to disagree with the group. Under duress, a few even acknowledged doubting their own abilities and taking the group’s ridiculous answers at face value.

            Similar tests were conducted years later, in 2005, by neurologist Gregory Berns, who used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate individuals’ responses when provided responses by a computer and a group of people. It was demonstrated by Berns and colleagues that participants were more willing to follow the answers of a group than of a computer. Subjects who followed the group’s wrong replies and those who did not showed differences. The subjects who did not conform to groupthink showed, through fMRI, increased activity in the amygdala (a brain structure associated with anxiety, fear, and stress).[12]

            These experiments demonstrate that a high level of obedience results once people are subjected to social pressures. Even more astonishing is that these experiments show a high degree of compliance even when the real-life consequences of disobedience are practically nonexistent. The question is whether the findings of these studies can be extrapolated to explain the conformity to many of the dubious COVID-19 measures by large segments of the population accepting false and nonsensical information presented as factual without critical reflection, and whether others who see the flaws are motivated by a fear of ostracization, which motivates their conformity.

            Conformity is also drastically increased when governments, health organizations, and the mainstream media deploy not only fear tactics against their citizens but also bombard them with unrelenting propaganda, with slogans like “trust the science,” “stay at home,” “stop the spread,” and “we are in this together,” and that “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.” Moreover, when you have scientific and medical experts appearing on national news, people tell themselves that, “the experts can’t be wrong” and that “most people are following this,” so they would second guess any rational skepticism they may have regarding the overall COVID narrative. Fascinatingly, a Yale University study assessed coercion techniques to consent to the COVID-19 vaccination as well as the psychological fallout—such as shame, rage, and guilt—as potent means of swaying participants.[13] One recent study confirmed that although the novelty of the mRNA technology has led to public hesitancy, however, social conformity played a large role in reducing hesitancy.[14] Governments and the media know very well that many humans will conform to social pressures.

            For a disease that has a high recovery rate of 97–99.75%,[15] which includes people with comorbidities, one ought to wonder: why the excessive and aggressive vaccine rollout? It should be noted that there have been significant difficulties in collecting accurate data since governments and hospitals have failed to distinguish between dying “with” and “from” COVID-19,[16]  the embellishment of reports, and the lack of autopsies, leading to an inflation of COVID-19 data,[17] as well as because of the unreliability of RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing (considered to be the “gold standard” diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2).[18]

            The high level of compliance demonstrated that most people were prepared to conform, whether unthinkingly or thinkingly. And the fact that incentivization[19] is required for those who did not readily comply with an unnecessary and potentially harmful experimental vaccine is troubling and should raise concerns about governments’ motivations to exercise such strategies, given all the censorship and demonization of effective early COVID treatments.[20] In the US, the Biden administration was offering free beer for taking the COVID-19 vaccine.[21] Even donuts, pizza, fries, and gift cards are being offered[22]—quite a cheap price to pay for someone’s health. For any objective observer, this should seem quite odd and concerning.  

Mass Formation Psychosis

Niccolò Machiavelli, in his novel The Prince, wrote the following: “And since there are three kinds of brains: one that understands by itself, another that discerns what others understand, the third that understands neither by itself nor through others.”[23] It is similar to what Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, Mattias Desmet, who has studied the psychology of totalitarianism, argues in his recent book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism:

Mass formation, as a form of hypnosis, is a phenomenon where individuals are in the grip         of the resonance of a voice—the voice of the leader of the crowd. However, not all of the      population falls prey to this process… [there are] three groups that form when a mass rises: the masses themselves, who truly go along with the story and are “hypnotized”    (usually about 30 percent); a group that is not hypnotized but chooses to not go against the grain (usually about 40 to 60 percent); a group that is not hypnotized and actively resists the masses (ranging from 10 to 30 percent).[24]

            A key to understanding Desmet’s mass formation is that “totalitarianism arises from evolutions and tendencies that take place in our day-to-day lives”[25] and is not focused on the typical understanding associated with totalitarianism, such as concentration camps, for instance. In addition, according to Desmet, in the case of COVID, the crisis did not arise out of the blue but is part of a long line of “societal responses to objects of fear: terrorists, global warming, coronavirus.”[26]

            Desmet discusses four conditions that must be fulfilled for large-scale mass formation, conditions that were present before the rise of Nazism and Stalinism and are currently present.[27] First, the masses must feel alone and isolated; second, they must feel that their lives are meaningless; third, they must experience free-floating anxiety; and lastly, they must feel free-floating frustration and aggression. This inability to pinpoint their aggression and loneliness is fundamental to the strategy. Once these four conditions are met, they are prepared to be “hypnotized.” The senselessness, or even harmfulness of the proposed “solution” is irrelevant. The purpose is to make people feel solidarity with one another, thus validating the whole psychosis for them. From this point forward, they are incapable of being rational, which would include any statistical, mathematical, or logical approaches to analysis that assume that people are in a rational state of mind.[28]

            The question arises: what is the catalyst for mass formation once these four preconditions are met? This is where the media comes in and focuses on an object of anxiety; under Nazism, it was the Jews; for Stalinists, it was the ruling class; and for COVID-19, it is the anti-vaxxers and “conspiracy theorists” who follow a counter narrative.

            Many people throughout the COVID-19 crisis who have been swept away by the mass-formation process have also become highly intolerant and cruel. This is why you can see people on social media act viciously towards one another, and in particular towards those who question the single narrative and anything related to the so-called COVID-19 vaccines. For example, some doctors have wished death on the unvaccinated. Ironically, a cardiologist from New Brunswick, who claimed he wouldn’t cry at the funeral of an unvaccinated person or that he would punch the face of those who influence others against it, died suddenly shortly after receiving his COVID-19 booster.[29]

            Unfortunately, most people are unaware of the fact that there have been an alarming 150 sudden deaths among Canadian physicians since the vaccine rollout. The mainstream has remained silent on this disturbing occurrence. On October 15, 2022, Nuclear Medicine Radiologist and Oncologist Dr. William Makis, MD, FRCPC, of the Department of Radiology at the University of Alberta, wrote a letter to the presidents of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) urging them to investigate this matter.[30] The matter has still not been investigated, and the CMA has met Dr. Makis with utter silence. Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, in general, has been on the rise since the vaccine rollout. The number of doctors dying suddenly continues to grow. Dr. Makis writes in a recent piece that the

             Canadian Medical Association, which continues to push the toxic Pfizer and Moderna     mRNA jabs on its own doctor members, has chosen to mark this milestone with a full-  page Pfizer ad on the back cover of its April 2023 issue of the Canadian Medical            Association Journal, presumably in exchange for a few pieces of silver.[31]

            For people suffering mass formation, the vaccine became not only their saviour but also the only conceivable way out of the COVID crisis.

            The conformity tests and mass formation help explain a significant portion of the population’s acceptance of the implementation of unscientific and unethical, draconian measures that violate our civil liberties and inalienable human rights. For those who were not affected by these tactics and refused to comply in one form or another, they had to face other consequences, including but not limited to being fined and/or jailed, having bank accounts frozen, losing employment, losing custody and visitation rights of their children, and much more.[32]

            The late astronomer Carl Sagan warned us in his book Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark about falling prey to blatant falsehoods through what he dubbed a “baloney detector”:

            A deception arises, sometimes innocently but collaboratively, sometimes with cynical             premeditation. Usually the victim is caught up in a powerful emotion—wonder, fear,        greed, grief. Credulous acceptance of baloney can cost you money; that’s what P. T.      Barnum meant when he said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” But it can be much   more dangerous than that, and when governments and societies lose the capacity for      critical thinking, the results can be catastrophic, however, sympathetic we may be to   those who have bought the baloney.[33]

Many fell for the “baloney,” i.e., harmful propaganda that bolstered unscientific, unethical, and dangerous mandates. Now that the truth is being revealed day by day,[34] governments and other entities must be held fully accountable. Something tells me Sagan would have agreed. Sagan encouraged skepticism and debate so that experts could discuss freely. None of this has happened; instead, experts countering the narrative have been censored, silenced, and have lost their employment. Every edifice of the COVID crisis and every measure taken should draw every ounce of skepticism from citizens of the world. This is especially true with the suppression of scientific evidence against the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines[35] and their rollout in 2021.[36]

Misleading the Faithful Is Not an Act of Love          

Adding another dimension and layer to compliance and coercion is the fact that church authorities betrayed the conscience of the faithful. Many faithful Catholics were misled by church authorities, including Pope Francis. Despite the fact that the mRNA vaccines and the Janssen vaccine are produced and/or lab tested with aborted fetal cell lines, Pope Francis has called vaccination an “act of love.”[37] The Vatican also attempted to allay concerns about “material cooperation” with evil, claiming that the vaccine was far-removed from the abortion industry. However, Bishop Athanasius Schneider explains why this is not accurate:

            The theological principle of material cooperation is certainly valid and may be applied to a whole host of cases (e.g. in paying taxes, the use of products made from slave labor,    and so on). However, this principle can hardly be applied to the case of vaccines made   from fetal cell lines, because those who knowingly and voluntarily receive such vaccines       enter into a kind of concatenation, albeit very remote, with the process of the abortion             industry. The crime of abortion is so monstrous that any kind of concatenation with this             crime, even a very remote one, is immoral and cannot be accepted under any         circumstances by a Catholic once he has become fully aware of it. One who uses these             vaccines must realize that his body is benefitting from the “fruits” (although steps          removed through a series of chemical processes) of one of mankind’s greatest crimes.[38]

First, any connection, however remote, to the abortion industry cannot be reasonably described as an “act of love.” Second, describing coercive mandates as an act of love is extremely deceptive and troubling. Third, inoculating children who, for the most part, have natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and its variants is not only unnecessary but needlessly risky.[39] It should be noted that healthy, unvaccinated children are critical to achieving herd immunity.[40] Natural immunity tolerates infection and is beneficial to community protection, and growing data demonstrates that the COVID-19 vaccines do not stop transmission, prevent infection, or even cause death.[41] Fourth, ignoring and censoring dissenting voices within and outside of the Church, including some respected experts in their fields, is not “an act of love.” Fifth, the fact that the vaccines’ protection waned over a few months demonstrates their low efficacy and offers little, if any, benefit, which should not be an exemption for using vaccines made with aborted fetal cell lines. Sixth, dehumanizing those who do not comply is not “an act of love.” Seventh, the fact that the COVID vaccines have caused significant harm and even death[42] is most certainly not an “act of love.” It compounds the evil.

            An act of love cannot be coerced and must also be voluntary. In an interview on January 10, 2021, Pope Francis said that “I believe that morally everyone must take the vaccine,” he also emphasized that “it is the moral choice because it is about your life but also the lives of others.”[43] In August of 2021, Pope Francis said that “getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable.”[44] Other cardinals and archbishops have echoed Pope Francis’s sentiments. The Pope never makes the distinction between who should and who should not take the vaccine. Never a single mention of the potential harm and serious adverse effects. Not a mention of natural immunity, nothing. The Church has also been utterly silent on the many violations perpetrated by governments against sovereign individuals throughout the world.

            Even some Swiss Guards within Vatican City have voiced their objections against the Vatican’s vaccine mandates and returned to Switzerland. Swiss Guard, Pierre-André Udressy, in an open letter addressed to “Vatican authorities, its supreme head, the Holy Father Pope Francis, the Vatican Secretariat of State, the institutions of the city, and the commandant of the Pontifical Swiss Guard,” wrote scathingly on vaccine coercion occurring within Vatican City:

                Now the Vatican, the institution of the Church, has chosen the Pfizer vaccine, tested on    abortive cell lines. What are we to think? It even imposes the vaccine on all its   employees, although, as a sovereign state, it would have the possibility to choose           products not contaminated by abortion, which also exist.

            What is even more frightening is the neglect of life where life should be defended! In       such a dramatic situation, people would expect nothing but spiritual support: In such        a crisis, only faith could allow them to bear the situation.[45]

Many conscientious Catholics, like Bishop Schneider, Udressy, and others, see mandating and coercing people into compliance to receive the COVID injection as morally abhorrent. It is regrettable that, whether knowingly or unknowingly, Pope Francis misled many faithful Catholics into receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Interestingly, Pope Francis held private meetings with Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla.[46] For those who are unaware, in 2009, Pfizer paid $2.3 billion in the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.[47] Anyone who is interested in learning more about a thorough scientific, ethical, and theological critique of all the COVID measures taken can consult COVID-19: A Dystopian Delusion.

Jacques Maritain’s Christian Integral Humanism, Freedom, and the Common Good

The COVID measures have been a violation of both bodily autonomy and informed consent. Tragically, bodily autonomy has been disregarded but is more readily honoured when it involves the termination of unborn beings, which has been designated as “reproductive health care.” In many instances, informed consent has been disparaged, and most people consented uninformedly. But what does informed consent actually entail? Informed consent for the COVID-19 vaccine would entail consent by a patient to undergo a medical treatment or to participate in an experiment after the patient understands the risks involved, benefits, and alternatives. It must be voluntary and free in the absence of pressure, coercion, or duress. Unfortunately, this has not been followed, and there has been no transparency on these issues. Mandating experimental vaccination for a highly survivable disease, especially for those who do not have compromised immune systems and are under 20 years of age, is exceedingly unethical, to say the least. Moreover, clinical trials did not end until February 2023, two years after a massive vaccine rollout.[48] To have any semblance of full or reasonable informed consent, you would require accurate and truthful responses to the following questions:

• Do we have an entire list of the contents of the vaccine and whether any of the

            ingredients are toxic?

• Do we know whether the vaccine is an experimental mRNA gene

            altering therapy that is undergoing a trial period?

• What are the long-term effects?

• What is the likelihood of death?

• What are the known adverse effects? Full disclosure of data must be provided.

• If an individual suffers a severe adverse effect, what is the recovery rate

            in comparison to COVID-19?

• Is the vaccine medically necessary for a healthy person, let alone a child?

• Is it safe for healthy individuals? List all the risks and rates

            of fatalities.

• Is it effective? Does it stop transmission? Does it prevent infection? How long does its protection last?

• How many doses are required?

• How will side effects and injuries be classified, documented, and

            compensated as a result of these procedures?

• Will a doctor give a prescription?

• Why is there an incessant push to incentivize people? What are the ethics

            behind such practices?

• What about alternative treatments, like early therapeutic and antiviral drugs? If these are effective, then what is the point of the vaccine?

• Which has longer-lasting protection—the vaccine or natural immunity? Why?

• If you suffer an injury or death, who is responsible? If they are safe and effective, why is the whole industry indemnified for experimental vaccines?

In most cases, the answers to these questions were not provided to those who received the COVID-19 vaccine. Most egregiously, in 2021, in Ontario, children who were born in 2009 (some not even twelve years old) could decide on their own whether they would like to receive the COVID-19 injection without the consent of their parents.[49]

            What we have learned over the past three years is that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a document that has not fulfilled its putative purpose to protect the rights and freedoms of Canadians but rather claims to. For example, we must take into account that although the Charter is supposed to guarantee and protect basic rights such as mobility rights, legal rights, equal rights, and basic freedoms such as freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, freedom of the press, freedom to peacefully assemble, and freedom of association, there are qualifiers to such rights and freedoms that our government can interpret and manipulate as they see fit. We must take into account the wording of the latter part of the first clause of the Charter, which states: “subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”[50] Unfortunately, for hard-working, honest, and law-abiding Canadians, it is our judiciaries[51] that ultimately decide the limits as to what may be deemed “reasonable” and “justified.” We have seen this violation with the forced use of the ArriveCan application, which has cost Canadians $54 million, and by not allowing unvaccinated individuals to travel interprovincially and outside of the country for six months. Time and time again, whether it was through violating Canadians’ rights to mobility,[52] freedom of conscience[53] and freedom of religion,[54] or legal rights,[55] our government did so at whim, under the guise of a “public health emergency.”

            Jacques Maritain, as someone who played an influential role in the production and writing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, would no doubt be flummoxed and distraught about the violations of basic human rights in Canada and other parts of the western world that have transpired over the past two and a half years. Such violations are in stark opposition to the “integral Christian humanism” he espoused in his writings. Inherent to Maritain’s “integral Christian humanism” is his pluralism, which respects people of different religious consciences. Although the possibility of maintaining plurality and unity throughout varying communities is the subject of a wider debate, it can be argued that Maritain’s pluralistic understanding would readily apply to those who have chosen to oppose government mandates and not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.[56] Maritain also recognized the significance of “dissenting minorities”[57] since they are fundamental to an institutional understanding of the common good, whereby members of a society fulfill relational obligations that serve the interests shared by all of society, including civil liberties such as freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and freedom of association. At times, this could be reflected in the “hidden will”[58] of certain factions of society represented by political spokespersons and dissidents that may provide a counter narrative. In the case of Canada, this could be seen in the discontents of dissenting politicians and political spokespersons such as Maxime Bernier, Derek Sloan, Tamara Lich, Brian Peckford, and others. Thus, dissenting minorities can often draw attention to the importance of protecting such civil liberties,[59] which, if neglected or abandoned, can set a bad precedent that can negatively impact other groups in the future, who may seem immune at the time, depending on the change in politics and culture. This respect for people of different religions and perspectives is grounded in the Christian doctrine of the imago Dei, which in turn, in Maritain’s understanding, despite differences, could lead to fellowship and friendship,[60] helping in the flourishment of individuals, society, and the world.

            The love for God and human life is at the fore of Maritain’s theology and philosophy: “Thus, brotherly love brings to earth through the heart of man, the fire of eternal life, which is the true peacemaker, and it must vitalize from within the natural virtue of friendship, disregarded by so many fools, which is the very soul of social communities.”[61] Those who, throughout the COVID crisis, resisted tyranny and spoke against the dangers of lockdowns, unnecessary mask-wearing, and the rapid experimental vaccine rollout, despite the continual censorship, although relentlessly ostracized and dehumanized, embody this “very soul of social communities” that Maritain spoke about.

            The actions taken by the Liberal Party of Canada and all the provincial governments throughout Canada support secular humanism. It is important to note that Maritain had developed his thought in the context of the rise of totalitarian ideologies, whether in the form of fascism, communism, or Nazism, which he saw as all destructive to human rights, the family, freedom, and responsibility.[62] He was able to observe the birth of these totalitarian regimes, which at first may have appeared more benign than what they were to become. Desmet, echoing the German born American historian Hannah Arendt also recognizes the dehumanizing nature of nations under the thumb of such regimes and how they propel ordinary people to think and act in anti-human ways: “Following totalitarianism is not about monstruous [sic] people—it is about normal people who stick to a morbid, dehumanizing way of thinking or “logic.”[63]

            At the time that World War II broke out (1938), Maritain was lecturing on his alternative to these philosophies of totalitarianism,[64] “Christian integral humanism.” His response to the person becoming subservient to the state lay in the transcendent moral and spiritual aspects of the human person, which were centered on the distinctiveness of persons and focused on their dreams and aspirations that were grounded in the Divine. This subservience and fear of standing against the state have deeply manifested themselves throughout the COVID crisis.

            These troubled times, remind us that many people fear speaking out due to potential repercussions. These people would rather do what is expedient than what is right. They would rather “follow orders” and comply with whatever government mandates are in place in order to not suffer from any inconveniences or consequences. This group of people is known as “bystanders.” They claim no involvement, but these are precisely the people who have allowed great evils to transpire throughout history.[65] We needn’t look too far back to find examples. Historically, “bystanders” can be considered complicit in the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, Soviets, and Maoists since they did nothing to prevent them. The same is true of some of the vaccinated people, including family members who did not raise any concerns, or worse, who supported such mandates as vaccine-free individuals were punished for deciding not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Even worse, some people, including family members, demonized and shunned the vaccine-free, for which there was little if any scientific or ethical justification whatsoever. One could argue that without public outcry and knowledge of recent human history, the abuse of power by governments and legislative bodies could potentially proliferate to such historical levels of totalitarianism, yet again. Many individuals from Eastern European countries that suffered under Soviet rule have raised concerns about how Canada’s and other western nations’ handling of the COVID crisis. One prominent example of this is Polish-Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski, who lived in Communist Poland throughout the 1970s and 1980s; he recently testified against the tyrannical actions of the Canadian provincial and federal governments in the European Union Parliament. [66] The treatment of such individuals is in direct opposition to Maritain’s “Christian integral humanism” and Christian polity.

            Maritain, in his book,  The Person and the Common Good, emphasizes the strong relationship between the dignity of the human person and the general “common good” of society, when he states: “Man is constituted a person, made for God and life eternal, before he is constituted a part of the city; and he is constituted a part of the family society before his is constituted part of the political society.”[67] In The Things That Are Not Ceasar’s, he argues that the state is grounded by the spiritual order:

            The end of the terrestrial State is the totum bene vivere of mankind on this earth; a            temporal good, no doubt, but one which is not only of the material order, but also and          pre-eminently of the moral and spiritual order. The science and practice of the good     conduct of the State are therefore inseparable from the exact knowledge of the ends            of human life.[68]

Thus, for Maritain, the material order is subordinate to both the moral and spiritual orders. Consequently, he understood secular humanism as morally deficient and inherently anti-human since it does not and cannot account for the totality of the human person. Desmet echoes this view, seeing secular society as inherently dehumanizing since it is ultimately based on the mechanization of the world,[69] i.e., a scientific materialist understanding of the world, where everything is reduced to subatomic particles in motion, God is displaced as is the human soul. In our current day, this is also seen with the aggressive push towards transhumanism, which takes another step away from the inherent soulful nature of humanity grounded in the Divine. 

            Maritain repeatedly emphasized the importance of both the spiritual and material aspects of the human person. The spiritual component of the human person is necessary for recognizing the inherent dignity and value of each human being since they are created in the image and likeness of God. As opposed to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Maritain’s Integral Humanism lines up more closely with the Bill of Rights that was passed in 1960 since it affirms “the dignity and worth of the human person and the position of the family in a society of free men and free institutions” and further “that men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.”[70] Furthermore, the Bill of Rights, in line with Maritain’s “integral Christian humanism,” affirms that our inalienable human rights are not and should not be subject to the interpretation of corrupt courts and governments. For Maritain, the ideal political system is one that recognizes the sovereignty of God. Maritain rightfully rejects any secular system since it cannot objectively account for morality and the inherent dignity of the human person; anything short of this would be dehumanizing, as philosopher William Sweet explains:

            A theocentric humanism, Maritain would argue, has its philosophical foundation in the     recognition of the nature of the human person as a spiritual and material being—a being          that has a relation to God—and social and political institutions must therefore reflect     this.[71]

Also fundamental to Maritain’s understanding of the human person is his view of “primordial rights,” such as the right to life (protected existence at all stages of life through means of safety, food, shelter, etc.), religious liberty, and freedom of conscience, all of which exist because of our ultimate end in God and take precedence over duties to the common good, which are integral to the dignity of the human person.

            This abandonment of God as the foundation of a political system, as clearly exemplified by both federal and provincial Canadian governments, leads to arbitrary and draconian measures and the dehumanization of its citizens. Under a secular political system, humans are used as means to an end instead of being seen as ends in and of themselves.[72] This is precisely the case when mind control tactics, as revealed by the conformity tests and mass formation psychosis discussed above, are deployed against unsuspecting human persons. Coercion of this sort, whether through mind-control or through repercussions such as loss of employment for non-compliance, given the backdrop argued above, denigrates the dignity of the human person. For Maritain, this could be explained as destroying their personhood by violating both their freedom and intellect.[73] This is further corroborated by the fact that most of the measures enacted against individual human persons had no scientific basis, even though everything was done in the name of “public health safety.”

            Intimately connected to Maritain’s integral humanism is his understanding of the natural law, which he defines as “an order or a disposition that the human reason can discover and according to which the human will must act to attune itself to the essential and necessary ends of the human being,”[74] which in turn relates to the common good. Ultimately, Maritain views the common good two-fold: as an individual, the material component of the human being is subordinate to the common good of the community, whereas the personhood or personal aspect of the human being transcends that of the community because of the inherent dignity and spiritual end of the human being, which is meant to be in communion with the source of all communities, namely God.[75]

            One of the recurring issues related to our loss of freedom was not only how individuals relinquished their freedoms and rights but how we did so as communities as well, compounding the problem even further. Moreover, sovereign states, like Canada, relied heavily on the recommendations of organizations such as the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum, thus compromising communities of not just individual human beings but also individual human persons. This trend should be worrisome to Canadians since, from November 29 to December 1, 2021, the World Health Assembly (WHA) organized a meeting to discuss a proposed treaty and commence the drafting process for a global Pandemic Treaty to manage and prevent future so-called pandemics.[76] This sort of treaty could have ominous consequences for Canada and other sovereign nations since not all countries will require the same response to future health crises. A one size-fits-all approach to public health, as we have seen, can have devastating consequences since each individual human person has very specific medical necessities that are unique to them and should be discussed with their physicians and family, not the State and much less globalist organizations. Matters of moral conscience should never be left to any government, organization, or State. Globalist entities, despite their claims otherwise, have distinct motivations that are far removed from the common good of society and the spiritual good of the human person. Moreover, these globalist entities do not see the intrinsic worth of humans and do not recognize a spiritual aspect to human beings; they are seen as merely material beings that can fit into a larger agenda. Maritain explains this succinctly:

            The common good is common because it is received in persons, each one of whom is        as a mirror of the whole. Among the bees, there is a public good, namely, the good      functioning of the hive, but not a common good, that is, a good received and   communicated. The end of society, therefore, is neither the             individual good nor the           collection of the individual goods of each of the persons who constitute it… The end of            society is the good of the community, of the social body. But if the good of the social             body is not understood to be a common good of human persons, just as the social body     itself is a whole of human persons, this conception also would lead to other errors of a          totalitarian type. The common good of the city is neither the mere collection of private    goods, nor the proper good of a whole which, like the species with respect to its      individuals or the hive with respect to its bees, relates the parts to itself alone and            sacrifices them to itself. It is the good human life of the multitude, of a multitude of             persons; it is their communion in good living.[77]

Maritain’s understanding of the common good as it pertains to human persons can explain why we have had a breakdown in communication between the state, smaller communities, families, and individual human persons. The divisions we have experienced over recent years revolving around politics and conversations around COVID-19 seem unprecedented. But no society can flourish while demonizing and denigrating one another. We can take, for example, the illogical statements and hateful rhetoric of Justin Trudeau when he referred to six million unvaccinated Canadians as not believing “in science or progress” and as being “misogynistic and racist” and claiming that “they take up some space,” thereby ostracizing and dehumanizing those who do not comply for simply following their moral conscience. This has had frightful consequences since many of those who are in mass formation psychosis are convinced that Trudeau’s words are an accurate representation of the unvaccinated. The words of the Prime Minister and the actions taken by our government and others throughout the world are the antithesis of the good human life and the common good of human persons that Maritain so eloquently wrote about. Maritain was a staunch defender of freedom of conscience. He would have been very disheartened, although perhaps not surprised, by the moral regression of western societies over recent years. Something tells me he would have empathized with the “Truckers’ Convoy” since he supported socialist ideas like the right of workers, which the Liberal and NDP parties in Canada have completely forgotten about. Maritain understood that human rights were closely connected to moral responsibilities. Consequently, Maritain held that rights and responsibilities are intrinsic to a person’s dignity. He explains this succinctly in The Rights of Man and Natural Law:

            If man is morally bound to the things which are necessary to the fulfillment of his destiny, obviously, then, he has the right to fulfill his destiny; and if he has the right to             fulfill his destiny has the right to the things necessary for this purpose.[78]

According to Maritain, rights are fundamental for advancing the common good and human destiny. This is especially true in the case of parents providing for their children and families. Given this understanding, Maritain would have argued against termination of employment by businesses and governments and the freezing of bank accounts of those who participated and supported the Canadian truckers’ convoy, since these are necessary for sustaining families and thus an attack on one’s moral responsibilities and inherent dignity.

            Maritain would also argue that secular governments, acting as though there were no natural law or moral law giver, are incapable of assisting a human person to fulfill their destiny but rather create obstacles and burdens for this end. The reasons for why we have arrived where we have are complex and varied, but much of it involves the loss of faith in a personal God, human dignity, and the elevation of scientific materialism and technology, which Maritain would equate with “machinism,” which instead of freeing humanity, enslaves it. This, combined with tendencies towards relativism, whether metaphysical or moral, has become prominent throughout the wider culture and academia, which has led many astray, not least our scientists, politicians, and even clergymen. Nevertheless, we must work to restore not only tolerance among people who we disagree with but a spirit of love, equality, and fellowship, which is fundamental to Maritain’s understanding of “integral Christian humanism,” as he states:

            The man of Christian humanism cherishes freedom as something he must be worthy of;    he realizes his essential equality with other men in terms of respect and fellowship, and          see in justice the force of preservation of the political community and the prerequisite            which, “bring unequals to equality,” enables civic friendship to spring forth. He is aware both of the tremendous ordeal which the advent of machinism imposes on human history,          and of the marvelous power of liberation it offers to man, if the brute instinct of           domination does not avail itself of the techniques of machinism, and of science itself, in             order to enslave mankind; and if reason and wisdom are strong enough to turn them into   the service of truly human aims and apply to them the standards of human life.[79]

Maritain recognizes that technology in and of itself is neutral since it can be used for good or for government overreach and control. It facilitates our lives, but at the same time, it can cause significant harm, including financial harm, as was the case with the freezing of bank accounts of those with dissenting views. It can also lead to mass surveillance, as exemplified by the ArriveCan application, which threatens our freedoms and, in turn, not only our livelihood but our religious freedom and moral conscience.

            Given the horrors of World War II, which Maritain was astutely aware of, we must be reminded of the severity of the desecration of informed consent, which is a direct violation of the Nuremberg Code, and the consequences of that, I would imagine, would be extremely serious.[80] Only time will tell if those who have been complicit in harming individuals, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually, who put their trust in the state and in doctors, bureaucrats, politicians, and clergymen, including the Pope, will be held accountable in this life.

            In the end, we must uphold the human person’s dignity above becoming complacent and meek Christians for the sake of charity and in the name of a false understanding of forgiveness. Even if the burden is great, we must stand up for what is true and good in the face of unfavourable circumstances, deceptions, and the incredible pressures of our society and culture. Given the actions and inactions of our governments, media, medical colleges, health organizations, and even our own families, we must always be vigilant against humanity’s proclivity towards dominance and selfishness. History has shown us that we are susceptible to falling into the traps that our ancestors did. We must, instead, follow our conscience and respect and love our fellow human beings. When we do this, we will be less likely to be divided and controlled by governments and globalist entities. All human beings are called to resist evil and to help others see our common human nature in a spirit of love and fellowship.

[1] Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address (Public Ceremony), January 5, 1967. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/january-5-1967-inaugural-addresspublic-ceremony.

[2] What I mean by “cure” is all the measures taken to allegedly stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, including lockdowns, mask-wearing, physical distancing, the use of ineffective treatments, experimental vaccines that have been shown to not stop the spread of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) or infection, the halting of necessary medical procedures that had nothing to do with COVID, the denial of treatment for some of the unvaccinated, the prevention of loved ones seeing relatives in their last dying hours in the hospital, the segregation of society, the mental health effects of these measures, and much more.

[3] For a carefully laid-out case critiquing many aspects of COVID-19, including mask wearing, lockdowns, media propaganda, a critique of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines, the efficacy and accuracy of the RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction), which is used as a diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2, and a host of other related aspects, see Ed. Scott D. G. Ventureyra, COVID-19: A Dystopian Delusion: Examining the Machinations of Governments, Health Organizations, the Globalist Elites, Big Pharma, Big Tech, and the Legacy Media (Ottawa, ON: True Freedom Press, 2022.

[4] For the harm caused by remdesivir, which was used frequently to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients in both the US and Canada, see John H. Beigel et al., “Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19—Final Report,” New

England Journal of Medicine (Oct. 8, 2020), nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764; Hendrie Edward, “Doctor Reveals that Remdesivir Was the Real Cause for Many Alleged COVID-19 Maladies.” Great Mountain Publishing, August 7, 2021, https://greatmountainpublishing.com/2021/08/07/doctor-revealsthat-remdesivir-was-the-real-cause-for-many-alleged-covid-19-maladies/; James Herrer, “Doctor Exposes the Dangers of Remdesivir and other Drugs that are Being Recommended by NIH.” eClassifie, accessed December 28,

2021, https://www.eclassifie.com/2021/09/doctor-exposes-the-dangers-ofremdesivir-and-other-drugs-that-are-being-recommended-by-nih/.

For a comprehensive study demonstrating the negative effects of multiple doses of the mRNA COVID vaccine on people’s immune systems through the causation of autoimmune diseases and the promotion of cancer growth and autoimmune myocarditis in vulnerable individuals, see Vladimir N. Uversky, Elrashdy M. Redwan, William Makis, and Alberto Rubio-Casillas, “IgG4 Antibodies Induced by Repeated Vaccination May Generate Immune Tolerance to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein,” Vaccines, 11(2023): 991, https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11050991. For evidence of innate immune suppression caused by the mRNA vaccine, see Stephanie Seneff, Nigh, G., Kyriakopoulos, A.M., McCullough, P.A., “Innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations: The role of G-quadruplexes, exosomes, and MicroRNAs.” Food Chem. Toxicol., 164 (2022): 113008.

[5] For an in-depth examination of medical malfeasance through demonizing inexpensive early treatments against COVID-19 and promoting harmful procedures and medications, see John Leake and Peter McCullough, The Courage to Face COVID-19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex (Dallas, Texas: Counterplay Books, 2022). In this work, the authors build an evidential case in favour of early COVID treatments that have been more effective than any of the COVID vaccines. Peter McCullough is a world-renowned cardiologist who has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers on the subject of COVID-19 alone. He is one of, if not the most cited, cardiologists in the history of medicine. John Leake is a free-lance author who studied under Sir Roger Scruton at Boston University. For an in-depth look at the extreme corruption inside the medical industrial complex and Anthony Fauci’s deep involvement, see Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2021). For a book with numerous chapters written by medical and scientific experts taking a critical look at the COVID-19 crisis, see Ed. Robert Malone, Lies My Gov’t Told Me: And the Better Future Coming (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2022).

[6] To hear about the brutality of Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s unlawful incarceration and treatment, see “EXCLUSIVE: Jailhouse Interview with Pastor Artur Pawlowski,” Rebel News, May 9, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5O1PqME9_U.

[7] This is an interview between Kyle Kemper (Justin Trudeau’s brother) and Pat King that discusses the government’s persecution of Pat King. See “Pat King Interview with Justin Trudeau’s Brother,” Rumble, https://rumble.com/vtxsd8-february-3-2022.html.

[8] To watch an interview about Tamara Lich’s testimony, see “Truckers on the Frontlines of Freedom | Tamara Lich and Tammy Peterson | EP 369,” The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, YouTube video, June 23, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm7lLihEKvQ. She also recently published a book that gives an inside look into her story and the truckers’ convoy, Tamara Lich, Hold the Line: My Story from the Heart of the Freedom Convoy Rebel (Toronto, Ontario: News Network Ltd., 2023).

[9] Ewa Sudyk, “Peckford on ‘completely unnecessary’ Emergencies Act,” Western Standard, February 14, 2022, https://www.westernstandard.news/news/peckford-on-completely-unnecessary-emergencies-act/article_9e6b78df-2099-5bea-a7be-019d0eed01c3.html.

[10] The never-before-invoked Emergencies Act had no legal justification. Moreover, the inquiry, based on testimonials given at the Public Order Emergency Commission throughout October and November 2022, despite Commissioner Paul Rouleau’s decision, has supported the idea that there was no legal justification for its invocation, see Harrison Faulkner, “Day 30 Emergencies Act hearings recap – Freeland was warned not to use banks as “political weapon,” True North, November 24, 2022, https://tnc.news/2022/11/24/day-30-emergencies-act-hearings-recap-freeland-was-warned-not-to-use-banks-as-political-weapon/; Margaret Flavin, “Brendan Miller, Lawyer for Canadian Truckers, Absolutely Brutalizes Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland During Deposition,” The Gateway Pundit, December 2, 2022, https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/brendan-miller-lawyer-canadian-truckers-absolutely-brutalizes-deputy-prime-minister-chrystia-freeland-deposition/.

[11] Solomon E. Asch, “Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of Judgments,” in Groups, Leadership and Men; Research in Human Relations, edited by Harold Guetzkow (New York, Carnegie Press, 1951), 177-190.

[12] Gregory S. Berns, et al., “Neurobiological Correlates of Social Conformity and Independence During Mental Rotation,” Biol Psychiatry 58 (2005): 245-253, https://www.ccnl.emory.edu/greg/Berns%20Conformity%20final%20printed.pdf.

[13] National Institute of Health. “Covid-19 Vaccine Messaging, Clinical Trials.” ClinicalTrials.gov, July 21st, 2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04460703.

[14] Ching Leong, Jin, L., Kim, D. et al. “Assessing the impact of novelty and conformity on hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology.” Communications Medicine 61 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00123-6.

[15] WebMD, “Coronavirus Recovery,” WebMD, last accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.webmd.com/lung/covid-recovery-overview#1-2.

[16] Mark Trabsky and Courtney Hempton. “‘Died from’ or ‘died with’ COVID-19? We need a transparent approach to counting coronavirus deaths.” The Conversation, September 9, 2020, https://theconversation.com/died-fromor-died-with-covid-19-we-need-a-transparent-approach-to-countingcoronavirus-deaths-145438; Megan Henney. “CDC director criticized for now differentiating between dying ‘from’ vs. dying ‘with’ COVID-19,” Fox News, May 16, 202, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cdc-director-walensky-criticism-updatedguidance-coronavirus-deaths.

[17] Blake Fussell, “CDC director agrees hospitals have monetary incentive to inflate COVID-19 data.” The Christian Post, August 4, 2020, https://www.christianpost.com/news/cdc-director-agrees-that-hospitals-have-monetaryincentive-to-inflate-covid-19-data.html.

[18] Pieter Borger, et al., “External peer review of the RTPCR test to detect SARS-CoV-2 reveals 10 major scientific flaws at the molecular and methodological level: consequences for false positive results,” International Consortium

of Scientists in Life Science (ICLS), November 30, 2020, https://zenodo.org/record/4298004.

[19] Rachel D’Amore, “Can incentives help vaccine hesitancy? Experts say it’s a short-term solution,” Global News, May 13, 2021, https://globalnews.ca/news/7858373/covid-vaccine-incentives-canada-reward/.

[20] Leake and Peter McCullough, The Courage to Face COVID-19.

[21] Zeke Miller. “Free beer, other new incentives for Biden’s ‘vaccine sprint’.” ABC News, June 2, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/beer-latest-vaccine-incentive-biden-month-action-78038433.

[22] Sophie Dodd, and Janine Pukak. “How to Get Promotions, Prizes and Freebies with your COVID-19 Vaccine,” People, June 8, 2021. https://people.com/health/covid-19-vaccine-freebies-incentives-rewards/.

[23] Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, second edition (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1985), chapter XXII, 92.

[24] Mattias Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism (White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2022), 140.

[25] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 14.

[26] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 13.

[27] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 94.

[28] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 95-96.

[29] Gospa News Staff, “Doctor Who Said ‘I Won’t Cry’ at ‘Funeral for Unvaxxed’ Dies After 3rd COVID Shot. He Wanted ‘To Punch in the Face the No Vax’.” Gospa News, November 15, 2021. https://www.gospanews.net/

en/2021/11/15/doctor-who-said-i-wont-cry-at-funeral-for-unvaxxed-dies-after-3rd-covid-shot-he-wanted-to-punch-in-the-face-the-no-vax/. 

[30] At the time the letter was written, there were 80 deaths; since then, this number has almost doubled. Isaac Teo, “Alberta Doctor Calls on Medical Association to Investigate ‘Sudden Deaths’ of ‘80 Young Doctors’,” The Epoch Times, October 20, 2022, https://www.theepochtimes.com/alberta-doctor-calls-on-medical-association-to-investigate-sudden-deaths-of-80-young-doctors_4805760.html.

[31] William Makis, “Canadian doctor sudden deaths have reached 150 since COVID-19 vaccines rolled out – our Canadian Medical Association celebrates the occasion with a full page Pfizer ad…” COVID Intel on Substack, April 22, 2023, https://makismd.substack.com/p/canadian-doctor-sudden-deaths-have?publication_id=1385328&post_id=116476720&isFreemail=true.

[32] Barker, Jacob. “Windsor court ruling puts COVID-19 ‘hoax’ belief at centre of custody fight,” CBC News, March 5, 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-covid-19-custody-decision-1.5937278.

[33] Carl Sagan, Demon Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark (New York, Random House, 1995), 209.

[34] Former CBC journalist Rodney Palmer exposes fraud behind COVID ‘journalism’ propaganda; see Odessa Orlewicz, “Testimony- CBC Journalist Exposes The Massive Lies & Propaganda ff CBC at National Citizens Inquiry,” Librti, April 20, 2023, https://librti.com/view-video/testimony-cbc-journalist-exposes-the#dp.

[35] Here are a number of sources that challenge the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines (there are many, so I will only provide a few). Kathy Katella, “The Link Between J&J’s COVID Vaccine and Blood Clots: What You Need to Know,” Yale Medicine, https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/coronavirus-vaccine-blood-clots;  Panagis Polykretis and Peter A. McCullough, “Rational harm-benefit assessments by age group are required for continued COVID-19 vaccination,” The Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, December 21, 2022,  https://doi.org/10.1111/sji.13242; Ed Dowd, “Cause Unknown”: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2022).

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/government-database-shows-7-844-injuries-and-181-deaths-following-COVID-vaccine-as-of-jan-15-says-childrens-health-defense-301217037.html.

[36] Denis Rancourt “Unveiling All-Cause Mortality: A Critical Analysis of the Pandemic Declaration and Vaccination Rollout,” National Citizens Inquiry, May 18, 2023, https://rumble.com/v2ohtte-physicist-dr-denis-rancourt-presents-his-findings-on-all-cause-mortality-ot.html; Peter LaBarbera, “CDC chief KNEW COVID vaccine didn’t work while pushing shots,” WND, June 21, 2023, https://www.wnd.com/2023/06/cdc-chief-knew-covid-vax-didnt-work-pushing-shots/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=wnd-breaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=breaking&ats_es=c7eb08c99666ed3496daaa702b24bd0c.

[37] Devon Watkins, “Pope Francis urges people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.” Vatican News, August 8, 2021. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-appeal-covid-19-vaccines-act-of-

love.html. 

[38] Bishop Athanasius Schneider, “Covid Vaccines: ‘The Ends Cannot Justify the Means’,” Crisis Magazine, December 11, 2022, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/covid-vaccines-the-ends-cannot-justify-the-means.

[39] Kostoff, Ronald, et al. “Why are we vaccinating children against COVID-19?” Toxicology Reports 8 (2021): 1665–1684, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221475002100161X.

[40] Physicians Declaration – Global COVID Summit, “Rome Declaration,” Updated October 29, 2021, https://doctorsandscientistsdeclaration.org/.

[41] Peter Nordström, Marcel Ballin, and Anna Nordström, “A. Risk of infection, hospitalisation, and death up to 9 months after a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine: a retrospective, total population cohort study in Sweden,” Lancet (2022), 399:814–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00089-7.

[42] The pre-print of an interesting study titled “A Systematic Review of Autopsy Findings in Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination,” that investigates what post-vaccination autopsies show was removed by the medical journal, The Lancet. The study purports to demonstrate that 74% of deaths post COVID vaccination were caused by the vaccine, according to a review of 325 autopsies. For an archived version of the pre-print abstract, see https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4496137. For an interview with one of the authors, Dr. Peter A. McCullough, see Jan Jekielek, “What Post-Vaccination Autopsies Show: Dr. Peter McCullough on New Analysis, Removed by Lancet,” The Epoch Times, July 9, 2023, https://www.theepochtimes.com/what-post-vaccination-autopsies-show-dr-peter-mccullough-on-new-analysis-removed-by-lancet-atlnow_5382545.html.

[43] Joshua McElwee, “Pope Francis suggests people have moral obligation to take coronavirus vaccine,” National Catholic Reporters, January 11, 2021, https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-suggests-people- have-moral-obligation-take-coronavirus-vaccine.

[44] Watkins, “Pope Francis urges people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.”

[45] Jules Gomes, “Swiss Guard Blows Whistle on Vaccine Coercion.” The Church Militant, October 9, 2021. https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/swiss-guard-shames-popes-vaccine-coercion.

[46] Edward Pentin, “Pfizer and the Vatican,” National Catholic Register, January 15, 2022, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/pfizer-and-the-vatican.

[47] U.S. Department of Justice (Office of Public Affairs), Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History, September 2, 2009, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history.

[48] NIH, “Study to Describe the Safety, Tolerability, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of RNA Vaccine Candidates Against COVID-19 in Healthy Individuals.”ClinicalTrial.gov, updated February 8, 2023, https://clinicaltrials.gov/

ct2/show/NCT04368728. 

[49] Dr. Alene Toulany (SickKids Hospital), “COVID-19 Vaccination for Youth, Informed Consent Process at COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics,” https://www.sickkids.ca/siteassets/care–services/for-health-care-providers/clinical-practice-resources/informed-consent-covid-19-vaccination-for-youth.pdf.

[50]  Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 1, Part 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

[51] In principle, judiciaries and government must be separate from one another. But the lines become blurred when both are compromised.

[52] Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, “Unvaccinated Canadian citizens were not allowed to travel out of the country or interprovincially (aside from automobiles), see The Charter’s only living signatory sues Canada over travel mandates,” Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, January 26, 2022, https://www.jccf.ca/the-charters-only-living-signatory-sues-canada-over-travel-mandates/.

[53] Doctors like Patrick Phillips were stripped of their medical licenses for following their conscience in prescribing effective early COVID treatments like ivermectin, see Casey Stranges “Ontario College of Physicians suspends rural family doctor for ‘inappropriate’ COVID-19 treatments, advice,” CBC, May 3, 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/patrick-phillips-suspended-1.6440227. Dr. Francis Christian Director of the Surgical Humanities Program and his role as Director of Quality and Patient Safety was dismissed from his professorship at the University of Saskatchewan for defending informed consent and safety for COVID vaccines for children, see “Surgeon fired by College of Medicine for voicing safety concerns about Covid shots for children.” Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom, June 23, 2021. https://www.jccf.ca/surgeon-fired-by-college-of-medicine-for-voicing-safety-concerns-about-covid-shots-for-children/. You can hear the recording of the meeting here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rv1galfv8npa3g/2021-06-23_08-26-55.wav?dl=0. Throughout the world, there are countless examples of doctors and scientists who opposed the faux COVID narrative and were persecuted and censored. For a balanced discussion on conscience and COVID vaccination, see Tim Hsiao, “Why Vaccine Mandates That Fail to Respect the Right of Conscience Are Immoral,” FEE Stories, February 1, 2022, https://fee.org/articles/why-vaccine-mandates-that-fail-to-respect-the-right-of-conscience-are-immoral/.

[54] The inability of Christians to come together “lawfully” and physically to their churches was a violation of religious freedom, see Mark Storslee, “The COVID-19 Church-Closure Cases and the Free Exercise of Religion.” Journal of Law and Religion 37, no. 1 (2022): 72–95, doi:10.1017/jlr.2021.81.

[55] Artur Pawlowski, Tamara Lich, and Pat King were detained arbitrarily under the guise of “mischief.” Pastor Artur Pawlowski, for instance, was put in isolation in a filthy cell for “public health reasons.” His son and brother,

Nathan Pawlowski and David Pawlowski, respectively, provide a good explanation for the reasoning behind his incarceration: “Artur Pawlowski’s family speaks to Rebel News as hundreds gather to support a jailed pastor,” Rebel News, February 14, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRMf6ogNg0.  

[56] William Sweet, “Jacques Maritain,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2019), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maritain/.

[57] Sweet, “Jacques Maritain.”

[58] A term used by William Sweet, which I take to mean an unspoken desire or point of view (such as counter-narrative views on COVID-19) within society that may not always be brought to the fore of public conscience; see Sweet, “Jacques Maritain.”

[59] The National Citizens Inquiry: Canada’s Response to COVID-19 https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/events/, which provides expert testimonies, exemplifies an organized dissenting minority.

[60] Mario D’Souza, “Being, Becoming, and the Philosophical Transformation of the Self,” Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions, 6 (2011): 51–61.

[61] Eds. Joseph W. Evans and Leo R. Ward, The Social and Political Philosophy of Jacques Maritain (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1955), 167.

[62] See Jacques Maritain, Integral Humanism: Temporal and Spiritual Problems of a New Christendom, translated by Joseph W. Evans, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968), chapter VII.

[63] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 107.

[64]   Ralph McInerny, Jacques Maritain Center: The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain, University of Notre Dame, https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/RichHours6.html

[65] Victoria J. Barnett, Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999).

[66] Lee Harding, “Pawlowskis testify to Canadian ‘tyranny’ to EU Parliament,” The Western Standard, July 5, 2023, https://www.westernstandard.news/news/pawlowskis-testify-to-canadian-tyranny-to-eu-parliament/article_d4e8fa0e-1b3d-11ee-8588-13ce4327889a.html.

[67] Jacques Maritain, The Person and the Common Good, trans. John J. Fitzgerald (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966), 74-75.

[68] Jacques Maritain, The Things That Are Not Caesar’s trans. J.F. Scanlan (London: Sheed & Ward, 1932), 125.

[69] Desmet, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, 49.

[70] Canadian Bill of Rights, SC 1960, c 44, https://canlii.ca/t/j05x, retrieved on 2023-05-02.

[71] William Sweet, “Jacques Maritain,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2019), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maritain/.

[72] Jacques Maritain, The Rights of Man and Natural Law, trans. Doris C. Anson (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1943), 84.

[73] William Sweet, “Jacques Maritain.”

[74] Jacques Maritain, Man and the State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1951), 86.

[75] William Sweet, “Jacques Maritain.”

[76] World Health Organization, “Working draft, presented on the basis of progress achieved, for the consideration of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body at its second meeting,” July 13, 2022, https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb2/A_INB2_3-en.pdf.

[77] Maritain, The Person and the Common Good, 436-437.

[78] Jacques Maritian, The Rights of Man and Natural Law (New York: Gordian Press, 1971), 65.

[79] Maritain, The Range of Reason (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952), 197.

[80] The Nuremberg Code, Universidad de Navarra, https://en.unav.edu/web/humanities-and-medical-ethics-unit/bioethics-material/el-codigo-de-nuremberg