Judge orders more details be provided about COVID constitutional challenge

A judge has ordered a group that has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the B.C. government’s COVID-19 public health orders to provide more details about its case.

In January, an organization called the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy filed the constitutional challenge in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

The non-profit group, which has generated more than $144,000 in a crowd-funding campaign to support the legal action, says it is challenging the premise that the threat of the virus justifies the government’s initial and continued use of emergency powers.

It claims there are several issues, including the way statistics were collected, the method of testing for the virus, and the impact on persons with pre-existing health conditions.

The B.C. government filed its response to the class-action suit in March, defending its actions as a necessary response to the pandemic, and has several times requested that the plaintiff provide further particulars of the lawsuit.

The case came to court Thursday following an application by the government for information about two aspects of the case.

The first concerned an allegation that the government had obstructed doctors from advocating alternative COVID therapies. The second dealt with an allegation that Henry had violated her Hippocratic Oath as a physician.

Following submissions from the lawyers in the case, B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crerar ordered that the plaintiffs provide further details of the alleged obstruction of doctors.