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Chair Opens: Witnesses Travel at Great Personal Cost

Day 1 · 0:23:43 · Dean Allison

  • ⚖️ Dean Allison stresses the inquiry lacks subpoena power yet witnesses feel obligated to appear.
  • 🇨🇦 Many vaccine-injured Canadians are traveling across the country and will pay a heavy physical price for testifying.
  • 👂 He urges skeptics to listen with an open mind as the first step toward restoring trust in public health.

Allison frames the four-day inquiry and the courage of injured witnesses and volunteer experts.

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Transcript

Speaker A · 0:23:43

Voluntarily.

Dean Allison · 0:23:45

This committee does not have subpoena power. We're not compelling any of them to come. But I think that it's more fair to say that even though we're not compelling them to be here, that they're not coming voluntarily, they feel obligated to take this single opportunity to share their stories. Many of them are traveling at great personal cost. Some of those that you watch testify, they're going to be brave, they're going They're going to sit straight. They're going to answer our questions and share with us their journeys, but they're going to be in bed for weeks or months. They're going to suffer terribly for both the journey— they're coming from across Canada— and for sitting in the chair. And the experts are also all volunteering their time, which is a huge commitment, and we need to honour honor them. Now, many who are watching this, and we, we pray that the entire nation will be watching this, but many that are watching this do not believe that the COVID-19 vaccine caused much harm at all, let alone, you know, significant harm.

Dean Allison · 0:24:58

And they have a concern about vaccine hesitancy, and they have a concern that these meetings will cause vaccine hesitancy. And, you know, I say to you that listening is the first step to regaining trust, because the reality is, is a significant portion of this nation no longer trusts in our healthcare system, in public health. And if you have concern about vaccine hesitancy, if you, if you don't believe that these vaccines caused harm, that's okay, and you can continue continue, you know, with whatever belief system you want, but understand, listening to these people— don't change your mind, but listen to them. I didn't mean that, don't change your mind, but you don't have to. That's up to you. That's voluntary. But listen to them, because that's the first step to regaining trust. And listening with an open mind.

Dean Allison · 0:25:58

Just listen to this. Listen to their story. It's the first step to regaining trust. It's the first step for us taking a step forward and treating them properly. And I'm going to make everyone watching this a promise that if you watch all four days of the Allison Inquiry LIVE, you will never be the same. It literally will be as if you've walked through a door and the door's closed behind you, and then you realize the door is locked and you can't go back. Your perception will have changed. We are about to be honored here in the, the next four days. We are going to hear from vaccine-injured Canadians who have traveled at great cost to share their story with us. They've traveled to share something precious with us, and they've traveled literally to free us. They're traveling for us. And so I'd like to just say God bless them. Now I'd like to call our first witness, who's already been announced, US Senator Ron Johnson.