Q&A: Family Life, Stigma, and Workplace Accommodations¶
Day 2 · 7:04:38 · Eva Caven · Shawn Buckley · James Freeland · Dean Allison · Marylou Lavalle
- 👨👩👧 Ivan still pushed her teens to take dose two, calling herself a rarity—harder now that she doubts the “greater good.”
- 🤐 She must preface every disclosure with “I’m not an anti-vaxxer” and often wonders whether to speak at all.
- 🏤 Canada Post moved her from plant lifting to a Beamsville retail leadhand role; the chair thanks her for traveling to testify.
Chair questions on family impact, social stigma, and employer support before Ivan steps down.
← Progressive Lesions, Burning Feet, and Daily Limits | Eva Caven Sworn: 20/20 to Blind Eye After Pfizer →
Transcript¶
Speaker J · 7:04:38
Just the loss of motivation, you know, like in the earlier days, it would— when I was off work, it would be like, oh my God, I've been awake. I wake up so early. What am I going to do with myself all day? Like not feeling like doing anything. So now it's better. I'm, you know, keeping busy and stuff. But yeah, just the loss of my—.
Eva Caven · 7:04:58
The way I was.
Speaker J · 7:04:59
Like just full of energy and like go, go, go. And I never used to sit down. So now it's just, yeah, I sleep most of the time. I go to work, I come home, I sleep, and then get up for a little while, have some coffee, and then I go back to bed.
Shawn Buckley · 7:05:14
So I just— to my colleagues here that don't live in Ontario and understand, around the bay it's a 30-kilometer race, right? Very impressive. So 3/4 of a marathon. So I want to give you kudos for all your all your, all your energy. So I, I guess my question is, how has it affected your family life?
Speaker J · 7:05:33
My family have been great. My kids, like, I still convinced my two kids in their teens to get their second dose even after what happened to me. I said, I'm a just, I'm a rarity. Like, it's just, please still get it. You know, I was still like, okay, we got to do it. Everyone still has to get it done. And my daughter fought me tooth and nail to not get it done. But I'm like, I'm just a rare case. You have to get it done. I made sure that they still got it, which is a little harder to take now that I hear that it's for nothing. Like, when it was for something and I believed that, yes, you guys, it's for the greater good. And then now it's harder to take now that it's just not for the greater good. Like, this could have all been avoided, which is hard. And I haven't been around anybody that's I haven't met anybody. That's why I'm emotional today, because I haven't talked to anybody that's dealt with any of this. You know, it's not on the news. You don't hear people talking about it, maybe once in a blue moon. So then when my friend at work told me about this, I was like, oh, for sure, you know, at least I can be around other people that have dealt with this stuff.
Speaker R · 7:06:36
Yeah.
Shawn Buckley · 7:06:36
And have you found it difficult to talk with— I'm not suggesting family, but friends or acquaintances or neighbors?
Speaker J · 7:06:43
Just when someone asks You know, you always have to preface it by saying, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, I'm not against it. I got it willingly. But this is what happened to me. And yeah, you always feel there's a little bit of, do I bother telling them what happened to me or not? You know, like, are they going to believe me that it's from this? Like, there's always a little bit of—.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:01
You just don't know what's a little bit crazy. I think you got to preface a statement about a vaccine injury by saying, yeah, you're not anti-vaxxer.
Speaker J · 7:07:08
And I was doing it willingly. You know, I had to do it for work, but I mean, I did it. I wasn't saying, oh no, I'm not going to do it. I did it.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:16
Did you say you're still working a bit?
Speaker M · 7:07:18
Yeah.
Speaker J · 7:07:18
Now I've gone to retail, so I've come out of the plant because it's too hard in the plant too. It's a lot of lifting and stuff. So they found me a position in retail, just being in the storefront and yeah, in Beamsville. Beamsville.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:33
Oh my goodness.
Speaker J · 7:07:33
A little post office out there.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:35
Excellent. Yeah, I may be familiar with Beamsville. Yeah, yeah, I think that's my writing.
James Freeland · 7:07:39
That's my writing.
Speaker J · 7:07:39
And I looked it up, I was like, oh, lived there for many years.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:43
That's great.
Speaker J · 7:07:44
So that's where I am now. At Leadhand, I'm going to be at the post office.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:47
Oh, that's good. And I'm glad to hear that your work has made accommodations.
Speaker J · 7:07:51
Totally. They've been great.
Dean Allison · 7:07:52
That's part of the battle for rights.
Marylou Lavalle · 7:07:54
Yes.
Speaker J · 7:07:54
Canada Post has been great with it.
Shawn Buckley · 7:07:56
Do any other— anyone have any other questions? Well, listen, I'll just say thank you so much. We understand the toll it takes to travel and come. And we do appreciate sharing your story. No two stories are the same, but they're similar in terms of what you've got to deal with in terms of mental, mentalness and, and all the stuff that comes with it. So thank you so much for coming.
Speaker J · 7:08:18
Thank you for having us.