Silence Broken: Compassion Must Never Be Controversial

Day 4 · 8:10:24 · Dean Allison

• 🎤 Allison says the inquiry gave permission to speak publicly so people need not suffer unseen or be told “it’s in your head.”
• 📰 He praises independent media for carrying stories mainstream ignored and insists Canada cannot return to five years of silenced injury.
• ❤️ Whatever one thinks of COVID policy, compassion for injured Canadians—and the government’s own injury program—should not be controversial.

Chair frames the week as shattering silence and defending basic compassion for the vaccine-injured.

← Dean’s Thanks: Interpreters, Witnesses, MPs, and Family | Keep Talking, Ask Why, Push Care and Accountability →

Transcript

Dean Allison · 8:10:24

I'm— I really feel like the silence has been broken, right? We wanted to give people permission to speak publicly, and the only way we can do that is by starting to speak publicly publicly. I want to thank the independent media afterwards, but it's a real large part of these stories. All right, so mainstream's not telling their stories. Guess what? As I look around the room, there isn't one independent media that hasn't shared people's stories. Thank you, thank you for what you do, because how else do we get it out? We didn't get it out any other way. And so I really believe that we can't go back to the way that things have been the last 5 years. We can't go back to people suffering in silence silence because they're afraid or they won't be believed. I think we gave enough context, whether people listen to it or not today, over the last four days, to indicate why people shouldn't have to suffer in silence and how we've gotten to this place. And Sean, talk about like that again. But you know, we should not accept the fact when people want to ridicule or dismiss you or say it's all in your head.

Dean Allison · 8:11:28

I mean, how many times do we hear witnesses say they say it's in my head? Oh, of, man, I don't want to hear that. That's, that's, that's, that's very offensive to hear. So that's what we've done, right? We've done over the last four days, we've listened to people, we've heard how people's health has changed dramatically and forever. We've heard about the families and the support that they offer and how their families have been changed forever. We've talked about, you know, people searching for answers. We heard that many times, right? Like, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. So, you know, no matter what people think about COVID or the vaccines or public policy, compassion should never be controversial, right? Should never— that should never be controversial. So when some doctor online starts chirping us, we can go back hard and say like, you're not going to chirp us because we're talking about people and how they feel. We're not talking about anything other than the fact that these individuals Canadians have been hurt and been injured, and, and they— guess what? It's the government that said you've been injured.

Dean Allison · 8:12:29

They've got a, they've got a program. Hasn't been run well, we heard over the last four days, but we knew that coming into this.