For years, Canadians who say they were seriously injured by COVID-19 vaccines have sought recognition from their government. This week, some of them are getting the opportunity to tell their stories on Parliament Hill — with a powerful U.S. senator joining them.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and one of Washington's most persistent critics of the government's pandemic response, appeared Tuesday at the opening of the Allison Inquiry in Ottawa.

'By the time the COVID vaccines obtained their emergency use authorizations, the cartel was firmly in control of the narrative.'

The four-day inquiry is chaired by Conservative Member of Parliament Dean Allison and organized with the Covid Testimony Association. Its stated purpose is to hear testimony from Canadians who attribute serious injuries to COVID-19 vaccination. It is being held on Parliament Hill, although it is not an official parliamentary inquiry.

Questioning the narrative

Johnson opened his testimony by questioning fundamental elements of the public health response to COVID-19, including the treatment of natural immunity and doctors who advocated early treatment.

“Haven't we always believed that early disease detection prompts early treatment and produces better outcomes? Why was that fundamental tenet of medicine not only ignored but sabotaged?” Johnson asked. “Why were frontline doctors who had the courage and compassion to treat COVID patients from the start of the pandemic censored, vilified, and had their careers destroyed?”

“How could health officials deny the effectiveness of natural immunity when approximately half of the people testing positive for COVID were asymptomatic?” he continued. “Isn't that a sign that your natural immunity is preventing you from getting ill?”

Johnson's war

Johnson has been pursuing many of the same questions in Washington as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

In April, the subcommittee released a 38-page interim report alleging that FDA officials failed to act on a newer data-analysis method that identified previously undetected safety signals that the agency's existing methodology had failed to detect.

The investigation drew renewed attention in July as Johnson's committee continued examining how federal officials handled reports of possible vaccine side effects and whether potential safety signals were adequately disclosed to the public. Later that month, Johnson requested transcribed interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci and four former FDA officials about their roles in the pandemic response, including vaccine safety and efficacy

In August, Johnson's investigation obtained Fauci's government-issued cell phone, containing more than 34,000 text messages and 500 voicemails. Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) subsequently began releasing material from the phone as part of their continuing investigation into the government's pandemic response.

Follow the science?

Johnson brought that investigation to Ottawa on Tuesday, where he used his appearance at the Allison Inquiry to deliver a broader indictment of the pandemic response.

“By the time the COVID vaccines obtained their emergency use authorizations, the cartel was firmly in control of the narrative,” Johnson said, using his term for the government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, media organizations, and technology companies he blames for suppressing dissent during the pandemic.

He recalled slogans including “follow the science,” “safe and effective,” and “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”

“Which, by the way, if the vaccines were that effective, why would you care whether somebody else is vaccinated?” Johnson asked. “I mean, it never made sense to me. ... These phrases were used ad nauseam to bludgeon the public into submission.”

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From 'injury' to 'impact'

Canada does have a federal program to compensate people who have suffered serious and permanent injuries following vaccination. The Vaccine Injury Support Program began in 2021 and was initially administered by a third party before being taken over by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The program itself has faced scrutiny. PHAC terminated its contract with the original administrator after an audit found serious problems with its handling of claims. The agency subsequently took over administration of the program and renamed it the Vaccine Impact Support Program in April.

The Allison Inquiry says it received more than 1,400 applications from people willing to testify about alleged vaccine injuries.

Johnson also alleged that federal regulators failed to adequately investigate vaccine safety signals.

“A few months into the vaccine rollout, my investigations have shown that the FDA and CDC were not doing sincere safety surveillance,” he said. “And it appears this willful ignorance was a worldwide phenomenon.”

What about Dr. Tam?

That question of what Canadian health authorities knew eventually brought the hearing to Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's former chief public health officer.

During questioning, Conservative MP Ellis Ross asked Johnson whether Tam's name had surfaced in the millions of pages of federal documents obtained by his investigation.

“I've not heard of Dr. Tam. I may have, but, you know, the name didn't register,” Johnson replied. “What I will do is I'll have that as a search term with the emails and texts and I'll see. We'll check it out.”

Johnson then addressed his staff, telling them to add Tam's name to their searches.

“We'll put that in. We'll see if there's any [mentions],” he said.

Johnson went on to say his investigators were finding what he described as “a great deal of cooperation between Fauci and federal health officials and Chinese officials,” but said he was not yet prepared to disclose specifics.

“As we get more and more information, we'll start releasing that,” Johnson said. “We kind of got to put the whole package together, but stay tuned on some of those things.”