(LONDON) A protest against Western University’s guidelines requiring up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination status brought hundreds to campus on Saturday.
Posted yesterday at 10:55 p.m.
According to one of the organizers of the event, it would only be a beginning in the process of opponents wanting to force the university to back down.
Protesters marched around campus and listened to speeches denouncing the position of the university based in London, Ontario. The institution’s management has decided to require at least three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for staff, students and certain visitors.
The organizer Kendra Hancock says she hopes that this mobilization can lead to public negotiations and better consultation of students on the subject of health instructions which also include the wearing of compulsory masks in class.
“I think when they go to consult with students, they will realize that people want to have the right to choose and the withdrawal of obligations,” said Mr.me Hancock.
Speakers at the protest included a former Huron University College professor who said she refused to comply with previous vaccination requirements; and the acting Chief Medical Officer of the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit known for his stances against imposed measures in the fight against COVID-19.
Corrina Courtney, a fifth-year business administration student, says she opposes the mandatory vaccine even though she has already received her own booster dose. In his opinion, vaccination should “remain a choice”.
“Western shouldn’t have the power to make this decision for people,” she pleaded, looking at the crowd of protesters.
But what angered Corrina Courtney more is the return of the mandatory mask in class.
“I think it has an impact on how we relate to our peers,” she said.
The majority of Ontario universities did not require up-to-date vaccination status or classroom masks for the fall semester. The province has also ended the requirement for proof of vaccination to attend public places.
Western is the only university in Canada to mandate the booster dose for all staff and students on campus.
The University of Toronto requires all students housed in its residences to have received their booster dose and Trent University requires its students in residences to have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Both institutions also urge all other people who attend their campuses to keep their vaccination status up to date.
“While we cannot predict when the next wave of COVID-19 will hit, we believe these measures will help us protect the in-person teaching experience that Western is known for,” said more earlier this week Dean Florentine Strzelczyk in a press release to justify the institution’s decision.