Nova Scotia judge launches $5M lawsuit over dispute related to COVID-19 vaccination
CBC
A Nova Scotia provincial court judge is suing the province and another judge for $5 million in damages.
The lawsuit launched by Judge Rickcola Brinton, 48, lays bare a long-simmering dispute over COVID-19 vaccinations.
The suit was filed late last month in Nova Scotia Supreme Court and first reported by allNovaScotia.
While rumours and questions about Brinton's absence from the courtroom have swirled for months, details in this lawsuit are the first to lay out a version of what was going on behind the scenes. Until this, the official explanation was that Brinton was on an unspecified medical leave.
Brinton's absence led to some cases being dismissed because they hadn't been dealt with in a timely manner, part of a larger problem with court delays.
The issue of requiring a COVID-19 vaccination in order to work roiled the nation in 2022 with protesters paralyzing Ottawa for weeks. A trial of that demonstration's leaders is still playing out in court.
According to Brinton's lawsuit, in September 2021, Chief Judge Pamela Williams emailed provincial court judges in the midst of the pandemic to ask them if they'd be prepared to reveal their vaccination status.
Brinton replied to that general query on Oct. 1, 2021.
"I have concerns with medical privacy," she wrote.
"I also know that the vaccination mandates and passports may be disproportionately impacting racialized communities. And as an essential service, will we be creating a two-tiered society for those who already feel as though we are not free to serve them."
On Oct. 7, 2021, according to her lawsuit, Brinton went further, saying that her position was "a matter of conscience and a result of prayerful contemplation."
As a compromise, Brinton proposed she frequently self-test for COVID. Williams reportedly dismissed that idea because it was not an option available to everyone. Williams proposed that Brinton could preside over arraignments from her home, providing other judges take over her trials. Again, according to the lawsuit, other judges were unwilling to do that.
None of the allegations contained in this lawsuit has been tested in court.
On Nov. 1, 2021, Williams wrote to the judges:
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