EDITORIAL: The unvaccinated are not criminals

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Treating the unvaccinated worse than we do convicted criminals is not the path out of the COVID-19 pandemic the Quebec government — or any provincial government or territory — should pursue.

In 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada quashed a mandatory federal surcharge imposed on convicted criminals to help pay for publicly funded services provided to victims of crime.

By a 7-2 decision the court ruled the mandatory surcharge, created in 1989, was “cruel and unusual punishment” which “outraged … standards of decency” and was “abhorrent and intolerable.”

It said the mandatory surcharge — 30% of any fine imposed by the court or up to $200 if there was no fine — disproportionately punished the poor by giving judges no leeway to determine the appropriateness of the surcharge or consider the circumstances of individuals convicted of the crime.

In 2022, no province or territory — in this case Quebec — should be treating the unvaccinated worse than we do convicted criminals by imposing a mandatory tax on them.

The unvaccinated have not committed any crime.

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As the Canadian Civil Liberties Association rightly described Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s plan to impose such a tax, it is “a divisive measure that will end up punishing and alienating those who may be most in need of public health supports and services.”

We know from data compiled by Statistics Canada that Canadians who have legitimate concerns about the arbitrary use of government power aimed at them — for example Metis and Black Canadians — tend to be more vaccine resistant than the general public, and thus will be disproportionately impacted by such a tax. So will the poor.

Regardless of their popularity, government policies should not be formulated on the basis of feeding into a desire to punish the unvaccinated, in effect to make them pay for their “crimes,” when they have not done anything illegal.

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Our problem in Canada is not a low rate of vaccination — we are among the most vaccinated people in the world — but the failure of governments, health-care bureaucrats, hospital administrators and others to adequately prepare for the pandemic and to protect Canadians from its effects.

We disagree with the decision a minority of Canadians have made to refuse vaccination (barring medical exemption), but it is their decision to make.