MP Allison on What’s Next After His COVID Vaccine Injury Inquiry

Weeks after the Conservative Party wrapped up a four-day inquiry into COVID-19 vaccine injuries, the MP behind the initiative says that more such events could be held across Canada.

Conservative MP Dean Allison told The Epoch Times that he is currently working on getting additional town halls on vaccine injuries to be held across Canada, as he said several Conservative MPs who were unable to attend the Allison Inquiry have suggested.

“I’ve had a number of MPs that couldn’t be there, and have said, ‘Dean, we’d like you to come to our area and have a town hall.’ So, I think it’s important that we keep telling people’s stories,” he said.

The Allison Inquiry was an independent, non-partisan initiative chaired by Allison that heard from Canadians who were injured by COVID-19 vaccines, including about how they weren’t receiving the care they needed despite being recognized by the federal Vaccine Impact Assistance Program. From Sept. 8 to 12, the inquiry heard from about 50 witnesses selected from more than 1,400 people who applied to testify.

The inquiry’s terms stated that it would listen to Canadians’ experiences but would not make findings of fact or reach final conclusions.

Allison said that many Canadians had felt they were “all alone” after being “gaslit by their doctors” on vaccine injuries. He said the aim of the inquiry was to give Canadians a chance to talk publicly about their injuries, and to break the stigma around it.

“We are doing it because we need to give them a voice. Imagine going to a doctor and saying ‘I’m injured,’ and … they don’t even have a clue what to do or how to deal with it because they’re not allowed to talk about it,” Allison said.

“The first step is really just to start the conversation again. I always say we wanted to smash the ceiling of silence. That was so important for us.”

While the inquiry was meant to be open to all parties, only Conservative MPs attended the event in person. Allison said some Tory MPs were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, but they still posted about the inquiry online to provide support, such as Leslyn Lewis, Andrew Lawton, and Matt Strauss.

Funding for Vaccine Injury Support

Allison said the federal government’s Vaccine Impact Assistance Program needed to receive more funding, given that the previous iteration of the program—the Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP)—only gave out about $21 million to 252 Canadians.

A 2025 Global News investigation found that $33.7 million of the $50.6 million paid to third-party administrator Oxaro for VISP had been spent on administrative costs. On April 1, the Public Health Agency of Canada assumed responsibility for administering the program, which was then renamed.

Allison said that for the tainted blood scandal, where 1,250 people were infected with HIV through blood transfusions or blood products, Ottawa gave out around $150 million in 1989.

“We need a lot more money to deal with the injuries that people have had to deal with,” he said.

Allison said the House of Commons Health Committee had been “looking at” the VISP program, with Tory MP Dan Mazier playing a key role. But he said the momentum died when the Liberal government gained a majority government following several floor-crossings, which also changed the composition of committees.

“The challenge was we lost that majority and the will to discuss things that were contentious,” he said. “I’m always hopeful that a committee, at some point, will pick it up to have conversations.”

‘Silence Is Broken’

Shawn Buckley, counsel for the inquiry, told The Epoch Times that the event made it “very real and clear that COVID-19 vaccine injury is a major problem that can no longer be ignored.”

Buckley noted that Allison’s first press conference in June announcing the inquiry got more than 2 million views on Facebook, and that the actual inquiry hearings received many more.

“It’s really even too early to say what the effect will be. But … I don’t think Canada can any longer pretend that they don’t exist,” he said. “We can come together again. This issue has divided us, and I’m hoping that events will unfold so that it stops dividing us.”

Teresa Buckley, a volunteer with the inquiry, said the vaccine injured had provided feedback following the inquiry and showed “this resounding hope and strength in their spirit that wasn’t there before.” She also said that the feedback from those who watched the hearings showed that there is an “appetite for the truth.”

“People are ready now to have the discussion. And the silence is broken,” she said.