Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table (OST) is self-described as “a group of scientific experts and health system leaders who evaluate and report on emerging evidence relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform Ontario’s response.” They claim to integrate information from “existing scientific tables, Ontario’s universities and agencies, and the best global evidence.”¹⁾

Canadian news outlets and Ontario provincial, regional and municipal governments defer almost exclusively to the instructions and statements provided by the various working groups of the Table.²⁾ The group is largely responsible for draconian and dangerous measures such as lockdowns, forced school and business closures, social distancing, mandatory mask-wearing, mass testing of the healthy, suppression of safe and effective medicines and healthy activities, and reckless mass-vaccination of adults and children.^{3) 4)}

Canuck Law, an investigative blog written by Ronnie Lempert, contains a wealth of excellent research into the table, also summarized in The "Independent" Group Pulling Ford's Strings.^{5) 6)}

The group works closely with the Ontario COVID-19 Bioethics Table.⁷⁾

There are many real, potential and perceived conflicts of interest present among members of the Table, and the Table as a whole.

Members of the Table have received significant funding to study the effects of the restrictions they helped put in place.

For example, Linda Mah, the Co-Chair of the Mental Health Working Group, received money from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care to “support a research study to assess mental health outcomes in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic,” focusing primarily on isolation measures.⁸⁾ Similarly, Paula Rochon, Chair of the Congregate Care Setting Working Group, received funding to study the implementation of “family presence policies in Ontario long-term care homes” and “Understanding the burden and health system impact of loneliness and social isolation in older adults in Canada”.⁹⁾ Pat Armstrong received similar funding.

A number of members of the table are strong proponents of antimicrobial resistance policies, which involve reducing and limiting the use of antibiotics.

While the mandate of the Table is claimed to be providing guidance related to the COVID-19 health crisis, several of the members have close ties to supra-national organizations and global agenda policies that are not necessarily consistent with the preferences of the voting Canadian public.

This includes several direct affiliations with the World Health Organization, and advocacy for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals in the case of Christopher Mushquash and Scott Weese.^{10) 11) 12)} Additionally, Scott Weese and Isha Berry are advocates for the One Health concept of unified health between humans, animals and nature in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^{13) 14)}

The Toronto Sun reported that Science Table member David Fisman was retained by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario to provide an opposing opinion on school reopenings in a document dated September 2020. Fisman served on the science table at the same time. It’s a situation that one leading expert says is a potential conflict of interest and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office calls “deeply concerning.”

“Where a person receives payment for speaking on behalf of a special interest group, it would almost certainly be appropriate to declare this as a potential conflict of interest when working in roles that are even slightly related,” explained Dr. Euzebiusz Jamrozik, from the bioethics research centre at the University of Oxford, in an email to the Sun.¹⁵⁾

This conflicted affiliation is further concerning because the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (with which the ETFO is surely associated) is a member organization of the World Economic Forum,¹⁶⁾ and holds financial stakes in several companies that benefit financially from the maintaining of online learning and mandatory masking and vaccination policies.¹⁷⁾ Those companies include Mastercard, BlackRock, Blackstone, 3M (who manufactures masks), Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, and many others.¹⁸⁾

In August 2021, Fisman resigned from the Science Table.¹⁹⁾ The reason for his resignation was allegedly that the group was sitting on data that predicted “a grim Fall” for 2021, and that politics were influencing decision making as well as the way in which information was shared with the public.²⁰⁾

This is a developing list of all members associated with the Table, including those who are no longer listed on the official website. It is in the process of being converted in a table. Thank you for your patience.