Health Canada Seals Vaccine Injury Records for 15 Years — and Canadians Are Being Told to Wait
Parliamentary records reveal extraordinary delays in access to vaccine injury data, raising urgent questions about transparency and accountability
Health Canada’s decision last week to delay the release of internal vaccine and adverse drug injury records for up to 15 years has drawn widespread concern. But beyond the headlines and social media reaction, this case raises a deeper issue: whether Canadians can scrutinize public-health decisions while those decisions are still shaping lives.
According to documents tabled in Parliament, as reported by the Western Standard, Health Canada confirmed that its longest current extension under the Access to Information Act covers records dating back to 1998. Officials cited the scale of the request — originally several million pages — as justification, even after the scope was narrowed. A 15-year extension means information requested today may not be released until 2041.
When asked by The Defender for comment on the prolonged delay, Health Canada declined to respond.
Canadians raise alarm over secrecy
For many Canadians, this is not an abstract transparency issue but a matter of accountability, trust and lived experience.
Canadian constitutional lawyer Eva Chipiuk described the decision to withhold vaccine injury records for years as deeply concerning:
“Canadians were told repeatedly that these products were safe and effective, and many people made life-altering decisions based on those assurances. Some complied under extraordinary pressure — loss of employment, exclusion from education, restrictions on movement and participation in society. Others experienced serious injuries, loss of livelihood, or the death of loved ones. To now shield records documenting vaccine injuries from public scrutiny undermines trust at a moment when transparency is most needed.”
Physician Dr. Charles Hoffe, who has faced professional consequences for reporting suspected COVID-19 vaccine injuries in his patients, said the delay fits a troubling pattern:
“Health Canada’s actions are entirely consistent with the behavior of the Canadian government and public health authorities throughout the pandemic.”
Researcher Denis Rancourt, PhD, challenged the claim that volume alone justifies such extraordinary delays, pointing to modern data-processing capabilities:
“These laws were written when paper records needed to be studied manually. In today’s technological reality, even complex text can be analyzed efficiently for context and content. Claims that millions of pages require decades to process simply do not hold up.”
Retired microbiology professor Bernard Massie, PhD, said the length of the delay itself raises red flags:
“I have never witnessed such a long delay. It raises the question of what the real underlying issue is.”
Together, these voices reflect growing concern that information critical to evaluating vaccine safety and regulatory performance is being kept out of public reach precisely when scrutiny matters most.
Transparency promised — but deferred
In 2015, the federal government committed to making information “open by default.” Yet Health Canada’s own 2024–2025 Annual Report on Access to Information and Privacy documents extensive backlogs and long-term extensions, including for records tied to public-health decision-making.
When safety data is delayed for years or decades, independent analysis becomes impossible in real time. Researchers, journalists and Canadians are left to assess policy only after decisions are long settled and accountability has faded.
Transparency delayed is transparency denied. Access to Information requests were meant to ensure access — NOT to postpone scrutiny of safety records until long after accountability has passed.
Action Alert: Demand the files be unsealed
This is not an unavoidable administrative outcome. It is a policy choice — and policy choices have political ownership.
That responsibility rests with Marjorie Michel, Canada’s Minister of Health.
Minister Michel has the authority to intervene by directing Health Canada to prioritize transparency, accelerate disclosure, and unseal records that are clearly in the public interest, especially those documenting vaccine and drug injuries reported over decades.
Canadians should ask her directly:
-
Why are vaccine and adverse drug injury records being withheld for 15 years?
-
How does this align with the government’s “open by default” commitment?
-
Is this the legacy she wants as Health Minister — secrecy instead of transparency?
Email the Health Minister and demand that Health Canada unseal these files. Canadians deserve answers now, not in the 2040s.
Sources:
Western Standard News Services, Health Canada Seals Vaccine Injury Records for 15 Years
Parliament of Canada, Written Question Q-561 and Health Canada response
CHD’s, The Defender —> Health Canada Slow-Walks Release of Vaccine Injury Reports
Marjorie Michel Official Portrait / Credit: Christian Diotte, House of Commons Photo Services
*****************************************************************************************************