CPSO v. Trozzi – Case Update – August 25, 2024

Dear J4M Supporters,

It’s been a hot, lazy summer so far, but not at Justice for Medicine. We continue to prepare for Dr. Trozzi’s appeal hearing, which will take place on October 8, 2024 at 10:00 am at Osgoode Hall in Toronto.

We completed the filing of our basic legal materials in mid-July. That, however, is not the end of it. The College requested that we file all the evidence it presented during the Tribunal hearing, which amounts to almost 8,000 pages of material. This is a mammoth undertaking. 

Under the Rules of Civil Procedure, the College has the right to make this request and compel us to bear the cost. However, that does not necessarily give the College an advantage. On appeal, the Court expects the parties to pare down the evidence to what is essential to the main issues in dispute. We are relying on around 1,500 pages of material. In putting approximately 8,000 pages in front of the Court, the College has made a significant strategic error.

We also filed our factum or legal brief, which lays out our core legal arguments along with references to cases and statutes. In the section devoted to freedom of expression, we have advanced an argument that has yet to be made in any Covid case in the country. 

Under section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the government is allowed to place reasonable limits on our fundamental rights, such as equality before the law, freedom of association and freedom of expression. That means, in principle, the government can place limits on our most cherished individual rights to advance its legislative objectives.

However, several Supreme Court cases indicate that there are limits to the way in which government regulates our fundamental rights. These cases suggest that though the government can place limits on a fundamental right, it cannot go so far as to defeat the core purpose of the right. So, in the case of freedom of expression, government cannot censor someone’s opinion simply because it reflects a minority or dissenting view since that would defeat the very purpose of the right. On this basis, we have argued that the College wrongly punished and censored Dr. Trozzi for expressing “minority” views on Covid-19 science and public policy.

However, we need not rely on our free expression arguments to win. Numerous errors of law were made during the Tribunal hearing, particularly in the ways in which the College lawyers presented their evidence and ways in which the Tribunal assessed the evidence presented by both sides. If we succeed on any of those issues, the Tribunal decision should be overturned.

I want to thank everyone who came out to our potluck fundraiser on June 15th. At last year’s inaugural event, we raised close to $3,000. This year we received over $10,000 in real time donations. However, the entire amount was spent the following week on getting hearing transcripts produced by professional court reporters.

Thus, our bank account is back to zero; but we have much to do. We need to hire law clerks with special expertise to properly organize the College’s massive evidentiary record for use in Court, which will be very time consuming and expensive. Under new rules of procedure, we must also produce a Compendium of Argument, which is a document that lays out in a special format all the cases and other legal materials we will rely upon during oral argument in court. This is a major task. We also need to bring on another lawyer and various assistants to prepare for the hearing itself.

If you can assist us with a donation during the summer months to underwrite this additional work, we would greatly appreciate it. As you may already know, we are holding our final fundraising event on September 21st in Guelph. So, if you are not able to assist us now, perhaps you could consider making a donation during the Guelph event, which will be streamed for those who cannot attend in person.

With your help, we can continue this important mission. A victory for Dr.Trozzi will be a victory for all health care professionals across the country, and their patients. 

Please accept my thanks for your continuing support.

Best wishes,

   Michael