Conservative MP Dean Allison speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 4, 2026, to announce an inquiry into COVID-19 vaccine injuries. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
The upcoming inquiry into reported COVID-19 vaccine injuries will hear from the sister of late House of Commons staffer Scott Gorry, who was awarded financial compensation after developing myocarditis following his second vaccine dose.
Conservative MP Dean Allison said during an Aug. 13 press conference on Parliament Hill that, before his death in July, Gorry told his sister he wanted Canadians to hear “what he had experienced and what he and his family had gone through.”
The Allison Inquiry will run from Sept. 8 to Sept. 11, giving Canadians who say they were injured by COVID-19 vaccines the chance to testify on their experiences. The inquiry
from experts to give context on the issue, but it will not make findings of fact or reach any final conclusions.
Gorry previously told The Epoch Times
that following his second COVID-19 vaccine dose in September 2021, he collapsed during a softball game and was hospitalized. He was diagnosed with myocarditis a week after the incident, and eventually had a permanent pacemaker installed.
While Gorry was approved for compensation through Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program (
), he said the money was “minimal” and not enough to cover a year’s worth of medical expenses. He also said VISP was underfunded and understaffed, and suspected that employees were trying to avoid “difficult conversations” with vaccine-injured Canadians who were not eligible for payments.
The federal government took over VISP in April 2026 amid problems with the program, which was renamed the Vaccine Impact Assistance Program (VIAP). A 2025 investigation by
found that $33.7 million of the $50.6 million that the third-party administrator Oxaro received for VISP had been spent on administrative costs alone.
Allison told reporters that the inquiry will examine concerns about VISP’s operations, including lengthy waits for decisions, repeated requests for medical information applicants had already submitted, and cases in which applicants were denied compensation.
“This should not be controversial,” he said. “You can believe that vaccines played an important role during the pandemic, and still believe that people who experienced serious adverse events deserve help. You can support vaccination, and you can still demand accountability from the program.”
Allison also said that the inquiry had received applications from over 1,000 Canadians “asking for the opportunity to have their voices heard,” but the inquiry would only have enough time to hear from 50 applicants.
Allison said that while the inquiry is non-partisan, he has not received confirmation that any Liberal, NDP, or Bloc Québécois MPs will attend. Allison said the inquiry is continuing to send out invitations, including to MPs who have constituents who will be testifying.
Conservative MPs Mike Dawson and Arnold Viersen have confirmed they will attend.
