James Freeland
Day 2 · September 9, 2026 · 0:21:33
Key points James Freeland testifies about his mother, Donna Lee Stevens Freeland, a single mother and cashier he describes as kind, loving, and the life of the party. He says he is immunocompromised with multiple sclerosis, and both he and his mother were urged to vaccinate to protect vulnerable people. He says public health officials repeatedly pressured him, telling him he would die if he caught COVID, and his getting vaccinated prompted his mother to do the same. He recounts that after her second dose on July 5, his mother, who had well-managed type 2 diabetes, immediately felt her heart racing, anxiety, sweating, and nausea. He says nurses told her the symptoms were normal, hospitals refused to admit her citing COVID cases, and she deteriorated over two days with a negative COVID test. He says his mother died two days after the shot, and a doctor described the cause only as 'a hard hit to the heart' and refused an autopsy. He says he received her ashes within 24 hours, was denied VISP compensation for lack of evidence, and cannot bury her ashes while seeking answers.
Speaker 4
0:01 So our next witness is James Freeland. 0:06 James, can you take the Bible in your right hand there? 0:13 James, do you swear, I'm sorry, James Freeland, do you swear to tell the whole truth? 0:19 Nothing but the truth. 0:20 So happy about it. 0:22 Actually, again? 0:26 Yes, I do. 0:26 And you can leave that on. 0:28 So... 0:32 Your mother's name is Donna Lee Stevens Freeland. 0:37 Correct. 0:38 But you refer to her as my ma. 0:41 My ma, yeah. 0:43 And your mother did not have COVID. 0:45 You're going to describe something that happened, but she was being tested. 0:49 This is not COVID. 0:51 Can you tell us about your mother, who I will call Donna Lee Stevens, or Donna, let's call her Donna, and you can call her ma. Speaker 3
1:00 I'll call her ma. 1:01 Yeah. 1:01 So, uh, she was my ma. 1:03 Uh, my mom was a single mother, uh, raised me, right. 1:06 And, uh, she, um, did not have COVID. 1:11 Uh, she was law abiding citizen, always listened to the government, you know, listen to everything that had to be done, right. 1:17 And, you know, did everything by the, by the books. 1:19 And when this pandemic came into effect, you know, she was, uh, really into, uh, doing what, uh, was told to be done. 1:29 And, uh, 1:30 When it got down to it and, you know, it was really down to the nitty gritty and it was all about getting the shots and, you know, it was all over the news about you have to get it done to protect everybody. 1:40 And I myself, I have multiple sclerosis, so I'm immune compromised. 1:46 And when they started talking about that and, you know, you've got to protect people that are immune compromised, she was really scared to, you know, affect me in any kind of way. Speaker 4
1:57 uh so she was talking about getting it well i was getting it first before we go there i just want you to describe who she was a little more who she was yeah because as a person yeah because when you and i were talking um you had some really beautiful things to say about her oh my mom and i'm hoping that you can help us to understand my mom was an amazing woman uh again like i said she was a single mother and uh she raised me um with love uh passion compassion Speaker 3
2:27 And, you know, she worked all her life and she put her everything into me. 2:35 I grew up in what some people would call a ghetto. 2:38 I guess you would call it a separate housing type deal. 2:42 And she did everything that she could do to ensure that I didn't become a statistic or become something that, you know, unsavoury character, I guess you can call it. 2:53 And it worked. 2:54 I became a hardworking person. 2:56 And, you know, she did everything she could do in life to make me a happy person, to make our lives happy. 3:05 And, you know, she just was an amazing person. 3:11 She was a person that made everybody happy around her. 3:14 She was the life of the party, made everybody smile. 3:17 And, you know, there wasn't anything that she couldn't do. 3:22 She was my mentor. 3:23 She was my... 3:26 She taught me how to love. 3:27 She taught me how to, you know, be fearful, be not fearful. 3:33 And, you know, taught me how to be tough and, you know, taught me all the things, how to get through life. Speaker 4
3:38 You also described her to me as kind and loving. 3:42 Oh, she was extremely kind and loving. 3:44 Extremely. 3:45 And you also described to me that before what you're going to describe, you know, she had had type 2 diabetes, but she was very well managed. 3:52 Yes. 3:54 She... 3:55 had really no limitations on her? 3:57 No, she had no limitations. 3:59 Okay. 4:00 Um, can we pull up, we just, you sent a couple of photos that I'd like to show just so that people can see who your mom is. 4:06 So she's the one there holding the puppy. 4:08 Holding the puppy. 4:09 That's my mom, Donna. Speaker 3
4:10 Yeah. 4:10 She's always got a smile on her face and usually always has her friends with her. 4:15 They're smiling with her. 4:17 Um, yeah. 4:19 And that's her, her dog Dudley. 4:21 She, uh, she always had a fond fascination with her puppy. 4:24 I was her only child. 4:25 So, Speaker 4
4:26 uh when she did have her dog that was her other child so right well i hope there wasn't too much competition not at all no i got a bit once in a while but this was an important picture because she's laughing and smiling and those around her and that was a characteristic of her wasn't it just a real joy and happiness absolutely every day and can we go to the next picture 4:51 And this is you and her. Speaker 3
4:52 That's me and her. 4:53 That's when my son was born. 4:54 She came, I lived in Edmonton. 4:56 She came from all the way from Ontario to Edmonton. 4:58 That's when my son was 11 days old. 5:02 Yeah, she came out there and saved up all her money. 5:06 She was a hardworking cashier and she came out there to visit me to introduce, so I can introduce her to my son, her grandson. 5:16 So, Speaker 4
5:20 And just as far as, I'll just introduce you. 5:23 Well, no, let's just go into her experience. 5:26 Tell us what happened. Speaker 3
5:30 Well, like I said, I'm immunocompromised. 5:34 So it started off with that. 5:36 Started off with a bunch of, you know, the commercials and, you know, Trudeau and all the different commercials of, you know, you got to get tested. 5:46 You got to get, sorry, you got to get the vaccine done. 5:49 You got to protect everybody else. 5:50 You got to protect the immunocompromised and all the commercials coming out saying, you know, if you're 65 and older, the older group's going to get it first. 6:00 If you're immunocompromised, you'll get a special number to go with the older groups. 6:05 My mom kept calling me, telling me, you got to go get it done. 6:08 You got to go get it done. 6:08 And, you know, I was iffy at the beginning, just like the fella earlier was iffy because, you know, it was being rolled out too fast. 6:17 There was way too many... 6:19 that weren't lining up for me. 6:21 I'm a very observant and curious person, so it just wasn't lining up for me at first. 6:27 And she was being very adamant about me getting it because of my immunocompromised situation. 6:38 As a matter of fact, I got a phone call from our public health unit, and I don't know how they got my number. 6:44 I don't know how it happened, but they told me that I have a special number to get. 6:49 to go for this shot. 6:51 I said, nah, I'm not really interested right now. 6:54 And I was, uh, considered a, um, what do they call that? 6:58 A worker, um, essential, essential worker. 7:01 Uh, so I was working seven days a week, 12 hour shifts. 7:04 Uh, it was a health and safety worker. 7:06 And, um, 7:08 So I said, no, I really don't have the time, you know, and this and that. 7:11 And so they called me again two days later and told me, like, you know, if I don't do it, they told me that I was going to die if I catch it. 7:18 That's exact words that they told me. 7:20 And so it kind of put fear in my eyes, in my heart. 7:23 I have a son, you know, I didn't want to do that. 7:26 So I went and got a shot. 7:28 So since I got the shot, that made my mom go get the shot. 7:36 So she went and got her first shot. 7:38 I got my first shot. 7:40 After I got my shot, my whole arm was limp. 7:43 I couldn't use my arm for the first day. 7:45 I couldn't use it. 7:46 It was not usable. 7:48 She got her shot, first shot. 7:50 I don't know. 7:50 It was a couple weeks later. 7:52 She had the same effect. 7:52 She couldn't use her arm for the first day. 7:55 So I said, ah, it's me too, Ma. 7:56 You know what I mean? 7:57 Like the same thing. 7:58 But it went away after 24 hours, you know, and it was fine. 8:03 I went to go get my second shot. 8:05 I don't know. 8:05 I can't remember. 8:06 Three weeks later or whatever it was, they scheduled it. 8:09 She also had to get her shot three weeks, second shot three weeks later. 8:14 My second shot, I didn't feel not too much. 8:17 There wasn't anything wrong with me. 8:20 She went to go get her second shot and she went in on July 5th. 8:29 And I had called her that morning because my girlfriend at the time's birthday was on July 7th. 8:36 And we had planned to go for dinner on July 7th. 8:41 And her, I'm sorry, my mom and her fiance were going to come with us for dinner. 8:46 So I had called her on July 5th to ensure that she was still coming. 8:52 Oh, yeah, Jayme. 8:53 She used to call me Jayme. 8:54 She said, yeah, we're going to come. 8:56 I'm just going to go for my shot there, and I'll call you when I'm done. 8:59 I said, okay, Mom, I'll be at work. 9:02 If I don't get the call, please just call back or leave a message. 9:09 She did call me, but when she called me, she called me right when she got the shot, and I did answer. 9:17 She said, James, I'm not feeling good. 9:19 I don't feel good at all. 9:21 And I said, what do you mean, Mom? 9:22 She's like, what are you doing? 9:23 She says, I just got my shot. 9:25 And I said, well, what do you mean? 9:27 Where are you? 9:28 She says, I'm at the Carmichael Arena. 9:31 And I'm like, well, what are you doing? 9:33 And she says, well, I'm in the 15-minute waiting for the observation. 9:36 And I said, well, do you tell the nurse? 9:39 Are you telling the nurse? 9:40 She says, yeah, she says it's normal. 9:43 So what are you feeling like, Ma? 9:45 She said, my heart's racing. 9:47 I have so much anxiety. 9:49 I'm sweating like crazy. 9:50 I'm nauseous. 9:51 I don't feel good, James. 9:52 I don't feel good. 9:54 I'm like, well, what are they telling you? 9:56 And she said, just to wait it out, I got 15 minutes. 9:58 And I said, well, Ma, tell her like you're really bad. 10:01 You don't feel like this. 10:02 You never feel like this. 10:05 She said that she died. 10:06 She's telling the lady, the nurse, that she's feeling like this. 10:10 The nurse is saying it's fine. 10:11 It's just a common side effect. 10:13 You'll feel better. 10:14 It's just going to go away. 10:16 After the 15 minutes, it got worse. 10:20 They told her that she could leave. Speaker 4
10:23 She left. 10:24 She got home. 10:24 No, she called you on the way home, though, didn't she? Speaker 3
10:29 Yes. 10:29 She called me on the way home. 10:30 She said it's getting worse. 10:32 Then she got home. 10:34 I called her again. 10:35 She said, James, I'm not feeling good at all. 10:39 I'm going to go lay down. 10:40 I'm going to go rest. 10:41 I'm going to see if I can rest this off. 10:43 And I talked to Jim, her partner. 10:46 He says, yeah, James, she doesn't look good. 10:48 You know, she's not feeling good. 10:49 She's going to go lay down. 10:50 I'll call you around supper, you know. 10:53 So after work, I called her again. 10:56 She was sleeping, well, not sleeping, but in bed, not feeling good. 10:59 So I said, Jim, what's going on? 11:00 She said, I don't know, Jim. 11:02 She says, not feeling good, can't get out of the washrooms, constantly puking, constantly getting sick, you know, diarrhea. 11:08 I said, Jim, you got to go to the hospital. 11:09 You got to go to the doctors. 11:10 And at that time, because of the peak of the pandemic, they didn't want you to go to the hospital. 11:16 They didn't want anybody to go to the hospital unless you were severely sick. 11:21 And I was a health and safety officer at the time. 11:24 So I had COVID. 11:26 tests for my guys at work. 11:29 So I took COVID tests home and I put them on her doorstep. 11:34 So I said, you have to test it to see if she has COVID. 11:36 I don't know what it is, but see if she has COVID. 11:39 So I put them on her doorstep and I drove home and he tested her. 11:46 She didn't have COVID. 11:47 It came up negative for COVID. 11:50 And when I went home that night, that's the fifth of that night, 11:55 The next day, I called again. 12:00 She is worse. 12:01 She barely has any energy. 12:05 She's nauseous, fever, can't get out of bed, diarrhea, having accidents in her pants, calls the hospital. 12:16 They tell them not to bring her in. 12:18 They say, don't bring her in. 12:19 We have an influx of COVID cases. 12:22 You can't bring her in. 12:26 what, what do we do? 12:28 Keep her comfortable, you know, hydrate her and all that kind of stuff. 12:32 Keep her fever, do COVID tests. 12:34 We've done a COVID test. 12:35 She doesn't have COVID. 12:37 Okay. 12:38 Well then just, you know, treat it as like the flu type symptoms and get rest fluids. 12:46 We did that throughout the day. 12:48 Nothing, nothing changed. 12:50 It got worse. 12:50 It got worse and it got worse and it got worse. 12:55 Um, 12:56 I called throughout the day, talked to my mom. 12:59 She was not getting any better. 13:03 On the seventh morning, I had called. 13:07 I went to work. 13:09 I called my mom. 13:10 I said, hey, mom, do you think you guys are going to come out to dinner tonight? 13:14 Just call in to check. 13:16 I'd never heard her sound so weak before in my life. 13:20 And she said, no, James, I don't think we can. 13:22 I don't think we'll make it. 13:24 Okay, mom. 13:26 That's no problem. 13:29 I called about 2 o'clock to Jim to see how the things were going. 13:35 She's not too good, Jim. 13:36 I don't think she's doing well, like, you know, this and that. 13:39 I don't want to worry you or anything, but it's not getting any better. 13:42 It looks like it's getting worse. 13:44 I said, okay, Jim, we have to figure something out. 13:47 We've got to do something. 13:48 I don't know how it's going to go. 13:49 What are we going to do? 13:52 I get home from work that night. 13:56 I don't even know. 13:56 It was probably about an hour or two later. 13:58 I get the phone call. 14:00 Uh, Jamie, you got to come to the hospital. 14:02 You got to go to the hospital right now. 14:03 The ambulance is here. 14:04 They're bringing your mom to the hospital. 14:08 And then I was racing. 14:09 Me and my son were racing the hospital. 14:10 I get a phone call. 14:11 They, my, uh, Jim tells me, don't go to the hospital, come to the house. 14:15 They're working on your mom in the ambulance. 14:17 I get to the house and for about 20 minutes, they're working on my mom in the ambulance. 14:22 And then, Speaker 4
14:24 I just want to slow you down here. 14:26 So you drive to your mother's house. 14:28 My son actually drove. 14:29 I was too hysteric. 14:32 Okay. 14:33 And the ambulance is there. Speaker 3
14:35 Yeah, the ambulance is working on my mom in the back. Speaker 4
14:38 And it's just sitting there. Speaker 4
14:41 You're a health and safety guy. Speaker 4
14:43 You know what that means. Speaker 3
14:44 I do know what that means. Speaker 4
14:46 What's going through your mind? Speaker 3
14:48 My mom's dead. 14:50 I know exactly what that means. 14:52 I'm not only just a health and safety guy, I was a rescuer for 17 years. 14:57 So I know exactly what that means, right? 14:59 And when that ambulance left, they left through construction. 15:03 They didn't come the shortest way. 15:07 We went through the shortest way, they left through construction. 15:10 I also know what that means, right? 15:14 So I knew right then and there, okay? 15:18 And the other thing is when I got to the hospital, 15:23 And the doctor came and told me that she had passed. 15:30 I asked what she had passed from. 15:34 He said a heart hit to the heart. 15:37 I said, what does that mean? 15:39 Did she have a heart attack? 15:41 No, sir. 15:42 She didn't have a heart attack. 15:44 What did she have? 15:46 Heart hit to the heart. 15:48 What does that mean? 15:50 I don't know, son, it's a hard hit to the heart. 15:53 What is that? 15:54 And I'm bawling at the time and I'm crying. 15:57 And he said, son, it was just a hard hit to the heart. 16:00 I said, I'm not an idiot. 16:02 You can tell me what it is. 16:04 Like what's going to be on the death certificate? 16:08 You know, and he said, son, it's a hard hit to the heart. 16:10 And he started walking away from me. 16:12 And I 16:13 grabbed him on the shoulder and I turned him around and I said, what did my mother die of? 16:18 She was 60 years old, type 2 diabetes, nothing else wrong with her and died two days after the shot. 16:26 You tell me what's wrong with her. 16:28 And then I asked for an autopsy and he refused and he said that they will not do an autopsy unless law enforcement or suspicious circumstances. 16:39 And then he walked away. 16:42 And then I had my mom's ashes in my hands in less than 24 hours during the height of pandemic. Speaker 1
16:49 24 hours? 16:50 Less than 24 hours. 16:58 How does that happen? 16:59 You tell me. Speaker 3
17:00 I have ashes from other friends and family that I've never even gotten in less than three days. Speaker 4
17:11 What's been the most difficult part of this? Speaker 3
17:13 My mom's ashes are still on in the house because I can't bury them because I know who murdered my mother and I can't do nothing about it. 17:24 That's not my character. Speaker 1
17:28 You don't even understand, man. Speaker 3
17:32 My mom was the only thing I had in my life. Speaker 1
17:34 Absolutely. Speaker 3
17:37 And because of some stupid scandemic, I don't have my mother. 17:42 I don't have my pillar anymore. 17:47 I don't have the one thing in my life. 17:54 All because a whole hierarchy of bullshit happened in this world. 18:02 Because some people in this world decided other things were more important, and they decided to put fear in people's lives and put people in harm's way all because I don't even know. 18:20 Nobody knows, right? 18:22 And everything's in secrecy. 18:24 I lost my job because of it. 18:25 I... 18:28 I can't even talk because of it. 18:29 This is the most I've ever been able to speak about it. 18:34 Okay? 18:36 I can't even talk to my friends about it. 18:38 I can't talk to family about it. 18:40 I can't talk to any about it. 18:41 And now I'm acting a fool in front of court and parliament about it. 18:45 Okay? 18:46 My mom was the only thing that I had in life. 18:50 All right? 18:52 I don't have a dad. 18:53 I don't have brothers and sisters. 18:55 I don't have nothing. 18:58 This is what I got. 19:00 You want to talk about VESP and all this other stuff? 19:03 Just like every other government crap, it's crap. 19:07 It's just a facade. 19:08 It's propaganda. 19:09 It's bull crap. 19:10 I called and I tried to get that stuff done. 19:13 You know what they told me? 19:14 You don't have evidence. 19:15 There's no evidence for you. 19:17 Your mother's dead. 19:19 No doctors. 19:20 I don't have a doctor to sign anything. 19:23 That doctor that declared who's not going to sign nothing, 19:28 You know what I mean? 19:29 So what am I left with? 19:30 I'm left with crying every frigging night. 19:34 I'm left with... 19:36 I'm left with a son that doesn't have his grandma's nanny anymore that they had to bond with. 19:42 I'm sorry. 19:43 You know what I mean? 19:44 I just... 19:46 I'm sorry. Speaker 4
19:47 I thought I was going to be more... James Smee, no one apologized here for being a human being. Speaker 1
19:57 I'm sorry. 19:57 Yeah. 20:04 I tried to. 20:04 I'm sorry. Speaker 4
20:05 No, you've done a wonderful job. Speaker 2
20:19 James, I'll just leave with thank you for sharing your story. 20:25 We get how painful it is. 20:27 I completely understand and 20:29 You know, we believe that we need to be able to talk about this publicly, right? 20:32 Yep. 20:32 We can't make any progress if we're not allowed to talk about it. 20:36 And so the whole purpose of this is to really give people permission to speak publicly. 20:41 And then maybe somewhere down the road we can start getting some answers. 20:45 Yes, sir. 20:46 But you showed tremendous courage to come in here. 20:50 And I can't even imagine your loss, but I do want to thank you for taking the time to share it with us. 20:57 Thank you. Speaker 4
21:10 Thank you James and I'm going to go to our next witness now. 21:18 And it's hard to transition from one witness to another. Speaker 1
21:21 They're all so special to me.