By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Haldimand Norfolk’s Acting Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Dr. Matt Strauss has been back in the headlines recently, with CBC News reporting that Strauss is in the middle of suing Queen’s University and his former supervisor, head of the medical department Dr. Stephen Archer, for $600,000.
According to the report, Strauss allegedly had to resign from his position as an assistant professor of medicine at the university due to defamatory statements made about him, with Archer listed as a constant critic of Strauss’ controversial opinions on COVID-19 public health measures.
The report quotes an email from Archer included in the statement of claim filed by Strauss. It called Strauss “self-centred” in his pursuit of freedom-of-expression, and was sent to six individuals, including Strauss, in December 2020.
In the time since, Strauss has taken on the role of acting MOH at the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit (HNHU), where his appointment was met with controversy and members of the provincial Liberal party calling for his removal.
Strauss took to Twitter last week to decry the CBC report, noting, “I am not sure how the CBC became aware of a recent court filing issued by my lawyer…. It is my strong preference that this matter remain between the parties involved…. Therefore, I will not be providing any comment about this case.”
He left a second tweet, which read, “That said, I am a firm believer in academic freedom, particularly on matters of significant public interest…. I will continue to advocate for this principle in my public commentary.”
In addition to the claim against Queen’s, for which a statement of defence claim has not yet been filed, Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur asserted on social media that Strauss took issue with his editorial piece, titled, ‘A medical officer of health with no public health qualifications: Matt Strauss is an absurdly political hire’, published September 15, 2021.
Arthur tweeted, “Strauss threatened to sue me and the Star for reporting other MOHs didn’t trust him, because that hurt his feelings; he has also lost his ideologically aligned mayoral champion, and as I imagine he is still unqualified to be a permanent MOH, his career may feel wobbly just now.”
In a separate tweet, Arthur claims the Star “ignored” the possibility of Strauss bringing forward legal action.
Strauss spoke with The Press this past February on some of the viewpoints that landed him in hot water amongst some of his peers and are at the root of his dispute with both Queen’s University and the Toronto Star.
“It’s clear from scientific data that the vaccine mandates are not accomplishing what we wanted them to,” Strauss said at the time. “Overall, I’ve advocated against restriction-based responses not because I don’t think there is any benefits, but because I think the likely harms outweigh the likely benefits.”
He continued, “If I’m ordering you to do things as a Public Health officer and I don’t know all the context, it’s possible that those things I don’t understand could result in my order causing you harm.”
It should be noted, however, that despite his general anti-lockdown position, Strauss routinely advocated for the community to get vaccinated throughout a series of weekly media briefs conducted while mass vaccination efforts were still underway across the province.
In addition to advocating for the public to get fully vaccinated, he made himself available for personal phone calls from members of the public who had concerns about the vaccine.
He summed up his feelings then, stating, “I would like to think I haven’t responded to pressure, because it’s not my job to be popular, it’s my job to protect the public health in Haldimand Norfolk.”
