Edmonton protesters gathered outside a CTV building demanding coverage of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plans for a legally binding global pandemic treaty. 

Dozens of Edmontonians gathered around a CTV building on Saturday, protesting the WHO’s pandemic treaty plan.

Some protesters’ signs read “no pandemic treaty” and “exit the WHO.” 

According to protesters, CTV refused to acknowledge them, stayed in their building, and locked the gates to their building. 

The protest was organized by Alberta 4 Liberty, a nonprofit organization that claims to fight back against “the rise of totalitarian rule.” 

One speaker at the protest stated that, if the pandemic treaty gets passed, children “won’t have the quality of life” that previous generations had.

Protestors further expressed doubt that the WHO cares about citizens’ health as much as they care about power and control.

What is the WHO pandemic treaty?

The WHO is actively proposing a new pandemic treaty, which plans to be a legally binding agreement that is meant to help countries more effectively respond to global pandemics. 

Critics, however, worry that the treaty will require countries to cede power to the unelected organization.

In Janaury, the WHO’s Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus spoke at the World Economic Forum’s Davos meeting to warn the world about what he called “Disease X.” 

The event description read: “There are fresh warnings from the World Health Organization that an unknown ‘Disease X’ could result in 20 times more fatalities than the coronavirus pandemic.”

The WEF and WHO have both downplayed the concerns from citizens and politicians who note that the Pandemic Treaty would result in countries ceding power to unelected Non-Governmental Organizations. 

The WHO claims critics are “far right” and has stated that governments are leading the negotiations and are free to reject the accord.

At the same time, the WHO has been calling for member states, including Canada, to finalize their pandemic treaty — and pitch in more money for “when the next pandemic strikes.”

Ghebreyesus has previously denied that a Pandemic Treaty would force countries to comply with its regulations, but he’s also threatened sanctions for countries that don’t do so.

The WEF has also stated that it’s “not yet clear what happens if the measures are not followed.” 

Global vaccine passports

The WHO recently partnered with the European Union to create a globalized digital vaccine passport system for future pandemics. The development happened within a year after the White House, on behalf of all G20 countries, declared support for the WHO to facilitate universal vaccine passports.  

According to Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, the Trudeau Government has been lobbying the World Health Organization (WHO) to change their definition of a pandemic to include climate change.