Allison Inquiry | Michael McNair | Day 1 September 8th, 2026

Michael McNair, 41, served 11 years in the Canadian Armed Forces as a communications specialist with 77 Line Regiment of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, climbing towers and deploying for hundreds of days a year. He was in excellent health. He describes 84 days of isolation and quarantine on a 2019 to 2020 deployment, then being ordered into line for his first vaccine dose in April 2021 out of fear of losing his position, with staff telling him only to expect discomfort, headaches and chills. He delayed his second Moderna dose until the November 15, 2021 mandate deadline, and calls his experience a moral injury. Weeks later he developed severe upper left abdominal pain and was misdiagnosed with gastroenteritis at his base clinic, then vomiting bile.

An MRI at Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital found a blood clot in his superior mesenteric, splenic and portal veins, and he spent seven days in hospital. He describes being medically released because of his condition and medication, finding out three years later that it had not been reported as an adverse event, and Veterans Affairs Canada acknowledging his PTSD but denying his thrombosis claim as not service-related. Catherine Christensen adds her view that senior military leadership knew the risks and that many injured members and veterans are not counted, and MPs speak to how veterans have been treated.

Recorded at the Allison Inquiry, Day 1, September 8th, 2026. For more information, including the full list of witnesses and experts, go to allisoninquiry.com.


0:00 Introduction and military background
1:50 Michael's statement begins
6:15 Service with 77 Line Regiment
8:00 Isolation and quarantine during deployment
9:28 Ordered into line for the first dose
11:08 Second dose and the mandate deadline
13:40 Abdominal pain, misdiagnosis and blood clot
16:38 Medical release and the unreported injury
18:55 Veterans Affairs denies the thrombosis claim
21:00 Reflections on trust and the chain of command
22:36 Catherine Christensen's closing comments
25:53 Blood thinners and closing remarks