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Former Kelowna nurse faces disciplinary hearing over comments about COVID-19, Black Lives Matter

FILE. Kelowna General hospital. Global News

A former registered nurse accused of making inflammatory statements about everything from COVID mask mandates to the Black Lives Matter movement will have his conduct scrutinized during an upcoming disciplinary hearing.

The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives scheduled a hearing next month to address remarks allegedly made by former Kelowna resident Sean Taylor while he was a working nurse. The college said his actions are contrary to the standards they set out, and his “conduct and competence” will be evaluated.

Taylor was a registered nurse when he made comments such as, “…You will get people to wear your masks and put them in your internment camps … but there is a group of people, myself included, and you, and a bunch of friends, who will not comply. We will meet you in the streets and do this the old-fashioned way.”

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He also is accused of making comments about the Black Lives Matter movement that happened in the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

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“The restraint that’s being shown on the Right … I watch that sh-t, I wanna take a road trip and go down and play paintball.”

Regarding COVID-19, Taylor allegedly said, “(W)here does influenza come from? It is an avian virus and a porcine virus that usually comes from China because of the interface with Chinese culture.”

He’s also accused of saying that he would comfort “terrified” people in the hospital by telling them, “there is no virus here. Don’t worry about it … We had no cases admitted to the hospital …They still buy into this narrative.”

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“I don’t wear a mask … it’s a load of horse sh-t.”

His decision to do a news interview about alleged racism in emergency rooms having a negative impact on medical staff in June 2020 will also be discussed during the hearing.

Click to play video: 'A Kelowna nurse says alleged racism in emergency rooms having a negative impact on medical staff'
A Kelowna nurse says alleged racism in emergency rooms having a negative impact on medical staff

In the citation, the college said the segment was filmed outside Kelowna General Hospital, and he wore his scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck.

In the segment, he discussed allegations of racial discrimination against Indigenous patients and expressed the view that such news resulted in patients making allegations of racism against a nurse when they do not get their way.

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“This conduct is contrary to BCCNM’s professional standards and/or practice standards,” the college wrote.

Taylor ran as the People’s Party of Canada candidate for South Okanagan-West Kootenay in the 2021 federal election and gained seven per cent of the vote.

His nursing license was cancelled in April.

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