EXCLUSIVE: Fired CEO launches $1.7M lawsuit against Group Health

The former president and CEO of the Group Health Centre—who was fired in February after donating $50 to the “Freedom Convoy” trucker protest in Ottawa—is suing for wrongful dismissal, SooToday has learned.

Alex Lambert’s lawsuit seeks more than $1.7-million in lost wages and other damages, including $500,000 for the alleged “bad faith” conduct of his former employer, one of Sault Ste. Marie’s largest healthcare providers.

In his statement of claim, Lambert says he was “shocked” and “blindsided” by the Group Health Centre’s decision to fire him over “such a trivial matter.” He also accuses the organization of “humiliating” him in public and inflicting “a death sentence” on his career.

“After the Defendant learned that the Plaintiff had donated to the Freedom Convoy, the Defendant chose to publicly attack the Plaintiff’s personal views and his donation preferences, instead of making the Plaintiff’s termination a private matter,” the lawsuit alleges. “Within days, the Plaintiff became persona non grata. His reputation was unfairly and unreasonably tarnished, and his career was in tatters.”

Lambert was appointed president and CEO in June 2014, overseeing an organization that serves more than 80,000 patients across Algoma District. His annual salary was $286,000.

“[T]he Plaintiff’s reputation has been ruined by the Defendant,” the lawsuit continues. “The entire city now knows of his termination, and many members of the community no longer wish to have any ties with him. It is a near certainty that the Plaintiff will have to relocate to another jurisdiction to secure re-employment.”

Lambert’s statement of claim further alleges that Group Health’s board of directors was well aware of his stance against vaccination mandates dating back to at least 2021, but “condoned, or at the very least, tolerated these personal opinions” because they “did not interfere with his work as CEO or his job performance.”

Lambert “always acted in the best interest of the Defendant throughout the pandemic, including adopting all COVID-related protocols required by Public Health and/or the Ontario government, and in some cases going beyond the mandated requirements, including with respect to COVID-19 vaccination requirements at the Group Health Centre,” the lawsuit says. “Accordingly, the Plaintiff asserts that it was entirely inappropriate for the Defendant to terminate his employment due to either a small donation or due to his personal opinions on vaccine mandates.” 

The Group Health Centre denies any wrongdoing, arguing in its statement of defence that the organization treated Lambert “with dignity, respect, and in good faith.” His employment agreement made clear he could be fired at any moment without cause, as long as he was given 12 months notice or salary in lieu of notice. Although a dollar figure is not specified in the statement of defence, Group Health insists Lambert received “his contractual entitlements.”

Group Health also denies that it acted in bad faith, noting that the organization “was careful not to make any public statement” about Lambert’s $50 donation or his comments in the press supporting the trucker protests. “It was the Plaintiff who spoke to two media outlets and brought publicity to his views,” reads the statement of defence. “Any impact that the events have on the Plaintiff’s reputation is due to the Plaintiff’s own public statements.”

The lawsuit was filed April 4 at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. Obtained by SooToday, the legal filings paint the clearest picture yet of what happened behind closed doors after Lambert’s donation was publicly revealed—and after he granted multiple media interviews, expressing his opposition to vaccine mandates and his support for the “inspiring” and “pretty cool” trucker convoy.

If nothing else, the court documents are certain to reignite public debate over whether a senior healthcare executive deserved to be fired for what was supposed to be a private donation. Lambert’s termination triggered plenty of strong opinions on both sides.

In the end, Group Health’s board of directors decided it had no choice but to sever ties with the organization’s top employee. “[Group Health] felt that it could not continue to employ the Plaintiff in his role as CEO given his poor judgment in making a donation to the ‘Freedom Convoy’ and more seriously choosing to speak to the media twice about his donation and his view on vaccination mandates,” reads the statement of defence.

Lambert “was aware that as the leader of a healthcare organization, he must support public health guidelines and measures,” the defence filing continues. “[Group Health’s] board made it clear to the Plaintiff on several occasions that he was expected to support public health guidelines and measures. [The board] never condoned or tolerated the Plaintiff’s personal opinions and certainly did not condone the Plaintiff speaking publicly about his opinions on the ‘Freedom Convoy’ or mandatory vaccination.”

None of the allegations have been tested in court. When contacted by SooToday through their lawyers, both Lambert and Group Health declined to comment.

The self-proclaimed “Freedom Convoy” rolled into Ottawa in late-January, ostensibly to protest COVID-19 vaccination mandates for cross-border truckers. It quickly evolved into a movement against all pandemic public-health measures, including government-ordered lockdowns and mandatory masking. Many Canadians rallied behind the cause, enduring freezing temperatures to cheer and wave as the convoy traveled through their communities.

The truckers took over the capital’s downtown core for more than three weeks, blockading streets and honking their horns incessantly. As the public would soon learn, some of the leaders were well-known conspiracy theorists and racist, far-right agitators who dreamed of overthrowing the Trudeau government long before the emergence of COVID-19.

On Feb. 13, two weeks into the trucker blockade, a hacker breached the website of GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding site that was collecting millions of dollars in donations for the protesters. The Boston-based company had stepped into the void after GoFundMe shut down its convoy fundraiser on Feb. 4, citing its guidelines against “the promotion of violence and harassment.”

Along with freezing GiveSendGo’s website, the hacker illegally obtained and disseminated a list of more than 90,000 donors, including names, email addresses and postal codes. Among the entries was Alex Lambert of Sault Ste. Marie. He contributed $50 on Saturday Feb. 5, the day after GoFundMe cut ties with the convoy.

Contacted by SooToday on Feb. 15, Lambert confirmed the accuracy of the hacked data. (SooToday did not publish certain personal information, such as postal codes or email addresses, and did not report on Lambert’s donation until he confirmed it was true.)

“It’s such an awkward issue, especially considering the genesis of this list,” Lambert said at the time. “I did not anticipate having to get this phone call when I donated 50 bucks and I certainly didn’t reference Group Health Centre at all when I made the donation, but here we are.”

By then, the city of Ottawa had declared a state of emergency, the Ontario government had won a court order preventing anyone from accessing the cash raised by GiveSendGo, and the Prime Minister had invoked the federal Emergencies Act.

“They are peacefully protesting and I think they are great, frankly,” Lambert told SooToday, during that initial interview. “I agree with the message. I think it’s time to end the vaccine mandates and I am glad they are getting traction on that message.”

Still, Lambert conceded that the optics of his donation may raise some eyebrows: a senior executive at a healthcare organization supporting a protest opposing public-health measures, including vaccination mandates.

“It’s consistent with my position on vaccine mandates at Group Health,” he said. “We did not mandate vaccines at Group Health for existing employees; we left that as a choice. As it happened, I think about 95 per cent of staff and physicians made the choice and that is good for them and I think that is how it should have worked everywhere.”

The next day, Feb. 16, Lambert spoke to a Sault Star reporter, reiterating his support for the truckers—but not all of their tactics, including the constant horn honking. “I don’t know if I like that terminology ‘occupation,’ ” he said. “It doesn’t seem that way to me. It seems like a fairly peaceful protest. There’s bouncy castles and the whole nine yards.”

Lambert also criticized Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act, which until then had never been invoked. “I think it’s more than unwarranted,” he said. “I think it’s kind of ridiculous.”

Like the rest of Sault Ste. Marie, board members at Group Health learned about Lambert’s donation from SooToday. According to the statement of defence, Lambert did not warn the board about his interview, nor his conversation the next day with the Sault Star. During those interviews, he also “did not indicate that his views were only his own or provide any context to distance himself from [Group Health] and his role as the Chief Executive Officer,” the court filing states.

“The media appearances resulted in public criticism and concern that an individual who opposes public health measures was leading a public health organization,” reads the statement of defence. “The media appearances also created questions around the [Group Health Centre’s] opinion of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ and its support for public health measures.”

The board felt it had no choice but to issue a press release on Feb. 16, reaffirming its support for vaccines—“the cornerstone of pandemic control”—and the centre’s “obligation and responsibility to provide exemplary patient care and medical advice.”

“The Group Health Centre does not support the views of the ‘Freedom Convoy,’” the statement read. “We especially object to the subgroup of protestors who protest without respect for the law and are using this protest as a means to spread extremist views.”

Although that Feb. 16 statement did not mention Lambert’s name, his donation, or his media appearances, his lawsuit alleges that the Group Health’s wording “had the effect of stigmatizing and defaming” him because it linked him to extremists. 

“The Plaintiff made it explicitly clear to the media and to the Defendant that although he supported peaceful protests and ending the vaccine mandates, he did not support the Freedom Convoy’s illegal activity or use of blockades,” the lawsuit reads. “Moreover, the Plaintiff was not a main player in the Freedom Convoy protests, as he merely donated a small amount of $50. At no time did the Plaintiff participate in the protest himself.”

The next day, Feb. 17, Lambert was summoned to a meeting with members of the board. “The Plaintiff believed that this meeting would provide him with an opportunity to explain what occurred and determine how they should handle this issue moving forward,” reads the statement of claim. “Unfortunately, the Plaintiff was mistaken.”

Instead, he was handed a termination letter. Lambert was “blindsided,” he says.

Group Health “did not conduct an investigation into the matter nor provide the Plaintiff with an opportunity to adequately explain himself,” the claim continues. “The Plaintiff was shocked that the Defendant would resort to such an unjustifiable and extreme action in response to such a trivial matter.”

Group Health issued another public statement later that day, announcing Lambert’s departure and framing it as a mutual decision. The release said Dr. David Fera, the chair of the board, and Lambert “agreed that it was the right timing to bring new leadership to the organization.”

Lambert’s lawsuit says that statement as “false” and “misleading” because his firing “was not a mutually consensual separation.”

“The Defendant did not conduct an investigation into the matter nor provide the Plaintiff with an opportunity to adequately explain himself,” reads the statement of claim. “The defendant knew or ought to have known that by publicly terminating the Plaintiff, and by publicly attacking the Plaintiff’s personal opinions, they were giving the Plaintiff’s career a death sentence.”

Lambert says he has tried to find a new job, but very few employers in the Sault offer a comparable salary. And even if he moves out of town, he says any potential employer “can quickly search on the Internet and discover the reason” he was fired.

“The Plaintiff anticipates that certain employers will not hire him, regardless of his merit, based on public relations considerations alone,” the claim alleges. “This compounds the difficulty in securing re-employment.”

A court date for the lawsuit has yet to be set.