SASKATOON, Saskatchewan (LifeSiteNews) – Maxime Bernier, the head of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), is in a Saskatchewan court battling a COVID ticket given to him for attending a freedom rally and has vowed to fight for the right to freedom of assembly to ensure Canadians’ free speech is protected.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is representing Bernier and 22 others who were charged in May 2021 for attending a pro-freedom, anti-lockdown rally in Saskatoon.
Bernier noted on Twitter yesterday that with the help of the JCCF they will be arguing that the defendants’ constitutional rights, under Section 2C of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, were violated.
“In a democratic country, you must have the right to protest against draconian measures. And that’s what we did. And that’s why I’m very proud of these 50 extraordinary Canadians that did that with me,” Bernier said.
“In a democratic country, you must be able to protest against a tyrannical government. That’s what we did. And that’s important also to do that fight in the court, because we want to have a legal precedent.”
Section 2C of Canada’s charter reads that “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms,” which include “freedom of peaceful assembly.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday from a Saskatoon courthouse, Bernier said, “You know, having the right to be out there and be at a political protest in a democratic country. We will win that case.”
The JCCF in a press release Monday noted that the “Saskatoon Police Service aggressively targeted the protesters by posting images of many of them online, and subsequently issuing dozens of summons tickets, each with a $2,800 fine.”
“Later, Saskatchewan prosecutors also issued charges via Criminal Code Information against 46 individuals,” the JCCF added.
The JCCF said that Bernier and dozens of others had attended the May 9 rally, which was “a peaceful outdoor protest against government violations of Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms.”
Bernier, while speaking to reporters on Monday, said he was “was proud to be there” at the rally and that he is “proud of these people (the other protesters) also.”
“They are not ordinary Canadians. They are extraordinary Canadians. They were there to fight for our rights when we needed them. And you know what the provincial government is doing to them is shameful. It’s shameful,” Bernier noted.
Bernier then blasted the fact police resources were wasted on targeting the freedom rally goers, saying, “all the resources they put into a trial for two weeks. I believe that the police here in Saskatchewan must go after the real criminals.”
He noted how the freedom rally attendees are “heroes” as they “fight for our rights.”
The trial will run for a two-week period.
Lawyer: There is no ‘legal’ justification for restrictions on outdoor protests
JCCF lawyer Marty Moore said there is no “legal or medical justification for the strict numerical restrictions imposed on outdoor protests in Saskatchewan.”
“Yet, an incredible amount of public resources, including prosecution and court time, has been committed to prosecuting protestors,” he added.
“The targeting of these protestors is not on the basis that their protests were a health risk, but rather because they expressed opposition to the government’s unjustified restrictions on Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms.”
Saskatchewan had in place in May 2021 rules that limited outdoor events, including protests, to 10 people.
Moore noted, however, that not “a single transmission of Covid has been associated with an outdoor protest in Saskatchewan, and yet the government continues to go after protesters for exercising their constitutionally-protected freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) failed spectacularly at resisting the initial COVID lockdowns and vaccine mandates that were imposed by the government on freedom-loving Canadians.
Most CPC MPs subserviently complied with Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party in creating a police-state where our Charter Rights were regularly violated, but now Pierre Poilievre would have us believe they have turned a corner and nothing like it will ever happen again.
How can they rebuild our trust? Well, they can start by owning up to their terrible mistakes.
SIGN: The CPC must apologize for abandoning Canadians to Trudeau's COVID regime.
You will remember how freedom-loving Canadians were abandoned by the CPC, with Erin O'Toole calling for vaccine passports and most CPC MPs pearl-clutching about "vaccine hesitancy".
That was until the party realized how popular the Truckers' Convoy had become and got behind the movement.
It's quite possible the CPC would still be mute on vaccine mandates and lockdowns were it not for the heroic Freedom Convoy that converged on Ottawa.
Let's not forget the businesses, churches, schools and universities that were shuttered for months on end because of the COVID hysteria generated by politicians in Ottawa, and the CPC did nothing.
They did nothing when people started losing their livelihoods (with some Canadians even losing their lives to suicide) because of the government's deranged policy of locking people down.
The CPC must show they have learned a lesson from the COVID tyranny Canadians needlessly suffered and that they contributed to.
SIGN: Demand the CPC apologize for abandoning Canadians to Trudeau's COVID tyranny.
In yet another reminder of how disconnected from reality the CPC were, MPs like Leslyn Lewis, Marilyn Gladu and Rosemarie Falk were omitted from their "Shadow Cabinet" in November 2021 because they dared to question the COVID shots.
Canadians must still contend with vaccine mandates in some settings and the intrusive ArriveCAN system in order to re-enter the country, while we are among the last three countries in the world to continue discriminating against unvaccinated visitors who remain barred from entering.
As Pierre Poilievre takes the reigns of the CPC, conservative voters must demand an apology from the party that abandoned them during the COVID-hysteria of the past two years.
SIGN: The CPC can rebuild trust by apologizing for capitulating to Trudeau's COVID tyranny.
Bernier chose not to get the COVID jabs and throughout the entire COVID crisis called out government overreach.
He also has continuously blasted the Conservative Party of Canada, including new leader Pierre Poilievre, for only speaking out against COVID mandates when it became acceptable to do so.
Bernier once served as a cabinet minister under former conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper before leaving to create the People’s Party. He has been vocal on many issues affecting family and life, including “radical gender ideology,” as well as pushing euthanasia on the vulnerable.
He is currently challenging Canada’s injection travel mandate in court with the help of the JCCF.
In Canada, data shows that uptake for COVID boosters is rather low and declining, with only 49.57 percent of the population having had a third jab. Only 12.41 percent of Canadians have chosen to get more than one booster shot.
The COVID jab trials have never produced evidence that vaccines stop infection or transmission. In fact, evidence suggests that the jabs no longer even reduce severe symptoms, especially considering the ever-changing viral variants, and that they are harming more people than helping.