Protesters decry loss of ‘freedoms’
By Lethbridge Herald on September 15, 2020.
Demonstrators line the roadside along Mayor Magrath Drive Tuesday to protest pandemic health measures that they say are an overreach by government officials into personal lives and freedoms. Herald photo by Ian Martens
@IMartensHeraldTim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
A group of about 100 anti-masking demonstrators assembled at Henderson Lake on Tuesday to protest what they say is an overreach by local and provincial government officials into their personal lives, and into their personal freedoms.
“We’re just a group of people that feel like our freedoms and rights are being taken away from us with some of the (public health) mandates that have been put in place,” said demonstration co-organizer Michelle Vanderkooi. “We just want to be here to express we are not happy with that.”
Vanderkooi said most who came out feel that face masks are not an effective way to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and disagree with ongoing public health orders stemming back to when the COVID crisis first began in March.
“(The Province) was shutting down small businesses, but it was OK for Costco and Walmart, and bigger businesses, to stay running because they had food and pharmaceutical in them,” Vanderkooi said. “Where all small businesses were told to shut down because they weren’t deemed essential. That did not seem fair. That did not seem very well thought out. And it has really hurt our economy.
“But I think when the City mandated the mask bylaw that was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she added, “and kind of woke a lot of us up to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ Like now we are being told how to dress. We’re being told we have to put something on our faces, and we’re not being given a choice.”
Vanderkooi said part of what she and other demonstrators hoped to accomplish on Tuesday was to send a counter message to what they say is the fear-mongering around COVID-19 from public health and government officials being reported in the media.
“We would like to flatten the fear,” she said. “We flattened the curve, and then we got mandated masks put in place. So we are here to flatten the fear.”
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Hey, there is a syphillis outbreak in Alberta. City should mandate compulsory use of condoms. Also $100 fine for failure to comply.
yes we are so enamored with covid, nobody saw the announcement from Alberta Health about the outbreak of syphillis.
Natural selection.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/opinion/coronavirus-precautions.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Get a job
Who says we don’t? Other than you, because you know each of us personally right? You do realize not everyone works the same hours right? Also, we’re supposed to pretend we are in a pandemic, so there is a shortage of work and an abundance of unwanted unemployment, but thanks for the compassion for people who would love to find the means to make ends meet, but can’t because we are all supposed to be too scared to live our lives and cower at home for something with nearly a 100% recovery rate instead of being at work.
An “overreach by government officials into personal lives and freedoms”?
“Like now we are being told how to dress. We’re being told we have to put something on our faces, and we’re not being given a choice.”
Why stop at protesting against face masks? Begs the question as to why this group wasn’t protesting in the nude, given their spokesperson, Michelle Vanderkooi, has her knickers in a knot over body coverings mandated by government.
Ha! They probably jaywalked to their parked car, drove to the demonstration without their seat belt on, while smoking a cigar with their kids unstrapped in the back seat; didn’t pay the meter while tossing the stub into the storm drain. That’ll show the gubbamnt whose really free!
Fescue no jaywalking required, we parked in the lot next to the road and didn’t need to cross a road. Also there was in intersection right there with a crosswalk for those who wanted to cross. My children and I wore our seatbelts on the drive there like we always do, neither my minor children nor myself smoke anything, there are no meters at Henderson nor is payment required, and we all took our signs home with us. I even picked up and properly disposed of a mask that you probably chucked carelessly out your car window. You’re welcome.
Because wearing clothing for the purpose of covering privates and for warmth is exactly the same as muzzling yourself and restricting your ability to breath properly. 🙄 You couldn’t logic your way out of a paper bag.