Charter rights crushed as lockdown protester found guilty of violating COVID-19 restrictions

Yeah I’m not a lawyer I’m a truck driver and a farmer so that’s a that’s a big question I I don’t know I know that it didn’t feel right what was happening I knew I had to do something we’re not in lockdowns there’s a reason for that the

Reason we’re not is because people stood up and people took a stance and we’re just one and and many uh that did that and I I couldn’t be prouder to be standing on the in these lines with these people these are solid people and the these are people that I want in my

Corner the other ones good luck for Rebel news in Colberg Ontario I’m tamary ugolini here in front of the courthouse with graham Walker who had his two final hearings heard today for the crime of peacefully assembling during the lockdown related restrictions where it was deemed you could only leave

Your house under what the government classified as essential services and apparently peacefully assembling the covid regime was not one of those stipulations Graham if you could give us a recap on the amount of fines you faced and why exactly you faced them that led you here today I think that’d be a great

Place to start sure yeah so this was back in April and May of 2021 uh so it’s 5 weeks that the stay-at home order was on that we were protesting I received four of the uh calling the $880 tickets of the 880s and uh we had the last two

Today and the hearings concluded not necessarily in your favor um the judge ruled that that you were guilty of the fines but they didn’t ask for anything additional just to pay that that fine original fine amount but it seems like the the punishment is really in the

Process because this has been you know going on almost three years later that you’ve finally been I I can’t say Vindicated because there was an element of of quote unquote guilt here um but what does the process look like to get you to this point since the spring of

2021 and now we’re almost the spring of 2024 so today is my seventh appearance in court um I’ve never been to court before this whole process started so it was a learning curve for me lots of hours learning how things work and what to do and how to file motions and

Different motions to file and how to run an offence and uh we ran it as best we could and here we are and each decision so there was two different finds that were heard today and each decision garnered approximately 43 pages of decision it’s like a book and um so you

Know you you’ll have to sift through that a little bit more um but what’s your plan moving forward now that you have this guilty verdict with a stipulation to pay one of the fine amounts yeah the uh the second one today was a suspended sentence so as I

Understand at this point you can’t really appeal a there’s no point in appealing a suspended sentence the guilt is registered but uh um there’s no point appealing that but I have the option of appealing the the one with the fine and post and the last two tickets were heard

In December we did a little update then and both of those ones were thrown out so out of the four total tickets really here only one has stuck yeah that’s it right two were withdrawn before they went to trial then we had two complete trials one where the uh prosecution

Provided a witness which was the officer that wrote the ticket the other one there was no evidence other than the ticket it was it was presented on certificate evidence only and and no witness provided and still guilty and often times we see people who self-represent are frowned upon by the

Courts but here and the last time I covered your your last ticket in December the um the judge thanked you for being respectful being presentable being well prepared for your case how has that preparation affected your family life and maybe Phoenix you can uh your wife can touch on that as

Well I mean we were already already proud of him it doesn’t matter what what this this this system says our our family system has backed him up 100% the whole way um when this all first started he came home and said we can’t do nothing and from that point it’s the

Rest of this this is all noise he’s a good character he’s a good human and that’s what we need we uh this fight was not for not um he he was Exemplar and I’m we couldn’t be more proud really yeah that’s it really the bottom

Line of at all and and I mean it t sometimes you have to do things afraid and we we’ve been afraid for the last 3 years so this is just an accumulation of that fear uh coming we’ve won we already won we already won and we’re we’re not

I’ say overcoming that yeah overcoming exactly but we’ve already won we’re not in lockdowns there’s a reason for that the reason we’re not is because people stood up and people took a stance and we’re just one and and many uh that did that and I I couldn’t be prouder to be

Standing on the in these lines with these people these are so solid people and the these are people that I want in my corner the other ones good luck and on that note too um you know we live in Canada we’re supposed to have the right to Peaceful assembly the right to

Protest unless the government says otherwise and so what does the future of that constitutional right mean when tickets like this are upheld by the court yeah I’m not a lawyer I’m a truck driver and a farmer so that’s a that’s a big question I I don’t know I know that

It didn’t feel right what was happening I knew I had to do something and I I did what I could for that and I’ve learned as much as I can here um we’re learning a lot about our Charter it’s not what I thought it was I stood in front of

Victoria Hall with a big copy of the charter on my I called it my freedom cart that I had my newspapers and my flag a big copy you know a 2 by3 of the charter and it’s not what not what we thought it was so I I defended without

Using the charter I was using the Bill of Rights a little different defense and and um well we’ll see how this pans out right that’s right well thanks gr appreciate your time and your efforts here to uphold that freedom of assembly and expression for all Canadians so

Thank you for that all right thank you tar thank you yeah thank you all right for Rebel news in front of the Ontario courthous I’m tamary ugolini if you appreciate Rebels field reports and on the ground coverage then please consider supporting our work at Rebel field reports.com there you can

Find all of our previous reporting again boots on the ground journalism and support us if you’re able to that’s Rebel field reports.com

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Tamara Ugolini reports from Cobourg, Ont., where three years later, an individual who challenged the government’s COVID-19 lockdown restrictions was convicted of breaching the provincial stay-at-home order in an Ontario court.
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