Rally decries pandemic restrictions from steps of city hall

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This article was published 16/01/2021 (1619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People fed up with Manitoba’s coronavirus restrictions gathered outside Steinbach City Hall Saturday for a two-hour rally that began with upbeat music and ended with fines.

The event, organized online, was the second Hugs Over Masks protest held in Steinbach in the past two months.

Steinbach RCMP used barricades and cruisers to block off sections of Reimer Avenue and First Street to traffic. A half-dozen provincial enforcement officers roamed the area with clipboards.

The crowd ebbed and flowed throughout the afternoon, peaking at around 110 people. A few stayed warm in parked cars but most milled about, many without face masks. Physical distancing was urged from the podium but seldom practiced by attendees, some of whom embraced one another or removed their gloves to shake hands.

Homemade signs propped up in the snow read, “Faith is essential,” “Freedom is essential,” “The media is the virus,” “Lockdown is about control,” “Love over fear,” “Freedom over tyranny,” “No study has confirmed masks work,” and “We are all essential.”

Speeches—some planned, some impromptu—began on the front steps of the building after a prayer and the national anthem. Topics included monetary theory, corporate influence over government, the importance of faith, news media narratives of the pandemic, the sovereignty of the individual, and legal advice for “beating” tickets in a court of law.

Speakers frequently returned to the theme of individual agency and the assertion that public health restrictions were unnecessary, unfair, and contributing to mental health problems.

A woman called Sharon, who declined to give her full name, wore a Canadian flag over a Hugs Over Masks jersey and was the first to deliver a speech. She said she organized the event to protest government restrictions and the loss of civil liberties during the pandemic.

Tobias Tissen, a pastor with the Church of God Restoration south of Steinbach, drew cheers when referencing the recent scandals involving Canadian politicians who travelled internationally over the Christmas holidays.

“2020 will go down in history as the year of the hypocrite,” Tissen said, adding the trips, which contravened public health guidance, were evidence the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t real.

A mask-wearing counterprotestor who heckled Tissen with appeals to science quickly found himself drawn into a sidewalk debate with an unmasked man wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap.

Gerry Bohemier, a retired chiropractor, focused much of his address on ways people can take their health into their own hands. Bohemier touted foods and supplements as ways to strengthen the human immune system and urged the crowd to stay away from medical doctors except in emergencies.

Wayne Sturby of Lorette, a candidate for the Manitoba Party and the People’s Party of Canada, extolled libertarianism and small government in his speech.

Todd McDougall of Winnipeg Alternative Media led the crowd in “free speech” chant.

Eric Cabernel, a farmer from Bruxelles, Man., two hours west of Steinbach, took to the microphone after handing out leaflets promoting online gatherings of “true patriots of the land.”

The final speaker, Patrick Allard of Winnipeg, taunted Mayor Earl Funk, whose pickup truck was seen departing the area 20 minutes before the event began.

“I don’t think he’s here,” Allard said, gesturing to the mayor’s office. “Earl! Where are you, Earl?”

Funk has repeatedly denounced the protests and urged residents to follow public health orders and find constructive ways of working toward a reopening of the economy.

After the event, as organizers packed up their vehicles, enforcement officers began writing up tickets. Allard, Tissen, Bohemier, and Cabernel were among those who received fines.

For more coverage of the rally, pick up the Jan. 21 edition of The Carillon.