Arrested for Honouring Sir John A MacDonald Statue in Queens Park #FREEJOHN
Episode Stats
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177.02702
Summary
Daniel Tate has been charged with mischief under $5,000, which carries a 2 year sentence, for writing a message on a piece of plywood that says Free John on a statue in Toronto s Queen s Park.
Transcript
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In a small act of rebellion, I went back to the statue in front of Queen's Park and I wrote on
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the box, free John. As soon as I did that, I was immediately arrested and criminally charged
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with mischief under $5,000, which carries up to a two-year prison sentence. I'm in downtown Toronto
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outside the Ontario Court of Justice. Inside is Daniel Tate. He's in there because he spray-painted
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a piece of plywood to say free John. Underneath the piece of plywood, of course, was the statue
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of Sir John A. Macdonald, which has been covered up for some time now because it was vandalized
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by Antifa activists. Hi, everybody. My name is Daniel Tate. Several weeks ago, I went for a walk
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in downtown Toronto. I noticed that the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, our founding father,
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was in a box. You posted a video just the other day. I'm wondering what the response has been
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since you posted that video, both positive and negative. It's been unequivocally positive. I think
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people have been looking for a voice to air out their frustration the way the country's been going
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over the last several years. I think I'm that vessel now. There's a couple of haters. You're
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always going to get them. The people who start Instagram accounts yesterday and they have zero
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followers and know who are these people. But for the most part, 99% of everybody on Instagram has
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sent me messages of support. In spirit, they're with me and I really do appreciate it. It energizes
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me. So we're just going to keep on going. And I noticed on the drive down here that your message
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free John has since been covered up. Yeah. Well, the real ridiculous irony of this all is after I was
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upheld for two hours in a dusty sort of basement cell at Queen's Park and they let me go, I walked,
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as I was walking home, it had already been painted over. Wow. So the groundskeeper at Queen's Park was
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dispatched, probably one coat of paint, and it was already gone. So the whole thing is just utter
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insanity. But, you know, I'm less concerned about me in particular this case. I don't care about this
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case. What I care about is that our founding father of our nation, Sir John A. Macdonald, who unified the
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colonies, created the amazing intra-provincial railway to connect the provinces. And it resonates
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today because even today there's issues between commerce and trade between the provinces. This is
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all metaphorical and symbolic that the one man who had the vision 160, 70, 80 years ago to have a
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unified country is being boxed up. And the person who's trying to free him and defend his honor is being
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persecuted by the state. And when they cover up that message so quickly, what do you think kind of message
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that sends to the public? It tells the public, it tells people like me and you and every rational, normal
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person that the government doesn't have our best interests at heart. The government is pandering to
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activists, to people have a warped worldview and a warped view of our country. And if we continue to
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sort of pander to them and accommodate them, then the decline of Canada will only accelerate.
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The Sir Egerton Ryerson statue, the Queen Victoria statue and countless Sir John A. Macdonald statues
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have been defaced, destroyed or torn down in broad daylight by radical far-legged activists. And in many
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cases, no charges were laid. And in 2022, who could forget the calls to cancel Canada Day? That was met with
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little to no pushback from sitting politicians of either political stripe across the country.
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I asked Daniel how he feels about this worrying trend in comparison to the Canada Strong and
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Canada First messaging we're hearing from Mark Carney and Pierre Polyev respectively during this
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Well, I've been speaking to a lot of people and a lot of people feel it's hollow. And a lot of people feel
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it's signaling of virtue by Canadians or Canadian leaders for that matter. And I would say to all
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political leaders, put your money where your mouth is. We don't need empty sloganeering. We need action.
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And the fact remains that not one political leader yet has stood up for me and what I did.
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We haven't heard anything from our municipal leaders, provincial leaders, or the current federal
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leaders who are in government right now. So it's all talk, no action.
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Yeah. And I appreciate you for having the courage to take a risk to, you know, just to simply write a
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Well, I think it goes to show how, you know, disillusioned and frustrated I and so many
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Canadians are. You know, like I've worked my whole life. I've paid taxes my whole life. This is not what I
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normally do, but the country is in such a poor state of affairs that normal citizens like myself
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are doing these little acts of rebellion to send a message. And so the message is out. I hope it
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reverberates across the country because we're now in an election cycle and now is the pivotal moment
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to decide what direction this country is going to go in. Daniel Tate is acquiring disclosure from the
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Crown Prosecutor and will be back in court May 5th. Follow my platform online. It's called Integrity
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TO. It's integrity underscore TO. I'm on X. I'm on Instagram or on YouTube. And just get the awareness
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out. Share with your networks, share with your friends and let people know that what's happening
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in Canada right now to normal citizens like me is unacceptable.
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Follow Daniel Tate on Instagram and X. Support him. Let's make this an election issue, guys.
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All these people saying elbows up, Canada first, Canada strong, and then we're just going to
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let the founder of this country sit there in a box. And anybody who complains about that is going to
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get thrown in jail for two years. It's unbelievable. Thanks for watching. We'll talk to you soon.
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