Rebel News Podcast - SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ University of Ottawa's pro-Hamas squatters can't answer questions

00:00:00.000 What's going on at the pro-Hamas occupation at the University of Ottawa?

00:00:19.000 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gun Show.

00:00:30.000 Rebel News has been carefully covering anti-Israel demonstrations, really their occupations cropping up on private property on university campuses across this country.

00:00:53.380 The main three appear to be the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, and McGill.

00:01:00.680 And the reason I stress that this is on private university property is that for these anti-Semitic demonstrations to be cleared, the university has to act.

00:01:12.180 The university doesn't seem to want to act.

00:01:14.420 In at least these three instances, they've said they don't want these people there harassing Jewish students on their way to school.

00:01:24.740 However, they aren't doing anything about it.

00:01:27.180 Now, as I said, Rebel News has been covering these anti-Israel demonstrations in these major cities.

00:01:35.020 And joining me today is one of the journalists dedicated to covering the demonstration, hobo squat, occupation, protest.

00:01:47.820 At the University of Ottawa is my friend, Robert Krejcik.

00:01:52.760 Take a listen.

00:01:53.260 Take a listen.

00:02:23.240 But one hedge is that I was surrounded by a particular type of person, right?

00:02:27.840 There were people who were demonstrating against this COVID-19 apparatus at risk to themselves, civilly disobedient protesters.

00:02:35.760 So it takes a particular type of person with courage and character and conviction to do that sort of thing.

00:02:40.940 And you can imagine that they're surrounded by people that share that philosophical position.

00:02:45.980 They're surrounded by their families, their loved ones.

00:02:49.040 So there's obviously an aspect of self-selection going on in terms of the people that I was around.

00:02:54.180 But yet, generally speaking, my experience was amazing.

00:02:57.300 And I met all kinds of great people who I really aligned with ideologically, philosophically, politically, culturally, as you put it.

00:03:03.100 It was awesome.

00:03:04.400 Yeah.

00:03:04.600 I always ask that question to people who are either recent refugees to Alberta or people who are from other parts of the country who spend a little bit of time here.

00:03:15.340 Because I have, of course, selection bias.

00:03:17.800 I'm surrounded by people just like myself.

00:03:20.300 And I live rurally.

00:03:21.720 So people who live rurally in agriculture, it's, you know, like a different kind of people.

00:03:28.060 So I'm always curious how people who spend a little bit of more time than just a quick popover in Alberta, how they how they find the place, you know.

00:03:38.060 So I'm glad to hear that you experience the same sort of freedom minded people that I do.

00:03:44.020 I love you.

00:03:44.760 Yeah.

00:03:45.140 And I think that's why we were so hard to lock down.

00:03:47.600 Like, even our conservative government couldn't lock us down is just because, as our documentary says, we are an ungovernable people, self-sufficient.

00:03:58.960 You know, you know, we don't we don't need the government telling us what to do.

00:04:01.360 Now, you have spent a fair bit of time reporting on what I have begun calling, as of this morning, Hitler's hobos, the encampments against Israel, which I mean, it's really not against Israel.

00:04:18.500 These are anti-Semitic protests.

00:04:22.060 Yours was at the University of Ottawa that you went to visit.

00:04:25.140 And, you know, they say these are about divestment of the state of Israel.

00:04:33.060 But then why are they harassing Jewish students and protesters as they walk across the lawns there?

00:04:38.880 Tell me about like you've gone there, I think, now twice.

00:04:43.420 We've got a follow up report that we're recording this on Tuesday.

00:04:46.140 It might be out today.

00:04:46.880 It could be out tomorrow.

00:04:48.240 But tell me about your first assessment of the lay of the land of Hitler's hobos. 0.89

00:04:53.480 The most noteworthy takeaway is the unwillingness of protesters to speak or even more fundamentally, their obedience to their handlers, their masters.

00:05:07.100 There are these protest organizers, let's call them.

00:05:11.000 That's a charitable term.

00:05:12.720 They are professional agitators.

00:05:15.340 They're obviously not students.

00:05:16.780 You can tell by the way they look, their age, their background.

00:05:20.780 They don't speak English very well in some cases.

00:05:23.480 And they're also known quantities to people that I've come to know who pay attention to these things in Ottawa.

00:05:29.080 So the handlers, again, not students, middle-aged people are advising everyone or let's put it this way, directing anyone who I may approach and solicit for comment or an interview.

00:05:40.400 Don't speak to that guy.

00:05:41.740 He's a right wing chud. 1.00

00:05:42.960 That was a quote that was directed towards me.

00:05:46.060 And in 99% of cases, these student protesters who, again, I'm assuming are protesters based on their ages, they're on the young side, 18, 19, 20.

00:05:56.500 They may have knapsacks on.

00:05:58.060 There's sort of evidence that they are students.

00:05:59.860 They immediately obey.

00:06:01.640 They immediately act subservient to this master or these masters.

00:06:07.700 And that's really sad.

00:06:08.780 That's sort of emblematic, I think, of this philosophical approach that people on that side of the aisle, so to speak, tend to have relative to us.

00:06:16.520 They're much more herd mentality, much more compliant, much more conciliatory.

00:06:22.700 And that was the worst part of it because I'm approaching these folks in good faith.

00:06:25.900 Even if I don't agree with them on this or that issue, I do want them to express their points of view and have that shared with the audience because the rationale behind people's attendance at these massive protests is newsworthy.

00:06:38.660 Yet, again, when they're told not to speak with me, they just shut down and don't talk. 0.98

00:06:42.920 It's very slave-like and pathetic. 0.97

00:06:44.740 Yeah, and I wonder, you know, before I move on, I just want to say that's very evident in your video. 0.98

00:06:51.500 You are calm.

00:06:53.200 You are being completely upfront with the people.

00:06:57.320 You're not saying, like, I'm here to catch you in, you know, a trick question.

00:07:01.480 You tell them, like, look, I may not share your viewpoint, but I want to have a civil discussion with you.

00:07:08.200 I want to know why you're here.

00:07:10.880 I think one of the reasons they don't want them talking to you is they don't even know why they're there, that they have such a shallow grasp of the issue that even the most basic level question from you would reveal that to the world.

00:07:28.780 Yeah, I suspect that to be true.

00:07:31.320 It's clearly based on insecurity and unwillingness to talk or at least a fear of demonstrators talking to media on the part of these organizers, these taskmasters, these handlers, is obviously a reflection of insecurity.

00:07:46.020 They're not confident that they're able to win in the battlefield of ideas.

00:07:50.900 They don't think that the attendees at these demonstrations can elucidate or articulate positions that are persuasive or convincing.

00:07:59.340 So it just shows a lack of confidence, at least on the part of the taskmasters, but even to one degree or another, the fact that 99% of these demonstrators don't have the wherewithal or guts just to say, you know what, I want to talk to this guy, shows that they don't have confidence either in themselves and they're obedient, compliant, subservient to these people that they don't even know just because they've got this sort of self-induced aura of authority.

00:08:25.040 Yes, great point. Not only do they likely not have a very strong grasp of the geopolitical issues at play here, but they are also cowards, which is a recipe for disaster, for a public relations disaster.

00:08:41.380 So I guess that's why their handlers come down so strong on them.

00:08:44.320 I mean, you see how little they really truly understand the issue of what's happening between Israel and Hamas in Gaza when they say stuff like, stop the occupation now.

00:08:55.520 Right.

00:08:56.000 Israel hasn't been in Gaza for years. There's not even a dead Jew, unless you're counting hostages.

00:09:03.200 I mean, they dug up the cemeteries when they withdrew from Gaza. Instead of leaving any, they literally left nobody behind. There is no occupation there. But you see these protesters saying, you know, stop the occupation now.

00:09:17.100 Yeah, it's really quite bizarre. I mean, but there are questions that I want answers to, and I think the world wants answers to. Like, for example, who is paying for all these matching tents and matching professionally printed signage?

00:09:31.780 Right.

00:09:31.940 And I don't think they want that question asked.

00:09:35.740 There's no doubt there's a degree of central planning in a multinational sense, because you're seeing the same strategy, the same type of protest, not just in Canada, but across the English-speaking world.

00:09:47.580 Let me share with you in the audience one more phenomenon, one more thing that occurred.

00:09:52.000 So the last time I was there was sometime last week. I think it might have been Saturday. It was very hostile.

00:09:57.200 So immediately upon my arrival, I'm recognized by one of the handlers that recognized me the first time, which was a few days prior.

00:10:05.260 And he starts aggregating these other people who I assume are also organizers. A lot of them are middle-aged people. Some are middle-aged Arabs. They're clearly not students.

00:10:13.360 And the entire time I was there, no exaggeration, I had this entourage of maybe 10 people following me around within three, four, five feet of me, never creating any more distance than that.

00:10:25.520 To any person I may approach and solicit for an interview, I probably approach 20 people, 25 people, except for one.

00:10:32.660 And even that one person himself took a moment to sort of verify what Rebel News is, to see if I'm worth speaking to.

00:10:41.040 He was, let's say, 51% compliant with the directives issued to him by these handlers not to speak with me.

00:10:46.840 And the exchange that I had with him was very superficial. So again, I've got these people around me the entire time, banging on drums quite close to me, blowing into this, what do you call it, megaphone, chanting, you know, free, free Palestine.

00:10:57.960 And they're doing everything they can to disrupt the attention, the cognition of both me and anyone I may be approaching for an interview.

00:11:05.560 There's clearly an aspect of intimidation.

00:11:07.700 Now, to be fair, I mean, the people that they're intimidating are 18, 19, 20-year-old kids.

00:11:11.380 I'm a 41-year-old grown man. I don't get intimidated by this kind of thing.

00:11:15.060 But that vibe puts people off and obviously was effective in shutting down anyone's maybe willingness in a different circumstance to speak with me.

00:11:24.600 And also, there's this attempt to disrupt the quality of the interview.

00:11:28.520 So even if a person was open to speaking with me, and again, essentially nobody was, there's a high risk that the quality of the audio would be destroyed by that loud bulb.

00:11:36.760 So they're doing everything they can in a very obnoxious, pathetic, juvenile, aggressive, intimidating way to prevent any sort of open communication between media figures and protest participants.

00:11:50.040 Although I don't think it is all media figures. 0.77

00:11:52.940 I think it is skeptical media figures.

00:11:54.760 That's right.

00:11:54.980 Because they're more than happy to talk to CBC or the mainstream media because they know that those outlets are going to be sympathetic to their nonsense. 0.66

00:12:05.080 That's right.

00:12:05.380 And also not ask a single tough question like, how come you guys all have matching tents?

00:12:09.920 What's going on there?

00:12:11.060 How come you all have these professionally printed signs?

00:12:13.840 Who's paying for those? 0.89

00:12:15.040 Could it be IRGC-backed proxies maybe?

00:12:18.300 Maybe they're not asking any of those questions.

00:12:21.060 So they're happy to give those interviews to the national Trudeau sycophant media.

00:12:27.320 Even at one point, about three minutes after I arrived, one of the handlers who was informed of my presence, who Rebel News is here, really dangerous, goes over to this lady at this sort of de facto deus.

00:12:39.300 It's like this elevated stone.

00:12:41.340 It's a sort of makeshift platform that speakers get on top of, speakers meaning human beings, but they speak through the speakers also, the electronic versions.

00:12:49.180 And they have the ability to sort of broadcast loud volume messaging to the entire demonstration.

00:12:55.120 It's got the reach to the edge of the courtyard.

00:12:58.720 And again, minutes after my arrival, this lady gets up there. 1.00

00:13:01.440 She looks like a student to me.

00:13:03.320 And she says, guys, I'm paraphrasing.

00:13:05.700 Don't speak with anyone from the media.

00:13:07.400 If anyone asks you for an interview, do not talk to them.

00:13:09.920 Direct them to the media liaison.

00:13:11.880 I'm not even sure that person even exists because there was no attempt to do that at all.

00:13:15.580 So there was this obsession with me while I was there 15 minutes. 0.97

00:13:19.720 And again, it's just really pathetic and juvenile. 0.89

00:13:22.240 And I think people should not be afraid to be incorrect. 0.92

00:13:25.000 And I think people should express their points of view.

00:13:27.000 That's how we sharpen each other's understandings of the world when we sort of have these back and forth exchanges.

00:13:31.160 I don't believe we're in dialogue.

00:13:32.580 Maybe I'm naive.

00:13:33.280 Maybe I'm idealistic.

00:13:34.640 But I think that's the way to go.

00:13:36.360 Yeah.

00:13:36.580 The free and liberal exchange of ideas.

00:13:39.340 The marketplace of ideas where you spar with each other.

00:13:43.620 Iron sharpens iron, as the book says.

00:13:46.960 Although I think we're probably reaching to a bunch of atheists anyway.

00:13:52.260 Now, moving on from that, what exactly do these people want?

00:13:57.860 I know they want a divestment from the state of Israel.

00:14:03.740 But what else do they hope to achieve?

00:14:06.420 And how does this end?

00:14:07.960 I realize the university is private property.

00:14:09.960 I guess it's up to the university to do something about this.

00:14:12.120 And they seem pretty unwilling, actually.

00:14:14.200 Yeah, there's no question.

00:14:15.920 At least as of now, there's zero willingness to enforce the university's own stated position that these encampments are not to be permitted and will be tolerated.

00:14:24.820 So, again, it's sort of an issue of intimidation from the side of the protesters against the university's administration.

00:14:29.580 They're not willing to do whatever is required to enforce their own stated standard.

00:14:33.220 As far as one more thing about the vibe of the protest, this won't surprise anyone.

00:14:40.280 But understand that there's not a meaningful difference between these sorts of protests and those against so-called climate change, the Me Too thing, the so-called rape culture thing.

00:14:49.980 It's the exact same thing.

00:14:51.220 It's Idle No More.

00:14:52.520 It's Occupy.

00:14:54.020 Thank you.

00:14:54.960 It's all the same people.

00:14:56.120 It just keeps getting barfed up with a new veneer.

00:14:59.480 That's exactly right.

00:15:00.680 It's the same car with a different paint job.

00:15:02.620 I'm so glad you mentioned Occupy Wall Street because that was one of the largest initial iterations of this type of protest that came known to people who I think are probably watching the show.

00:15:14.020 And you'll see it everywhere.

00:15:15.700 It's the same types of people protesting.

00:15:17.120 It's the same messaging.

00:15:17.880 This is the part I wanted to get to, the vibe, the theme, the messaging.

00:15:20.600 There's a lot of this nonsense stuff like, you know, LGBTQ, XYZ, ABC123, you know, queers for Palestine, calls for nonsense ideas like anti-concepts such as social justice. 0.88

00:15:31.420 And it's this...

00:15:33.420 Legalism, anti-culturalism.

00:15:34.500 All of that.

00:15:35.440 All of that.

00:15:36.500 So there's real no meaningful difference between this and all these other left-wing totalitarian flavor protests.

00:15:41.780 The people there, I assume, are in good faith.

00:15:44.340 The students themselves, they really think they're fighting against some sort of genocide.

00:15:47.780 They think they're fighting for human rights.

00:15:49.620 But the overall architecture, the overall organization is just about using whatever's possible to emotionally manipulate vulnerable, ignorant young people to show up to show this sort of presence of human bodies, this presence of force.

00:16:05.220 While the actual purpose, the objective, the core messaging is just about destroying Western civilization.

00:16:12.660 Yes.

00:16:13.560 Yes.

00:16:13.840 And controlling your life as best they can.

00:16:15.880 Now, you recently dropped off a petition to the Immigration Ministry.

00:16:23.680 Yeah.

00:16:24.320 Because if indeed some of these, of Hitler's hobos, are non-citizens in this country, they've got no business, A, breaking the law, or being apologists for terror. 0.84

00:16:38.640 And so they should be kicked out of our country.

00:16:42.400 And you delivered a petition signed by thousands of Canadians to the Immigration Ministry saying as such, because it's one thing to sign a petition.

00:16:51.860 But one of the things that we do here at Rebel News is actually demonstrate to the powers that be, these are the voices of the people that you will not listen to physically manifested on this paper.

00:17:05.980 Please take it.

00:17:06.920 At least acknowledge these people matter.

00:17:09.620 And so you did that.

00:17:11.240 But boy, you had a tough time doing it.

00:17:12.980 Give us a rundown of that. 0.98

00:17:14.540 Yeah, it was actually, I mean, I'll have a sense of humor about it because it was so hilariously pathetic.

00:17:19.280 I went down there with Alexa and with Guillaume, which is awesome to work with them, by the way.

00:17:24.160 And we go to this, you know, massive, ugly, disgusting building, which is the ministry headquarters for, I think, what they call Immigration, Citizenship, and Refugees Canada, in no particular order.

00:17:33.400 I can't remember the order of that.

00:17:34.340 All these alphabet soup bureaucracies.

00:17:36.220 Yeah, just, you know, just gajillions of people walking in and out with their little name tags, like, oh, I'm a government worker, right?

00:17:42.720 And, you know, there's a security gate type thing.

00:17:45.740 You can't really enter the building.

00:17:46.880 I introduce myself to the concierge. 0.58

00:17:48.380 I basically tell them that I want to deliver a petition to whoever can receive it, ideally Mark Miller, who's the minister of this ridiculous department.

00:17:55.380 And, you know, we waited about an hour because they're so busy, right?

00:17:59.020 And they come down with their security guards because we're so threatening, right?

00:18:02.920 And right out the gate, these two, I guess, communications operatives, they're, like, totally just forgettable, unremarkable.

00:18:09.960 I refer to them as generic government drones.

00:18:12.260 There's just gajillions of them in the city.

00:18:13.840 And they come out acrimonious and hostile and say, oh, we're not going to do any interview, before I even introduce myself, like, just come out irritated, agitated, anxious, we're not doing any interviews, we're just here to accept the petition.

00:18:27.280 I guess it took them an hour to contemplate that strategy, right?

00:18:30.060 And I basically just told them, look, I didn't ask for an interview, but that's okay, and here's this petition I basically gave in the background that this is a petition of requesting that people who are non-citizens, foreigners in this country who express support for either designated terrorist groups or mass murder operations carried out by these groups like was seen by Hamas on October 7th of last year, they'd be removed from this country.

00:18:52.680 They don't need to be here.

00:18:54.280 And, yeah, it was just this uncomfortable exchange, at least on their part, again, I'm a grown man, I'm not really intimidated, I don't really get uncomfortable, but you could feel this tension from them, and I almost felt bad for them.

00:19:04.940 How can you not just have a congenial moment?

00:19:07.160 Are you always like this?

00:19:08.120 I mean, there's the littlest bit of disagreement so earth-shattering that you need an hour to prepare, and you got this little, like, script that you prepared about not talking to anyone.

00:19:17.560 And, yeah, one more thing, I'll tell you this also, I don't know if you spoke with Alexa about this, when I was with Alexa earlier.

00:19:22.680 That day, it was maybe an hour prior, hour and a half prior, she went over to Stephen Gilbeau's ministry, that's the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, again, another absurd department that should be abolished, right?

00:19:35.700 They destroy the environment while pretending to protect it.

00:19:38.000 Exactly, just have a parks ministry.

00:19:40.000 Everything else can go.

00:19:42.780 It's ghost hunting, right?

00:19:43.800 Climate change is a ghost hunt, right?

00:19:45.000 Yeah.

00:19:45.400 Chasing the tooth fairy.

00:19:46.600 And she goes in there, and there's this, like, middle-aged white guy there working as a security guard.

00:19:51.140 He's actually employed by the ministries, not just some third-party outsource.

00:19:56.100 And, you know, she's asking the same questions I was an hour and a half later.

00:19:59.880 You know, who can I deliver this to?

00:20:00.900 Here's a petition that, you know, we've developed over Rebel News.

00:20:04.620 We've got signatories.

00:20:05.420 We want to deliver it to Gilbeau, the minister.

00:20:08.100 Is he around?

00:20:08.540 Who can pick it up for him if he's not available?

00:20:10.320 And, again, this guy just shuts down immediately, just like a protester at these Antifa, so-called pro-Palestinian, same attitude.

00:20:18.580 And then there was a time when a bunch of staffers were leaving, maybe five or six of them.

00:20:21.960 So Alexa thought this might be an opportunity to get some remarks from people who clearly work inside this ministry.

00:20:27.040 And she's asking them questions.

00:20:27.880 Of course, the same exact thing.

00:20:29.040 They literally pretend like she's not there.

00:20:30.260 Just, you know, fingers in the ears and look forward. 1.00

00:20:32.920 Just totally pathetic, totally juvenile. 0.93

00:20:34.680 And when we came back to the building just minutes later, the security guard locked the door because Alexa is, oh, so scary. 0.99

00:20:42.860 You know, unreal.

00:20:45.220 There's no need for these people to make it a big deal.

00:20:48.380 That's the part that really irritates me.

00:20:50.760 I've done petition drop-offs.

00:20:52.220 The best one I ever did was, like, the friendliest one, was the Saskatchewan legislature.

00:20:57.400 It was the stop classroom grooming one.

00:20:59.800 And we delivered it to them because they're actually stopping classroom grooming.

00:21:03.120 So it was like a, hey, these are all these people cheering for you to fight on.

00:21:07.740 Don't listen to the media.

00:21:08.740 Don't listen to the activists.

00:21:09.840 Listen to these people.

00:21:11.100 The security guards were like, oh, hi, Sheila.

00:21:13.200 Let me get you an envelope.

00:21:15.760 Awesome.

00:21:16.760 They were so great about it.

00:21:18.440 And then, you know, a couple weeks earlier, I had gone to the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, home of Nillie Kaplan-Murth, crazy lady.

00:21:26.400 And I had a petition there, similarly, fire Nillie. 0.99

00:21:31.440 And I just needed someone to take the friggin' piece of paper. 0.97

00:21:34.960 Like, take the paper. 0.90

00:21:36.240 It's not radioactive.

00:21:37.720 Just take it.

00:21:38.640 Don't make it a big deal.

00:21:39.800 Just take it.

00:21:40.500 Put it on a desk somewhere.

00:21:41.820 That's all I need you to do.

00:21:43.340 No.

00:21:44.360 We can't touch it.

00:21:46.020 We're not going to touch it.

00:21:46.960 Likewise, when I petitioned the YWCA in Regina for having trans activist Faye Johnstone be the keynote speaker at the Women of Distinction Award, I was like, can you just take this and put it on someone's desk?

00:22:00.680 And they're like, can't take it. 0.98

00:22:03.060 It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. 0.99

00:22:05.000 Just take the paper and put it on a desk and walk away. 0.99

00:22:07.380 But, no, they have to treat it like you're going to get radioactive right-wing cooties off the paper.

00:22:13.540 It's so bizarre.

00:22:15.040 They're so fragile.

00:22:15.600 Oh, it's crazy.

00:22:17.360 They turn everything into a confrontation for some reason because they look at us like we're gross and evil, and I look at them like they're wrong.

00:22:25.900 Yeah.

00:22:26.200 I also think, yeah, I suspect I can't read their minds, but I'll just play that role for a moment.

00:22:30.640 I really think it's a high degree of insecurity.

00:22:32.240 And if you're confident in your position, you can have respectful disagreement, but they just freeze up and pretend you're not there.

00:22:38.000 It's just, again, really, really childish. 0.98

00:22:39.460 Well, I think they exist in a bubble where they are told, everybody outside of the bubble who thinks it a little bit differently, they're crazy people. 1.00

00:22:48.140 They're insane. 0.97

00:22:49.020 And so when they are confronted by one of us, acting completely normally and hospitable, by the way, they don't know what to do. 0.93

00:22:56.700 They either they're sort of rattled because we are not that which they have convinced themselves we are.

00:23:02.720 We just are normal and polite, or they're looking at us like we're goblins, so they don't want anything to do with us.

00:23:12.100 It's very strange.

00:23:14.420 I wanted to ask you while I have you, people want to know what's happening down at Coots, because the reason I asked you about Alberta off the top of the show is because you spent a lot of time in Lethbridge covering trials down there.

00:23:28.040 So tell us what's coming up with, I think it's the Coots 4, which is now the Coots 2 trial, right?

00:23:35.400 Yeah.

00:23:35.880 So the Coots 4 were four men initially charged with conspiracy to murder.

00:23:41.220 They're being accused of conspiring to murder RCMP officers.

00:23:44.420 There are two remaining.

00:23:45.700 The two remaining defendants are Chris Carbert and Anthony Olenek.

00:23:49.620 So that it's still in pretrial.

00:23:52.760 And just for those folks that don't know what that means, pretrial is this phase of the trial in which the defense and prosecution negotiate over some of the parameters of how the trial will proceed, sort of arguing and debating over the rules of the game to be determined by the judge as they make their cases, no pun intended, on one side or the other.

00:24:12.660 Whether it includes disputes over evidence, whether this evidence is legitimate or not, whether it's been acquired lawfully, to what degree it has veracity, and maybe some other things regarding the rules of the game.

00:24:23.880 And that's still not concluded.

00:24:26.320 So pretrial will resume, I think it's May 24th, the last week of May, whatever that Monday is.

00:24:32.600 And there are trial dates booked all the way through the month of June.

00:24:36.760 It may not end by June, of course, that's to be determined, but they expect it to be.

00:24:40.480 And with the Coutts three, you know, the leadership, according to the RCMP, that were convicted, found guilty, all three of them of mischief, over $5,000, Alex Van Herc, George Jansen, and Marco Van Hoogenbos, their sentencing is in, if I recall correctly, the end of July.

00:24:59.800 So the jury's already rendered the guilty verdicts for all three men, and now the prosecution and defense teams will make their cases to the judge over how severe or not severe or whatever the sentence will be.

00:25:14.680 Sentences, sorry, plural.

00:25:16.040 Sentences, yeah.

00:25:17.500 What are they potentially facing there?

00:25:19.580 If I recall correctly, the maximum sentence is 10 years in prison, which seems very impossible to believe from lawyers that I've spoken with, given what they understand to be the precedent and the nature of this particular incident.

00:25:34.060 It could also be as light as just community service.

00:25:38.740 So there's a huge range potentially facing these three men.

00:25:44.220 Well, and it's so unpredictable because I didn't think they would be convicted anyway, because, you know, I heard that through testimony that, you know, that even the RCMP weren't even sure that they were actually the leaders.

00:25:57.720 And, but you never know, because look how they're treating Chimera Leach, 50 days in jail on a non-violent mischief charge and a breach, which was not a breach.

00:26:13.300 So, I mean, it's, the courts are so predictable these days.

00:26:16.880 How do people find out more about your coverage of both of these cases?

00:26:20.860 Because you've been there from the very beginning.

00:26:23.420 Well, we've got that website that we've dedicated to these two trials.

00:26:27.940 So, truckertrials.com.

00:26:30.320 We're going to have our information up there.

00:26:32.120 Obviously, the Rebel News website, we're going to put up our stories as they get composed and written and published.

00:26:37.300 And, of course, you know, the meat of our meals, of our media, is video.

00:26:42.460 So, assuming I'll return back to Lethbridge in June, which I anticipate will be the case, that still will be to be determined.

00:26:48.860 There will be the standard format in which I'll do a daily video update on every day of the pretrial and subsequent trial to let the audience know what's going on in terms of the Carbert and Olenek trial.

00:27:01.560 And then in July, when the sentencing continues for the COOTS III, we'll deal with that then.

00:27:07.400 Okay, and before I let you go, I just want you to clear up something surrounding some of your reporting.

00:27:15.560 And it's not bad.

00:27:16.680 Don't worry.

00:27:17.040 I would have told you off camera if you had done something wrong.

00:27:19.940 You're not going to publicly shame me.

00:27:21.320 No, no.

00:27:22.180 But just the publication bans are very difficult for you to report around because if you break a publication ban, guess who goes to jail for contempt of court?

00:27:34.500 You.

00:27:35.380 Just explain to us, like, how difficult and how you really have to dance around the things that you can tell the public.

00:27:42.040 Okay, well, I'll tell you where there's an opportunity and I'll tell you why the publication ban exists.

00:27:46.820 So the rationale behind a publication ban, as stated by one of the judges in the COOTS III trial, but this is a general truth that Ezra Levant also advised me of, and this is sort of a default setting for pretrial hearings in any criminal proceeding.

00:28:01.700 It is stated that the purpose of these publication bans during pretrial is to protect the integrity of the jury pool.

00:28:09.640 You want to ensure that the defendant or defendant's portal, if that's the case, receives or receive a fair trial, meaning that the jurors that are selected to sit in judgment haven't had their minds, let's say, contaminated or predetermined by information that was published by media outlets in regards to pretrial proceedings when some of that information should not have been disclosed.

00:28:34.920 I'll be specific. Imagine a scenario in which law enforcement, the cops, procure or obtain evidence unlawfully.

00:28:43.020 Maybe they didn't have a legitimate search warrant. Maybe they just broke into your house or your car and found this, that, or the other. Maybe they illegally surveilled you.

00:28:49.180 That information is not allowed to be entered into the trial, but if I'm in there observing that and reporting on that, I'm putting that out there into the ecosystem of media, which can then enter the minds of persons who may then be selected to sit in judgment of these defendants or this defendant, and that's unfair.

00:29:05.280 So it's about protecting the integrity of the jury pool. Also, some things that come into question are the veracity of evidence.

00:29:11.840 So evidence may have been obtained, but it's not reliable for one or another reason. Another thing, too, and this is interesting, I can't go into specifics here because this is still a publication ban, but one of the things that can occur in a pretrial is determination of the qualifiability, if that's a word, of proposed subject matter experts.

00:29:31.700 So if the prosecution wants to enter in a particular subject matter expert that, for some reason, may not be legitimate, according to the defense, there's going to be a dispute over the eligibility, the legitimacy of that subject matter expert, and the judge may say, you know what, this subject matter expert is not legitimate for one or another reason.

00:29:50.160 But if I'm reporting on that openly, I'm putting out information that was then deemed to be inadmissible in the actual trial.

00:29:56.740 So that's the purpose of the publication ban. Now, to your primary question, how do I dance around this? Well, look, I've gotten a bit better at this job, thank God, over time.

00:30:05.680 And one thing that I intend to do is to use these opportunities, because that's how I look at them, not just a challenge, as a way to educate the audience about different aspects in general terms regarding the trial, regarding trials in general, that don't violate any publication ban by revealing any specific information during pretrial proceedings.

00:30:25.220 So I hope I can be successful in presenting information to the audience that's both informative and educational. So when they walk away from those news reports, they're smarter.

00:30:33.920 They're more prepared as Canadian citizens to deal with what it's like to be a Canadian.

00:30:38.280 Well, I'm glad you do that. And it's very difficult. I've dealt with reporting on trials where there were really extreme or complicated publication bans.

00:30:46.800 And it is psychologically exhausting to try to pay attention to what the judge is saying and then digest that into a way that the normal people who are laymen can consume while not breaking a publication ban.

00:31:01.940 I think you're doing an excellent job of it, Robert.

00:31:04.040 And I can't wait to see the good job that you do on reporting when we send you back there to cover the trial.

00:31:11.100 Robert, it's a very busy day for both of us. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me on The Gun Show.

00:31:17.580 And we'll have you back on again very soon.

00:31:20.680 Sheila, love being with you. Thanks so much for the kind words and the votes of confidence.

00:31:24.380 And I hope to deliver on that expectation.

00:31:27.220 You will. Thanks, Robert.

00:31:28.320 We'll see you next time.

00:31:58.320 Or if you're watching a free version of the show over on Rumble or on YouTube and you've sat through an ad or you're watching a clip of the show over there, leave me a comment there.

00:32:09.360 I will go sometimes looking for comments over there just so that I have a good mix of what's going on and how you feel about the work that we do here at Rebel News.

00:32:19.660 Now, today's gun show letter is a criticism stuffed in a compliment sandwich, which is, I think, a early 90s human resources practice.

00:32:36.100 And I appreciate it. So I'm going to read it and then I'm going to address it a little bit.

00:32:43.220 So it comes from David and it is appreciation.

00:32:47.640 See, there's the compliment.

00:32:49.280 And here comes the criticism, appreciation, and a suggestion for professionalism.

00:32:58.560 All right.

00:32:59.260 Dear Rebel News team.

00:33:01.360 So this isn't just at me.

00:33:02.500 It's at all of us.

00:33:04.620 Although probably not David Menzies, actually, for once.

00:33:08.740 But we'll get to that in a second.

00:33:11.540 Dear Rebel News team.

00:33:12.380 I hope this message finds you well.

00:33:14.300 I want to express my deep appreciation for the important work you do for Canada.

00:33:19.620 Your dedication to shedding light on crucial issues is truly inspiring.

00:33:23.660 Compliment.

00:33:24.460 I also want to offer a small suggestion.

00:33:27.040 Criticism.

00:33:29.000 I believe that presenting a more professional appearance could enhance the credibility of Rebel News.

00:33:37.340 While I respect individual expression, I think everyone dressing in a more professional manner could help strengthen the trust people have in your reporting.

00:33:48.180 Criticism.

00:33:48.820 Seek compliment.

00:33:49.540 Criticism.

00:33:49.980 We're closing the sandwich here with another little bit of compliment.

00:33:55.420 Thank you again for your commitment to truth and justice.

00:33:57.680 I look forward to continuing to support Rebel News as you strive to make a positive impact in our country.

00:34:02.680 Best regards.

00:34:04.360 David.

00:34:05.900 Well, David, I take your criticism.

00:34:09.780 I will say that your criticism excludes my friend David Menzies because he is always a dapper, dapper man out there on the streets.

00:34:17.800 And when he dresses that way, because he's a bit of an old school journalist, he looks great.

00:34:26.060 But the problem is when you wander into a protest looking like David Menzies top hat and all, you can be a bit of a heat score for the police and other protesters.

00:34:37.360 Right.

00:34:38.960 So there's some ups and downs to that.

00:34:43.540 Now, when I fill in for Ezra, you might notice I dress a certain way because Ezra dresses a certain way when he hosts his show.

00:34:50.100 So I try to set aside my Sheila vibe and respect the level of professionalism in personal comportment that Ezra has on the Ezra LeVant show.

00:35:03.180 Now, if I'm out on the streets, I look the way I normally do in real life when I'm doing journalism.

00:35:11.040 And for example, if I'm down at the billboard on Highway 2, standing in a farmer's field to bring you the news of another 47 linear feet of freedom being unveiled to 1.3 million monthly impressions, you might catch me looking even more so like I normally do.

00:35:32.700 Because aside from being a journalist, I live on a working farm and I think how I look reflects that.

00:35:43.620 Now, we do expect our journalists to dress according to the story that they're covering.

00:35:53.040 For example, if you're going to court to cover a court case, look nice.

00:35:56.740 Look the way you should in a courtroom and give the court the respect it deserves by putting yourself together accordingly.

00:36:09.140 Great.

00:36:10.040 If we are going to fancy events, we always look the part.

00:36:13.880 Or at least I advise our journalists to look the part.

00:36:16.740 I do my best to do that myself.

00:36:18.120 But one of the things that we do here at Rebel News is that we try to be news for the normal people and we don't have a budget for wardrobe like they have at the CBC.

00:36:36.680 I wear our Rebel News merch because I wear our Rebel News merch in real life and I want to show you how great it looks.

00:36:43.380 I've washed this sweatshirt a million times and it looks as good as it ever has.

00:36:49.820 If you want one, just go to rebelistore.com and get yours today.

00:36:54.080 But I think it makes us more relatable when we talk about the issues that you care about and we look the same way that you do.

00:37:04.840 Because we are normal people too.

00:37:07.760 I'm not a classically trained journalist, thank God.

00:37:11.280 But I'm just an intellectually curious middle-aged woman with three kids and a farm.

00:37:17.400 And so the way I look reflects that and the stories I cover reflect that.

00:37:24.160 And I think that's what sets us aside from the mainstream media but also some of our peers in conservative media.

00:37:33.180 We are just down-to-earth regular people who fell into journalism because we saw, you know, a gap to be filled by us.

00:37:46.700 And if not us, then who would do this work?

00:37:50.500 So I take your criticism, but I'll tell you why I look the way I do.

00:37:57.420 Maybe you want to look the same way I do.

00:37:59.180 So you could.

00:38:00.620 Just go to rebelistore.com and pick up some merch today.

00:38:04.100 Use the coupon code SHEILA10 for a 10% discount.

00:38:07.840 Well, everybody, that's the show for today.

00:38:10.240 As always, thank you so much for tuning in.

00:38:12.060 And thanks to everybody who works behind the scenes to put the show together for you.

00:38:14.780 And as I always say at the end of every single show, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

Rebel News Podcast - May 09, 2024

SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ University of Ottawa's pro-Hamas squatters can't answer questions

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