Western Standard - LIVE - Calgary Freedom Rally at Calgary Court of Appeal

00:00:00.000 Some lawyers, some doctors, some lawyers, different people.

00:00:16.000 Muslim lawyers just say another law. 1.00

00:00:20.000 It's strange to know that the guy is really important.

00:00:24.000 Good afternoon.

00:00:53.180 It's Melanie Rizdin with the Western Standard.

00:00:56.320 We are in downtown Calgary providing some live coverage of the rallies that are happening in the city today.

00:01:04.120 There were three different groups that were gathering today.

00:01:07.660 The first group was the community solidarity group.

00:01:12.060 And that is generally comprised of the Beltline residents.

00:01:17.380 They had a group meeting in Central Memorial Park today at about noon for a book reading.

00:01:23.180 We started there, and there was no tension at all.

00:01:30.820 Freedom protesters, freedom marchers were not anywhere near Central Memorial Park.

00:01:35.720 So we were there for a bit, just making sure that there was nothing to report, nothing going on,

00:01:42.560 and it was a very peaceful gathering there.

00:01:44.620 So a bit of a police presence there with some of the mountain bike police in the park.

00:01:53.180 But again, nothing happening.

00:01:54.420 So we moved on.

00:01:55.240 We moved to the next group, which gathered at first.

00:01:58.800 At first, it was freedom protesters that gathered at City Hall.

00:02:03.700 However, they made an announcement there once we did arrive

00:02:07.240 that the city had originally put an injunction in place

00:02:12.480 to prevent the protesting and the marches

00:02:15.260 and illegal gathering in parks.

00:02:19.000 They were told originally that they could gather in Olympic Plaza, which is right across the street from City Hall.

00:02:26.660 And then at some point, the organizers were told that they were not allowed to stay and speak and use any kind of amplification devices at Olympic Plaza.

00:02:38.260 So they decided to walk here.

00:02:40.400 We're downtown at the provincial courts.

00:02:43.360 There's a big park here.

00:02:44.600 And so everybody decided to walk down 8th Avenue, Stephen Avenue, and made their way here.

00:02:54.320 We also took some time to have a look at another group that had gathered.

00:02:59.900 And they gathered at Princess Island Park at the main speaker stage there.

00:03:05.360 And we found about 100 to 150 protesters gathered there.

00:03:10.640 They were listening to some speakers, including a couple of doctors, including Dr. Roger Hodkinson.

00:03:17.240 He had spoke there.

00:03:18.980 And again, very peaceful.

00:03:20.540 There was a small contingent of police officers there, perhaps a dozen.

00:03:26.200 Here at the park downtown, there is definitely a stronger presence of police officers,

00:03:32.140 but nothing happening other than some speakers, you know, people gathered.

00:03:37.260 that you know it's it's been it looks very peaceful here we've got we've got quite a few

00:03:43.000 officers at different corners of the park and as we were approaching the park we we found

00:03:48.840 the group of mounted officers on some of the some of the horses so they are sort of circling the

00:03:57.160 park here and it's peaceful there's speakers you know let's let's maybe go and see we'll talk to

00:04:06.360 couple of people here and see why they are uh coming to the park here hey guys hi you guys

00:04:15.480 want to let us know why you're here hi um i'm here because i can't stay at home any longer

00:04:23.080 and uh what's happening in my country is absolutely deplorable and despicable and um

00:04:29.320 i i i like being here the energy is really great there's lots of really awesome people

00:04:34.360 and um it's it's a good place to be can i ask your name i'm hannah how about you why why have

00:04:41.160 you guys decided to come down i'm a political prisoner prisoner in my own country um i am now

00:04:47.000 a criminal because of some guns that i purchased years ago that i have in my possession and i'm

00:04:53.320 here to support the rest of my friends down here legally purchased legally purchased guns yeah

00:04:57.400 legally purchased guns yeah and now i'm a criminal and that's just a start because it's going back for

00:05:04.360 50 60 plus years how about you would you like to say anything um i've been fasting for four days

00:05:11.560 and uh i can hardly talk i think okay well no that's okay that's okay uh yeah i appreciate

00:05:19.720 you guys uh sharing why you're here and why this matters to you uh have you been to any others i've

00:05:25.560 been coming to protests for two years ever and and have you so so uh understandably the groups

00:05:33.560 are meeting in another place today uh i would assume out of respect for the residents that were

00:05:39.720 were not wanting to have marches through their community um but what would you say about the idea

00:05:46.280 that there was some some hostility uh behind the the protests or the gatherings and the rallies

00:05:54.360 over the last few months i think a lot of people are lying about why we're here and what we're

00:05:59.640 doing a lot of people are slandering our our presence and what saying that we're

00:06:06.480 doing a whole bunch of things that we're not there have been some counter

00:06:09.960 protesters who in my personal opinion have been very almost violent sometimes

00:06:17.820 and you know they saying lots of mean things shouting causing lots of problems

00:06:23.220 and unfortunately mainstream media and a lot of people they focus on that and

00:06:29.160 And it's really sad because there hasn't been any conflict really until a couple of weeks ago our city councilors started saying lies about us.

00:06:44.080 So it's really, we're going where we can and we won't go home.

00:06:52.120 We're not going to stop until the mandates stop.

00:06:55.880 Yeah, fair enough.

00:06:56.820 Okay.

00:06:56.980 This time last year, I was called a racist misogynist for simply going to a rodeo by both the premier and the mayor of the city at the time.

00:07:07.340 Yeah, that's that's where we're at.

00:07:09.040 Yeah, there's been a lot of divisive talk from even leaders in the country that I think have, you know, caused, have contributed to some of the divisive nature of them and us or us and them kind of a kind of an idea, which is it's unfortunate.

00:07:31.520 You're like, do you do you guys have any idea whether this is going to go to Central Memorial Park at all?

00:07:37.780 I don't know for sure. I know that today this park is actually a provincial park.

00:07:43.020 So it's technically not City of Calgary jurisdiction and that's one of the

00:07:47.740 reasons why we came here but we were we actually started at Olympic Plaza and

00:07:51.520 then marched over here. I'm not sure where it's gonna go from here. Personally

00:07:54.960 I think being at the War Memorial was a beautiful juxtaposition on what was

00:08:02.020 actually going on in our country right now. And if we have to go to a provincial

00:08:06.640 park here then that's where we need to go at least at least there's still some people like

00:08:11.120 you guys who are recording this and letting us be heard well and i think that's our goal we uh we

00:08:16.940 want balanced uh honest coverage so that's what we're what we're doing so thank you very much for

00:08:23.580 for sharing why you guys are here much appreciated yeah thank you all right let's see uh got a couple

00:08:31.180 other people we're here hi guys uh you guys want to talk with us and let us know why you're here

00:08:40.700 so yeah i'm here just because i think that we need to be more involved i think as citizens

00:08:47.980 personally i think this is partially our fault and we need to make sure that we're getting more

00:08:51.900 involved making our voices heard we need to become more sophisticated right and how we get involved

00:08:58.300 so that, you know, our politicians can't continue to just lean on us

00:09:04.760 and pass all these rules that we don't agree with.

00:09:07.360 So I think it's really important for us to start raising our game,

00:09:12.260 to make sure that we're involved, to get to know how the game's played

00:09:16.340 and start, you know, becoming players in the game

00:09:19.360 so that we can, you know, fight for freedoms for everyone

00:09:22.560 and for my family and stuff.

00:09:24.460 So me personally, I'm here because I've got five kids, right?

00:09:28.300 uh i like how i was raised i don't you know think that telling everyone how they should have to live

00:09:35.220 is right and you know i want my kids to be able to have that kind of freedom so that's why i'm here

00:09:41.640 uh can i ask your name smiles thanks um okay that's all right okay thanks for sharing thanks

00:09:51.720 have you been to many of the rallies i've been to a few yes yeah yeah and would you say that you

00:09:57.980 have seen uh you know any kind of violence or any kind of aggressive behavior um when you come out

00:10:05.160 to these i mean it happens where some people get upset and i mean there's sometimes people saying

00:10:11.800 things that to the police that maybe they're not happy about uh which i can understand uh but for

00:10:18.760 the most part no like that's the worst that happens is people being upset uh i've never seen

00:10:24.420 anyone try and do a violent act and like i said i've been to a few of these and i haven't seen

00:10:29.100 that so the vast majority is the black lives matter and antifa people that's what that's the

00:10:34.980 violence that i see so uh do you want to speak to that at all or all right do you want to speak to

00:10:43.160 that i mean yeah so i've been to a few protests where you know they have come after people uh

00:10:49.760 You know, I've had to, you know, drag someone out of a fight, right?

00:10:54.200 Because I do believe that peace is the best way through this, right?

00:10:58.520 To show that we're above the fray.

00:11:01.000 But yeah, like, they do everything they can to, you know, I mean, if any hate's really going on, 99% of that's coming from them.

00:11:11.220 And just say them, just like who you're...

00:11:13.820 like the counter protesters, whether it's BLM or Antifa, you know,

00:11:18.320 they're telling us to go home, shut up, like, you know,

00:11:21.480 all kinds of swears and stuff like that, which, again, for the most part,

00:11:26.300 you know, most of these flags aren't, that you see are mostly Canadian flags.

00:11:30.540 There isn't a whole ton of, like, anger.

00:11:33.260 And a lot of people are upset, like, rightfully,

00:11:36.540 but for the most part, people are being pretty good.

00:11:39.620 We've been being pushed around for the last two years.

00:11:41.740 I think it's reasonable that people might be upset so can I ask you guys your thoughts on

00:11:49.340 some of the stance of this being white supremacist behavior I mean I'd like to hear from you if I 0.83

00:11:56.600 could I mean again so I do have a little bit of color in me and I do think that it's ridiculous

00:12:05.840 that just because you know i would like to stand up for freedoms that somehow you know i'm a white

00:12:12.320 supremacist or a slave to white supremacy uh i mean is it possible that there's a couple of

00:12:19.020 white supremacists sure there's probably a couple of bad people in any large group of people but to

00:12:25.760 for politicians like courtney walcott to come out and call us all you know supremacists and this has

00:12:32.440 the the undertones of white supremacy to me is incitement and he needs to be held accountable

00:12:39.880 i think he's been the worst city councilor that we have for that what he has done is not he hasn't

00:12:46.440 de-escalated at all he's escalated right and i think that's atrocious yeah we um yeah we've seen

00:12:55.080 we've seen that we've we've uh we've tried to speak to some of the the beltline residents and

00:13:01.240 And I'll say that we were able to speak to residents, but some of the people that are in that group seem to have a very strong message against, you know, what we're doing here.

00:13:12.400 And it seems that it's representing something that it's not from what we've witnessed.

00:13:21.960 Yeah, I mean, I think when you've divided our society the way we have, we can't have conversations.

00:13:29.260 and so it degenerates down into name calling and whatever the headlines are so if you don't know

00:13:36.700 what the like what people are actually like you it's really easy to just look at somebody and

00:13:41.620 just see them as your enemy as opposed to trying to see that we have a lot of commonalities

00:13:46.900 right like colors one small difference right uh you know there's so many other things where

00:13:54.080 a small difference whether you're like uh like gay lesbian like that's a small difference right 0.78

00:14:00.440 like fundamentally we're mostly saying we're humans we all bleed when we're cut we cry when

00:14:07.220 we're sad you know and you know i think that if we were able to have those conversations

00:14:12.500 and not be vilified i think a lot more people would realize that we have a lot more in common

00:14:17.600 than we have even in our differences that are supposed to be insurmountable.

00:14:23.080 Yeah, and I think, too, you know, the idea that some of the city councillors

00:14:29.780 made comment about not opening the chambers to hear from freedom protesters,

00:14:36.920 to not give them an opportunity to speak, again, I think just contributes

00:14:42.360 to the feeling or the sentiment that they're not being heard.

00:14:47.600 Yeah, I mean, if we're supposed to be like an inclusive society where everyone gets their voice, I think we need to make sure that we hear voices that even we don't agree with, right?

00:15:00.100 Like, if someone from the other side of me wanted to talk to me, I would definitely have that conversation.

00:15:06.860 I mean, a guy that I have a lot of respect for, and I don't know if he resonates with a lot of people, is Daryl Davis, who is a black person down in the States.

00:15:16.620 He's been on Joe Rogan's podcast, and he has personally converted over 200 KKK members to give up their robes, and he did it just through having conversation and having dialogue with people and being able to show people that hate is not the way, and I think that's absolutely admirable.

00:15:38.080 like he he went and had conversations like he actually was able to get the grand wizard or

00:15:43.300 whatever it is to get rid of his robes to him personally because he had a conversation right

00:15:51.360 and he continued that conversation and even though that member said some pretty hateful

00:15:56.540 things to him he didn't get emotional about it he just made sure to have that conversation and i

00:16:02.240 And because of that, his robes are now with a black man because he doesn't believe that stuff anymore.

00:16:08.840 And that's power of speech.

00:16:10.960 So I think that we have to make sure that we have those conversations.

00:16:15.240 We shouldn't be silencing voices.

00:16:16.980 If someone says something bad about me, that's fine.

00:16:19.860 I'll have a conversation with them.

00:16:22.840 Very good words, good thoughts.

00:16:25.780 Really appreciate you speaking with us.

00:16:27.380 Yes, no problem.

00:16:28.060 Okay.

00:16:28.920 Yeah, you too.

00:16:29.820 all right so yeah we're just um talking to people finding out again why they're here why are they

00:16:38.880 uh still protesting a lot of people say you know the the mandates most of them have been lifted

00:16:44.500 why are we why are we still protesting uh why are you guys still here uh i'm here because i want life

00:16:51.320 to just be back exactly how it was a couple years ago you know um we're moving in a really good

00:16:57.640 direction a lot of mandates are being dropped but i still can't get on a plane i still have to wear

00:17:03.640 a mask at school um different occupations jobs employers still require a vax pass and i don't

00:17:11.640 think anyone should be asked for any of that stuff so uh are you kind of here with this this group

00:17:19.560 here um yeah you're all quite young it's good to see it's good to see that you guys are out here

00:17:24.760 What are you hoping for?

00:17:26.900 Just life as it was.

00:17:29.220 No more mandates, no more division, none of this.

00:17:32.560 We've all, you know, had our careers, our schooling delayed or just thrown off the rails.

00:17:39.580 We've had families torn apart and just wanted to stop because it doesn't have to be this way.

00:17:45.080 We don't have to be so divided and politicized.

00:17:48.080 it's not vaccines are not something that makes you a bad or a good person whether you take it

00:17:55.400 or don't take it it's just your choice you know no one's no one in the world few people try and

00:18:01.460 hurt other people with their decisions we're all just trying to do our best and the best looks

00:18:06.240 different for different people and it should stay that way it shouldn't be a big issue like it's

00:18:10.180 been made out to be. Agreed can I ask you your name? Barrett. Thanks Barrett thanks for talking

00:18:15.120 to us all right yeah it's uh well they've got music playing now uh again uh very peaceful there

00:18:25.720 has uh it doesn't look like there's any any contingent of of uh counter protesters here today

00:18:33.800 and really through all of the uh coverage we've done today uh checking out some of the other

00:18:42.380 gatherings it's all been very peaceful and we're gonna stay

00:19:12.380 uh hi we're just chatting with people and finding out why they're here why are you here

00:19:21.380 well i'm here for i'm pro-freedom free um free choice and whatnot this affects me because me

00:19:29.240 i'm an immigrant to this country and i can't see my family back home in the congo unless i get

00:19:34.080 vaccinated or god forbid something happens to them so i try to remain optimistic that hopefully

00:19:40.940 change comes have you been to many of these uh this would be my second one and uh do you plan

00:19:48.620 to keep coming and until you see change hopefully hopefully i try to remain optimistic and stuff

00:19:56.300 how long have you been here i've been here for about an hour no sorry i mean in canada

00:20:02.060 no that's okay how long have you been in canada 31 years 31 years okay yeah no accent yeah i was

00:20:08.460 gonna say and uh can i grab your name uh manny manny thanks for talking to us manny thanks for

00:20:15.180 for sharing why you're here yeah so a lot of people's again just uh gathering and sharing

00:20:24.380 and talking and uh they've got some music down here uh and i think what we'll do is we'll uh

00:20:30.620 we'll wrap up for now we're gonna stick around for a little bit longer and uh if uh if we get a

00:20:37.340 chance to share a little bit more with you we'll come back live. We have been putting out some

00:20:42.300 updates on some of the other gatherings that we've we've been covering throughout the day on our

00:20:48.300 Twitter feed so you can check that out on Twitter and and we will jump back on and do another live

00:20:55.180 update if we have more information or anything changes with the status here.

Western Standard - March 27, 2022

LIVE - Calgary Freedom Rally at Calgary Court of Appeal

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