WATCH： Unvaxxed Albertan recalls 'horrific' ordeal returning to Canada at land border
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Summary
In this episode, Melanie Rizdin and Brooke Patterson share their experiences with travel. Melanie shares her story of how she was unable to travel due to a brain tumour and how she managed to get across the US border. Brooke shares her experience with flying across the United States and how it changed her life.
Transcript
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Hello, I'm Melanie Rizdin with the Western Standard. Thanks for joining me.
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And also joining me today is Brooke Patterson. She is a holistic therapist and a manual osteopath.
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And Brooke is a Canadian citizen who recently decided to do some travel.
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Brooke, thanks for joining us and for sharing with us what your experience was.
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First of all, are you comfortable with letting us know, you know, why travel would be difficult for you?
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Yeah, so thanks for having me to share my story.
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I think there are so many others that would like to share theirs as well,
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but they don't have a story to tell because they're not allowed to go anywhere.
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Um, my personal reasons, which I will share, which are really nobody's business,
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um, is that I did have a brain tumor years ago and I just don't, I, I, I don't feel that this is best for me.
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And, uh, so yeah, so I, my mental health was declining rapidly over the past little while.
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And I used to travel quite a bit and I, I am aware that that's a privilege to be able to do that,
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but I, I was able to, and being told that I couldn't, I, I was kind of going, just feeling so incredibly trapped.
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As I'm sure, uh, quite a few Canadians, uh, who are in a similar situation, unable to travel feel.
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And, and really, uh, you know, so my story, yes, I have made that choice.
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There are people who might treat, who have been vaccinated either with one vaccine
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and have had severe reactions and they are also not able to travel.
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So he was actually in the States for work and I, uh, we had talked about it cause he had wanted me to
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either join him on a trip or something and was seeing sort of my mental health decline
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So, um, we talked about it, but I just woke up one morning and decided I'm going.
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So I packed my bags, put some bathing suits in my bag and beach wear.
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And I traveled down to, I drove down to a U S border and handed them my passport.
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I, I figured if I got turned around, I would get turned around.
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But the fact that I had made it through and I was such ease, I was sort of euphoric.
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I was trying not to pin the, the pedal to the metal and just fly and go, I'm free.
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So I decided I was just, I was, I phoned him and said, I'm here.
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And, uh, so he was, he was pretty shocked, but excited.
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And, um, man, that, that feeling, I had no idea how trapped I felt until I had experienced
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And so you met up with your husband, um, and traveled through different States or did
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No, I, I landed in, uh, Montana and then flew to, uh, Florida, spent a week there and
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you're kind of going as we go and, and just had the most remarkable, remarkable time.
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And I remember even the day that I had sort of arrived, even after a few hours, I felt
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like I could have gone home and felt, uh, some reprieve, um, of just having to just having
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And it really wasn't, it was just that it's not a constant thing hovering over your head
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Well, I was going to ask, like, so what were you seeing in Montana?
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We actually met a doctor down there who was, uh, met him sort of along the beach and he
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was actually from Ottawa and, um, you know, got into a little discussion about things.
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And, you know, my husband and daughter were traveling to Paris for her graduation and I
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And he kind of asked why, and I skirted around the issue and finally said, well, I'm, I've
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And I have literally lost friends of 14 years over that exact discussion.
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I have lost family over that exact interaction and to have a perfect strangers go, and he's
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I, uh, an ER doctor, uh, an anesthesiologist, he just said, oh, whatever.
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Like it was so bizarre, it was hard for me to make sense in my brain of what one reality
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A full two weeks when I sort of came back across the border.
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And then I was like, oh no, it was actually two weeks.
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And so when you came back, uh, what were your thoughts?
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What were you, you know, were you worried, were you worried that you were going to have
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Um, I, I was prepared, uh, for some of the questioning that would be asked.
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I, I, and you know, I, I fully admit I could have made my process easier, but there is, I
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and Agassi spoke a few weeks ago, there is what is right and what is legal.
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And so I chose for myself to do what is right, to have my integrity intact at the end of the
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And so you got to the border, uh, what happened?
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So I got to the border and, um, you know, they asked sort of the usual questions, where
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And, and I, and I was just curious, I said, you know, I'm just curious when other people
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are coming across the border, do you ask them where they've been for the past few weeks?
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And I said, oh, so I'm just, you know, why, why does that matter to you?
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And he said, well, I need to decide if I investigate you further.
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It's just, it's funny to me that you're asking the Canadian citizen where I've been when you're
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not asking perfect strangers who don't pay taxes in our country.
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And he, I think at that point he was like, oh no.
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And, and so I'm assuming at this point you had disclosed and it was known that you were
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not vaccinated and you had left the country and we're coming back.
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And I said, yes, because I am against other things.
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And then I said, I said to him, I said, look, I, I actually, I don't want to play games.
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I said, I know that your specific question is, am I vaccinated against, uh, COVID-19 and no,
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And he kind of rolled his eyes and he said, okay, well, have you filled in your arrived
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And I said, no, because I don't agree to the terms.
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And he, he kind of, you know, I could tell he was frustrated.
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And, um, at that point he said, uh, you know, do I have any alcohol or cigars or tobacco
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Um, and then he said, I don't suppose you have a negative test.
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And, and I said, no, because on the very back of the negative test, it states that it has
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And he said, okay, well, you're going to need to pull over.
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And he, when he kept asking what my address was, and I said, does, do you need that for
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Since I refused to give it to him, I suppose that would be on the arrive can app.
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Um, but so anyway, so I, I got pulled over and they, they went through my car, um, found
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I think I had 30 and I, I, it really wasn't my main concern because I was expecting there
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to be some issues for me coming back into my country.
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The fact that I was bringing in 30 cigars was really irrelevant to me at that point
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when, you know, you can travel with 50 and I, yes, I didn't claim them.
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So they found those and they were quite excited that they could charge me, uh, for those and,
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um, put a block on, on, uh, my Nexus card and which in hindsight was actually a good thing
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because I said to him, I said, I can't apply for Nexus anyways.
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And I said, look, I had a brain tumor and I'm choosing not to get vaccinated.
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And he said, he kind of shrugged his shoulders and I said, you know, I think what you would
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say to somebody like that is I'm really sorry because I can't travel freely now because I
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have had a personal health issue and now that's affecting my ability to travel.
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And I said, that's, you would say, I'm sorry to hear that.
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So if anything, it might've been a, maybe an opportunity for him to, to question that.
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It's not just doing the right thing all the time.
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So I got, yeah, so I got charged for the cigars.
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Um, and they said, I don't suppose you'll speak to public health.
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And, uh, which I, I didn't have to, but I chose to.
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And, and, you know, he asked me all the questions and I said, I didn't want to give
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He was yelling at me and, you know, you will be, um, find, you will be, uh, you need to
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And if you don't, you will re it was just threat after threat, after threat, how I'm
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And I said, you know, I 10 minutes ago, I wasn't putting anybody at risk across the border.
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It was an hour and a half actually by this point, but you know, previously I wasn't
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putting anybody at risk, but now all of a sudden I'm putting people at risk.
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So he said, you know, you'll receive a test for day one and day eight, you need to leave
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now, or, you know, you'll receive those and you can go.
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So I hung up and, um, the border control, I said, am I free to go?
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Cause I thought that was a lot of work to enter my own country, a lot of stress.
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And I had a moment where I thought I wished I hadn't had that freedom because coming back
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was so horrific, so horrific that it's like them opening up the cage for you to go freely.
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And then you have to come back into the cage and just happily accept it.
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And it was, yeah, it took me a bit to compose myself.
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Now, uh, you had, uh, had told me that you have, uh, or, or that you were sort of pulled
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over again and you have now received some fines.
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So after I kind of stopped and tried to compose myself, I, um, I got pulled over about 30 minutes
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later, I saw a car, a police car stopped on the side of the road, uh, RCMP.
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And I, I kind of knew there were no lights on, it was fully parked.
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So I looked in the rear view mirror, sure enough, the lights went on.
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And, uh, the officer came up and, you know, asked for my information.
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At that point, I was feeling pretty beaten up and frustrated.
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So I was handed to my stuff and he asked me to come out of the car.
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And he said, you know, I'm really sorry to have to do this.
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And he said, I really, I, you know, there was apparently an issue with the border.
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Um, and I have to give you a fine because it's very expensive.
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And he said, you know, I hope one day that police officers don't have to worry about public health
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And that was for not filling an arrive can, I assume it, it just, it says, uh, in contravention
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And he, uh, he did say, please notice on page two, this is how you fight it.
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And he said, most of them are, he said all of the ones that he knows have been thrown out.
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What a waste of, of their, of resources for them to have to deal with this.
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It's, uh, it's definitely putting them, I think in a very compromised position.
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Um, and so you do plan to, to fight the ticket.
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I have registered mail of course, and, um, I've heard nothing.
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Um, I sort of keep it on my fridge and, and part of that is just, you know,
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I didn't realize that, that by doing, by taking my trip and, and sort of living my life freely.
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And, you know, I was posting pictures because, and I sort of thought I might,
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shouldn't have to, I thought I'm living my life.
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I did that for three years after my brain sprout.
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the officer, I wish I would have had the wherewithal to say to the officer at the time
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that I would like for them to start standing up because me as a citizen, one person,
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Well, and there have been, uh, quite a few officers, uh, whether RCMP, police, uh, military that have,
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uh, taken a stand, uh, I think a lot of people are, are torn, uh, needing to provide for their families
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and, you know, be gainfully employed, uh, versus making that stand.
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So I think, again, it puts a lot of people into a very compromised position.
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Have you received any other fines or tickets that you are anticipating or?
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Um, I haven't, nobody checked up on me during quarantine.
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So I have no idea, um, if they would assume that I wasn't, or if they would even check.
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I'm, um, part of the, uh, my concern, when I came back, another friend knows a couple of police
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officers and he said, who did you, who did you, uh, piss off?
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And it's probably a lot of people, but, uh, the officers actually felt that six different
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police officers on six different sort of occasions, felt that somebody that I knew had actually
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reported me to either public health and, and said that, you know, I would be entering without
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proper, you know, quarantine, or I, I'm not, I'm not exactly sure, but the fact that there was some doubt
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as to the fact that it was actually border control phoning public health, I really don't know.
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Mm-hmm. So you feel like the posts that you shared on, on, um, Facebook or social media would
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have, uh, sort of exposed that to somebody who might've reported you?
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Maybe. And, and again, I, I don't know. I have phoned public health. I have phoned the
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privacy commission to, uh, just let them know that I, if that did happen and I did find out that that
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had happened, I would be pursuing that further, but what I didn't anticipate was the amount of, um,
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messages that I got of saying how courageous I was and how thankful people were that I did that
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because it provided them with some hope and that far outweighs whatever that was. And it was hard for
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me. I didn't want to make the story of my, my trip about this ticket. Um, it really was,
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it was about providing hope for people, the psychological effect of being trapped in your
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own country. People fight for that for China, Korea were horrified at that in other countries
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and it's happening right here. And people are not standing up and saying, oh yeah, I don't,
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well, they, they might go, oh yeah, maybe it's not right, but no, it's not right. We, we see it
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in other countries, but we just can't see it right in front of us. For some reason, we think it's a
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privilege and, uh, um, and yes, maybe that is, but it's something that we used to have and now we don't
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have. Well, there are, uh, there are a number of lawsuits that have been brought against the,
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the mandates, uh, against the federal government. Uh, and you know, those are obviously ongoing and
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playing out in the courts. Uh, and of course on Monday we had the vote, uh, in parliament where it, uh,
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it has been extended the, the travel back vaccine mandates have been extended for, uh, at least
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another month, uh, in Canada and hoping to see change. There are many people that like you are,
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are prisoners in their own country. Uh, I received an email the other day from, uh, a Canadian citizen
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who lives in Korea and can't return home because they won't be able to again, leave to return to their
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life in Korea and their work and their job and family. So, uh, it is, it's a, it's a devastating
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situation for many families. And, uh, with the, the ticket you, you received, is there any kind of
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court date on it? Uh, what's, what's next on this for you? I guess I just sit and wait. Um,
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I can't remember what they said if I went, um, yeah, just sort of says wait for their instructions.
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Okay. Uh, so I guess I'll just wait for their instructions, but to your point about people,
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you know, not understanding, we also, you know, I have many friends who would like to travel and
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see their families outside of the country and are worried about how to go about doing that. And
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will they see these people, their family again, whether it's their child who is 20 something living
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in another country, um, whether it's a parent who is sick, even across our own country. Um, this is no
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longer about health and 100% about compliance because I, and the vote on Monday was absolutely
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showed and proved that that is what this is about. This is about politics. This is not about health.
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The fact that our, uh, healthcare system right now has 82% people fully vaccinated in the, in the ICUs
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tells me that this is no longer about health because then we shouldn't be, if everybody gets
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it and can spread it, then clearly this isn't about health. Right. Well, thanks for sharing your
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experience, Brooke. We'll, we'll hopefully you can let me know what ends up coming with the ticket.
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And, uh, if you do end up getting a, uh, a court date, uh, let us know and we'll perhaps follow that and,
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and, uh, see how this ends up playing out for you. Would you do it again?
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Yeah, I would. I, and, you know, the ticket, I, I do believe that they are, let's say fraudulent,
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that, that they're actually not, that it's actually not law. It is a mandate and absolutely I'd do it
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again. That, that break was so incredibly necessary. Absolutely. Yeah. And, uh, I think a lot of people
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would argue too, part of the reason why they are not holding up in court in many circumstances is,
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is the fact that they have been found to the unconstitutional. Very challenging times still
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remain in this country and, uh, and we hope for change soon. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much.