Anti COVID-19 restriction rally held in Whitehorse

Friday, 9 April 2021 15:07

By Dylan MacNeil

Erin Giesbrecht poses with a sign at today's rally.

Dozens of people braved the cold and snow, gathering outside of the Yukon Legislative Assembly to protest COVID-19 restrictions and the mandatory wearing of masks.

Erin Giesbrecht is one of the people who attended today’s rally. She says her grandfather was isolated at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta.

“I watched my elderly grandparents get locked up in a hospital where my grandfather actually contracted the virus. He died alone because of the restrictions, nobody was allowed to be with him and my grandmother who is very old and suffering from dementia was sent home by herself to isolate for 14 days. So, in my world, this is inhumane.” Says Giesbrecht.

I spoke to a person named Joe who didn’t want to give me their last name. Joe says the rally is to protest COVID-19 rules and regulations and vaccinations because they are a violation of human rights.

“Putting masks on children, okay, is a crime. Alright? It’s social engineering of the youngest, most influential - okay, you’re eight years old in school and you don’t want to wear your mask, you’re going to get punished for it. Do you think that’s right?” Says Joe.

At yesterday’s COVID update, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Hanley was asked for his thoughts on the anti-restriction movement.

“People have to be careful of where they get information from, and there is a lot of misleading information. There’s very misleading information about vaccine and vaccine effectiveness. There’s misleading information about lab testing and reliability of lab tests. There’s misinformation even about perceptions of whether the pandemic exists or not.” Says Dr. Hanley.

“We’re under a state of emergency continuously. Another three months just recently. Why? Is there actually an emergency?” Says Joe.

Back at the rally Joe went on to criticize Dr. Hanley.

“This guy Hanley, who elected Hanley? Personally, I’ve met Hanley on a flight to Vancouver. I followed the H1N1 fraud. I sat down, I wanted to talk to him about it. He shut me down. He wouldn’t even discuss it, so, he’s not a very open person.” Says Joe.

Giesbrecht says when it comes to COVID-19, she has more questions than answers.

“I really don’t believe that masks are helping anyone. If you’re looking at Texas right now, they’ve been unlocked for almost a month and their cases are at a record low. So, if it is scientific that, you know, without a mask we’re going to have larger numbers, then why is it not happening there? I don’t know the answer but that’s what I’m saying, we have questions that are going unanswered and it’s affecting so many Canadians. So, it’s important that we start asking questions and demand that our democracy returns and that appointed officials are no longer calling the shots.” Says Giesbrecht.

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