Hundreds of anti-COVID-19 lockdown protestors rallied in Regina as activist Chris Sky called for more grassroots resistance against the measures..On Saturday, Sky stood at the war memorial in the middle of Victoria Park, opening his speech with: “So apparently Scott Moe said I’m not welcome in Regina or Saskatchewan. What do you think — am I welcome here?” Sky said to a chorus of cheers. .“Mr. Moe, are you listening?… We’re claiming our right as free people to gather and we’re expressing our free speech. It’s about time we started taking the rest of our rights. The right to open our businesses and to make a living for our families. This is not just a Canadian value, this is an essential component of life in general.”.Days prior, Moe had said Sky, whose real name is Chris Saccoccia, should stay home..“I don’t think this is any time for someone to be travelling halfway across the country to come in and to advocate for Saskatchewan people to be not wearing masks, not following public health orders, and doing it in an area where we have just had the very first few cases of … a bit more of a challenging virus,” Moe said..Regardless, Sky brought his “freedom convoy” to the town of Maple Creek before arriving in Regina. By the time he addressed the Queen City audience, some had been waiting for five hours. He was dressed for as warm a welcome as possible on the chilly evening, wearing a Darian Durant Roughriders jersey..“Cases doesn’t mean anything and 99% of the people don’t end up in a hospital or don’t end up dead. The average age of a COVID death in Canada is in their 80s. Meanwhile, we have an epidemic of overdose. We have an epidemic of other kinds of diseases that are all part of social disruption. And we have people missing surgeries for cancers and heart attacks. Meanwhile, all we’re focusing on is cases, cases. What about jobs lost? What about businesses closed – oh don’t worry. They have universal basic income ready for that,” Sky said to a chorus of boos..“Would you guys rather be able to run your own business, be independent, pay your own bills, or do you want to be dependent on the government?”.Sky’s freedom convoy began in Vancouver April 22 and ends Monday..“I went to Calgary and I saw the fighting spirit of Canada. The beauty industry in Calgary taught me probably the most valuable lesson of this lockdown,” Sky said. .“The first time around, the beauty industry in Calgary fought tooth and nail to avoid those lockdowns. So guess what happened this time around? All of a sudden, the beauty industry was declared essential. Why? Is it because all of a sudden hair and nails became a vital part of human existence? That’s right – because they fought back, they stood their ground.”.Sky spoke emphatically and without notes. He said the government response was more about control than public safety..“It’s complete war, right? The people in Alberta understand it right away. The people in Vancouver understood it. The people in Kelowna didn’t really understand. They have it so easy over there. The only police presence we even saw at the event was two guys on bikes with no masks came by and said, ‘We’re here to make sure you’re safe and be sure you can fight for our freedoms.’ The rest of the country, even in Ontario, now they’re realizing we’re in a fight.”.Sky stood in the same park where Regina council recently removed the statue of John A. MacDonald at the behest of indigenous protestors..“Look what they did to me. How do you put someone on a no fly list, which designates me as a terrorist? Did I come here to blow up this statue or did I come here to tell Canadians that you have rights and you should be free?” said Sky..“We have real world examples like Florida and Texas that show lockdowns not only don’t help, but in fact, they probably hurt. We can’t allow it to call us anti-science, we can’t allow them to call us conspiracy theorists, we can’t allow them to call us anti-maskers or any other derogatory terms. That negates from the fact these lockdowns are causing far more destruction to individual Canadians’ lives than COVID could have ever dreamed of.”.In his 40-minute speech, Sky said Canadians starting to see that governments are not on their side..“People are starting to realize the government is actually trying to hurt me. Oh my God, they’re not my best friend. They’re not here to look after me cradle to grave. They’re actually doing things that are against my own best interest. This is finally dawning on people. And that’s what the government is truly afraid of. And that’s why this movement is so successful because it’s organic, and it’s truthful, and it applies to everyone.”.Lee Trudgeon drove an hour from Caronport, Sask, to bring his wife and two of his children to the rally attended by about 300 people..“I’m here for two major reasons. One is to see Chris Sky. He’s a great personality, I want to see him in real life, see what he has to say. The other is, as a society, we need to come to a point where we say no more of this. No more of these lockdowns,” Trudgeon said..“The only way this ends is when we as a society, we say no more. And this is part of it. … this is why we have to be committed to this one. We need our freedoms. We need them back.”.Trudgeon’s wife, Holly, joined a group that stormed into the mall..“We had a massive group of people all go together in solidarity to the mall without masks and we all stormed the mall and ran to the bathroom and ran back out. It was great,” she said..Sonya Wiebe drove five hours from Lloydminster to attend..“I like to go to one every maybe every month or even every six weeks, because the energy I feel from the people there actually strengthens me. And I feel like when we’re all together here like this, I feel like this collective energy actually has a huge ripple effect,” Wiebe said..Lee Harding is a Western Standard correspondent based in Saskatchewan
Hundreds of anti-COVID-19 lockdown protestors rallied in Regina as activist Chris Sky called for more grassroots resistance against the measures..On Saturday, Sky stood at the war memorial in the middle of Victoria Park, opening his speech with: “So apparently Scott Moe said I’m not welcome in Regina or Saskatchewan. What do you think — am I welcome here?” Sky said to a chorus of cheers. .“Mr. Moe, are you listening?… We’re claiming our right as free people to gather and we’re expressing our free speech. It’s about time we started taking the rest of our rights. The right to open our businesses and to make a living for our families. This is not just a Canadian value, this is an essential component of life in general.”.Days prior, Moe had said Sky, whose real name is Chris Saccoccia, should stay home..“I don’t think this is any time for someone to be travelling halfway across the country to come in and to advocate for Saskatchewan people to be not wearing masks, not following public health orders, and doing it in an area where we have just had the very first few cases of … a bit more of a challenging virus,” Moe said..Regardless, Sky brought his “freedom convoy” to the town of Maple Creek before arriving in Regina. By the time he addressed the Queen City audience, some had been waiting for five hours. He was dressed for as warm a welcome as possible on the chilly evening, wearing a Darian Durant Roughriders jersey..“Cases doesn’t mean anything and 99% of the people don’t end up in a hospital or don’t end up dead. The average age of a COVID death in Canada is in their 80s. Meanwhile, we have an epidemic of overdose. We have an epidemic of other kinds of diseases that are all part of social disruption. And we have people missing surgeries for cancers and heart attacks. Meanwhile, all we’re focusing on is cases, cases. What about jobs lost? What about businesses closed – oh don’t worry. They have universal basic income ready for that,” Sky said to a chorus of boos..“Would you guys rather be able to run your own business, be independent, pay your own bills, or do you want to be dependent on the government?”.Sky’s freedom convoy began in Vancouver April 22 and ends Monday..“I went to Calgary and I saw the fighting spirit of Canada. The beauty industry in Calgary taught me probably the most valuable lesson of this lockdown,” Sky said. .“The first time around, the beauty industry in Calgary fought tooth and nail to avoid those lockdowns. So guess what happened this time around? All of a sudden, the beauty industry was declared essential. Why? Is it because all of a sudden hair and nails became a vital part of human existence? That’s right – because they fought back, they stood their ground.”.Sky spoke emphatically and without notes. He said the government response was more about control than public safety..“It’s complete war, right? The people in Alberta understand it right away. The people in Vancouver understood it. The people in Kelowna didn’t really understand. They have it so easy over there. The only police presence we even saw at the event was two guys on bikes with no masks came by and said, ‘We’re here to make sure you’re safe and be sure you can fight for our freedoms.’ The rest of the country, even in Ontario, now they’re realizing we’re in a fight.”.Sky stood in the same park where Regina council recently removed the statue of John A. MacDonald at the behest of indigenous protestors..“Look what they did to me. How do you put someone on a no fly list, which designates me as a terrorist? Did I come here to blow up this statue or did I come here to tell Canadians that you have rights and you should be free?” said Sky..“We have real world examples like Florida and Texas that show lockdowns not only don’t help, but in fact, they probably hurt. We can’t allow it to call us anti-science, we can’t allow them to call us conspiracy theorists, we can’t allow them to call us anti-maskers or any other derogatory terms. That negates from the fact these lockdowns are causing far more destruction to individual Canadians’ lives than COVID could have ever dreamed of.”.In his 40-minute speech, Sky said Canadians starting to see that governments are not on their side..“People are starting to realize the government is actually trying to hurt me. Oh my God, they’re not my best friend. They’re not here to look after me cradle to grave. They’re actually doing things that are against my own best interest. This is finally dawning on people. And that’s what the government is truly afraid of. And that’s why this movement is so successful because it’s organic, and it’s truthful, and it applies to everyone.”.Lee Trudgeon drove an hour from Caronport, Sask, to bring his wife and two of his children to the rally attended by about 300 people..“I’m here for two major reasons. One is to see Chris Sky. He’s a great personality, I want to see him in real life, see what he has to say. The other is, as a society, we need to come to a point where we say no more of this. No more of these lockdowns,” Trudgeon said..“The only way this ends is when we as a society, we say no more. And this is part of it. … this is why we have to be committed to this one. We need our freedoms. We need them back.”.Trudgeon’s wife, Holly, joined a group that stormed into the mall..“We had a massive group of people all go together in solidarity to the mall without masks and we all stormed the mall and ran to the bathroom and ran back out. It was great,” she said..Sonya Wiebe drove five hours from Lloydminster to attend..“I like to go to one every maybe every month or even every six weeks, because the energy I feel from the people there actually strengthens me. And I feel like when we’re all together here like this, I feel like this collective energy actually has a huge ripple effect,” Wiebe said..Lee Harding is a Western Standard correspondent based in Saskatchewan
