On Monday, the trial began against the People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier and dozens of protestors charged for an anti-lockdown rally on May 9, 2021, in Saskatoon..The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is representing Bernier and the protestors in a Saskatoon court and they expect the trial to continue for two weeks..The charges stem from a peaceful outdoor protest near the Vimy Memorial in the Kiwanis Park..The protest was against the government for violating Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms..Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) went after the protestors aggressively by posting images of the protestors online and issued dozens of $2,800 summons tickets, 46 individuals were charged..The JCCF lawyers are representing 23 of the defendants, including Bernier, a Saskatchewan freedom advocate Mark Friesen (aka Grizzly Patriot), and Darrell Mills. .Friesen is running in the Saskatchewan provincial by-election in Saskatoon-Meewasin for the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan..On June 29, 2022. JCCF argued a “constitutional challenge” to the Saskatchewan government’s strict restrictions on outdoor protests in the Court of Queen’s Bench (now King’s Bench) on behalf of Mills and a young mother, with the decision pending..Saskatchewan prosecutors continue to pursue anti-lockdown protest charges against even small protests..Only anti-lockdown protestors are being charged with exceeding the 10 to 30 person limits. There were no charges against larger protests such as Black Lives Matter..The JCCF lawyers are defending over a dozen protestors in other trials around Saskatchewan over the next six months..“There is no legal or medical justification for the strict numerical restrictions imposed on outdoor protests in Saskatchewan,” said Marty Moore, a JCCF lawyer. .“Yet, an incredible amount of public resources, including prosecution and court time, has been committed to prosecuting protestors. The targeting of these protestors is not on the basis that their protests were a health risk, but rather because they expressed opposition to the government’s unjustified restrictions on Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms.”.“Not a single transmission of COVID has been associated with an outdoor protest in Saskatchewan, and yet the government continues to go after protestors for exercising their constitutionally-protected freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”
