Police On Guard For Thee, a group started in December 2020 by two Ontario police officers, is spearheading the “call to action” to gather interest from law enforcement officers across Canada..“We are a group of active duty and retired police officers who have assembled to create a haven of truth and justice for all members of law enforcement,” founders Const. Chris Vandenbos and Det. Matt Blacklaws say on their website..The founding pair say legislation being imposed in the wake of the pandemic are in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms..Police on Guard has grown to over 1,000 serving and retired law enforcement officers..In June, the group hired Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati and filed a motion in Ontario’s Supreme Court to seek an injunction against provincial COVID-19 regulation..Prime Minister Justin Trudeau then announced in August all federal employees were being mandated to get the vaccine..Within a week of Trudeau’s announcement, three administrators of Police On Guard, including retired officer, Clay Farnsworth, met with Galati to explore bringing forward a legal challenge centring on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms violations as well as employment rights violations..“We met with Rocco to put a campaign together and find out how many people we can round up to join in on an application for a lawsuit,” said Farnsworth in an interview with the Western Standard..“These types of lawsuits are expensive. We’re looking at $10-12 million dollars.”.At one point, more than 2,000 officers were interested in coming on for the application, but once the retainer was determined and set at $1,000 per applicant, “many felt it was too much,” said Farnsworth..“Then when Chrystia Freeland announced two-thirds of federal employees would be exempt, that hurt our numbers,” added Farnsworth referencing the deputy prime minister’s October 7 announcement..Freeland announced a large portion of federal workers would be exempt from the mandates including judges, call centre operators, meat inspectors, park wardens, postal workers, tax auditors, Commons and senate staff, soldiers, sailors and aircrew and members of the public entering federal buildings..“People we had on board from those areas fell off from the challenge,” said Farnsworth..“I know we have collected about 400 retainers so far, but we’ve extended the deadline for people to join the application and challenge these mandates until the end of October.”.Farnsworth said they are open to “any federal employee who wants to challenge these mandates legally,” to join the application they hope to file shortly..Those interested can e-mail fedemployeeslawsuit@protonmail.com.Organizers connected with Galati for a live question and answer period on Friday. The video is available to watch on the Police On Guard website..Melanie Risdon is a reporter for the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
