[The charges derailed Randy Hillier’s political career. He did not seek re-election. Sure, the charges are dropped, but the threat hung over him and the others for months. The charges and the long delay in dropping them were an ABUSE OF PROCESS, part of the State’s efforts to derail and smash pro-freedom dissent. — Paul Fromm]
Crown drops Covid charges against Derek Sloan, Randy Hillier, and other protestors
Posted On: September 26, 2022
NORFOLK, ONTARIO: The Justice Centre is pleased to announce that the Crown has dropped charges against former MPP Randy Hiller, former MP Derek Sloan, Pastor Heinrich Hildebrandt, and private citizen, Dan Stasko. The four men were allegedly involved in peaceful rallies against Covid measures in June 2021 and were charged with violating public health orders under the Reopening Ontario Act. After negotiations with
After negotiations with Bally Hundal, a lawyer retained by the Justice Centre, the Crown dropped all charges, stating that prosecution was no longer in the public interest.
Ontario has implemented lockdowns since the beginning of the pandemic and placed significant restrictions on the right to peaceful protest. In June 2021, the four men were charged for participating in a peaceful demonstration in Norfolk, Ontario. There were approximately 200-300 people at this outdoor demonstration against the Covid measures implemented by the Ontario government.
Mr. Hillier, Mr. Sloan, Pastor Hildebrandt and Mr. Stasko were concerned with the Covid restrictions – health orders which significantly curtailed the right to peaceful protest. For exercising their Charter rights to assemble peacefully and protest the government measures, they were charged with offences carrying potential fines of $100,000 to each individual as well as up to one year in prison.
“Peaceful demonstration is an essential pillar of a democratic society,” says Justice Centre lawyer Henna Parmar. “Citizens have the right to make their opinions known. We are pleased in this case to hear that the Crown will not proceed with prosecuting citizens who spoke out against harsh government lockdowns.”
Ridiculous procedural excuse to boot Adamson case out of Court
You mean to tell me that his team of topflight lawyers FORGOT ? to put in a Notice of Constitutional Question? ! I hardly think so.
This is only the beginning. The tyrants who have trampled our rights these last 15 months simply don’t want this case to see the light of day.
In November 2020, Skelly’s restaurant in west Toronto became a high-profile flashpoint when he defied orders to close indoor dining to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police, who arrived in large numbers to enforce compliance.
Skelly became an early focus of anti-lockdown anger. He maintains the order and the government’s response were unjustified and unconstitutional.
The city sought a court order restraining Skelly and his company, Adamson Barbecue Limited, from contravening the Reopening Ontario Act, the province’s regulations on what can and cannot be done in the fight against the virus that causes COVID-19.
That restraining order, opposed by Skelly, is what brought the parties to court Monday, but for Skelly, it was about far more than his ability to serve food without government permission.
Supporters gather and barbecue outside Adamson Barbecue on Nov. 27, 2020. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Postmedia
Leading up to Monday’s hearing, Adamson Barbeque’s website was pushing his legal case along with his brisket and short ribs, a court challenge branded the “the BBQ Rebellion.”
“My lawsuit has very little to do with my restaurant. It is a constitutional question of the Reopening Ontario Act, and the evidence (or lack thereof) used to justify it,” Skelly said in a written statement prior to the hearing’s start.
“If this challenge is successful, entrepreneurs can reopen their restaurants, bars, gyms and salons, children can go back to school, and everyone can gather together to celebrate, mourn and worship.”
He refers to it as Canada’s most important constitutional case.
“My lawyers tell me that the courts tend to rule with public opinion. While the tides are turning, the media won’t report any counter-narrative, so much of the public consciousness in Canada is still blanketed by fear. I’ve done the best I can to disseminate this information, the rest is up to us on the big day,” he wrote to supporters.
In response, his case attracted a rush of interest.
People logging in to watch the online hearing quickly exceeded the maximum capacity of 500 long before court started, meaning there wasn’t room for the judge or the province’s lead lawyer to be let into the hearing.
Most observers seemed to be Skelly supporters. One man was wearing a gas mask until the court asked cameras be turned off to reduce broadcast bandwidth. The online names of some observers included Open Ontario, Ontario Stands with Adam, WhoDoYouServe, GoAdamGo, Dr. Freedom, SeeThe Truth and Let’s Go Adam!!!!.
Story continues below https://bf17d5dfbc252b9cabb3b4dfbcd90b72.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
A plea from the court registrar for some to volunteer to leave eventually allowed the judicial participants in, and for the hearing to convene.
Observers didn’t get the fireworks or debate they had hoped for. Instead, they got a muted argument over judicial jurisdiction.
Zachary Green, representing the province of Ontario, argued there was no procedural basis to entertain Skelly’s constitutional objections.
He said Skelly has not embarked on any court application claiming relief against the province, he has only contested Ontario’s motion against him and his restaurant. Green said that violates established rules of procedure.
In court materials, the province said Skelly’s wide objections about the COVID response — called “far-fetched grievances” — far exceed the scope of the government’s action against him, which is only to close his restaurant, when everyone is told to, for health reasons.
“Indeed, they are vexatious,” the government’s court filing says.
Michael Swinwood, representing Skelly, replied that the constitutional element of Skelly’s defence has been clear from the start. If the province objected to his constitutional questions, they should have asked a judge to strike them out of their reply to the court.
“It is straightforward, and we complied with what was asked of us,” Swinwood told court.
Pre-trial procedures, including judicial case management conferences and the examination and cross-examination of expert witnesses, went ahead arguing the wider constitutional issues without any complaint or objection from the province, he said.
“It was always understood to be a notice for constitutional relief,” Swinwood said.
In court materials, Swinwood said the government’s responses to COVID-19 were not based on scientific principles or respect for human rights and are more intrusive than available alternatives.
“The epidemic of fear has ruled people and governments, and not sound scientific analysis,” Skelly’s materials say.
Judge Jasmine Akbarali, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, briefly adjourned court to deliberate before returning with her verdict.
“I regret to say, I do not think I have the jurisdiction to proceed to deal with these issues on their merits today,” she said.
“I do not think the hearing has been constituted in such a way to give me that jurisdiction, and it is in nobody’s interest to go ahead with the two-day hearing that is easily vulnerable on appeal on the basis that I didn’t have jurisdiction.”
Story continues below https://bf17d5dfbc252b9cabb3b4dfbcd90b72.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Article content
Written reasons were to be issued later.
Supporters of Skelly seemed upset with the ruling.
“Bullshit,” said one to the court. “This is injustice,” said another. The hearing was terminated just as many others were unmuting their microphones.
After court, Skelly’s lawyer expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome.
“The courts have no appetite for constitutional challenges to COVID-19 lockdowns and protocols,” Swinwood told National Post.
“Technical procedure is to rule over substance. Our freedoms are in peril and the court refused to take jurisdiction over the matter despite the rules that are designed to be flexible so that serious matters can be heard and not summarily dealt with.
“There is something deeply amiss,” he said.
Green deferred to the Ministry of the Attorney General’s spokesman for comment on the case. The ministry declined to comment, “as this matter is before the court,” said spokesman Brian Gray.
On Twitter, Adamson Barbecue’s branded account has been railing against COVID restrictions and related issues, including vaccinations, which they call “experimental gene therapy.”
The matter is expected to return to court at a later date, once a constitutional application is filed in the court.
Dear Mr. Cooper: Let me get this straight: You want me to “Stand With Doug” and send some money? No way. Doug Ford has presided over the greatest destruction of citizens rights this province has ever seen. Since March, 2020, Doug Ford has vacuumed away the Charter rights of Ontarians to freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, freedom of movement. We have gone through long periods of stay at home orders, a form of house arrest. But the victims have committed no crime, faced no charge, had no trial or an opportunity to defend themselves. They have just been punished.The Ford government has acted as if there were no Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The right to gather and worship, gone or severely restricted. The right to gather with family for meals or worship at Christmas and Easter, gone. Doug Ford closed schools, ruled one business essential and it could stay open with shifting restrictions, but another business must close. Thousands of businesses closed and ruined; tens of thousands of Ontario workers made jobless. Mobility rights, freedom of assembly, freedom to protest stomped on. I believed in the populism of Ford Nation. My belief began to fade when Doug Ford dismissed END THE LOCKDOWN protesters rallying at Queen’s Park, many of them ardent Ford Nation supporters, as “a bunch of yahoos”. I watched as Ontario turned into a police state. A Christian church in Aylmer had been fined over $100,000 for the “crime” of gathering together to worship the Lord. Its Pastor Henry Hildebrandt was conducting a service. His congregation were singing hymns. In strode a sheriff backed up by local police. The congregation was ordered out. The church locks changed by court order. No, this was not North Korea; it was Ford’s Ontario. Oh, and the police had blocked all roads to the church, as if engaged in some drug takedown. Then there was Adamson’s Barbecue in Etobicoke. Owner Adam Skelly made the mistake of thinking he could serve up barbecue to willing customers. Over 100 Metro police and the cavalry descended on the restaurant to drag Mr. Skelly off to jail. The police state goon squad might have suggested a biker’s convention.
On May 23, Hamilton was the scene of something that might have been out of a Monty Python skit. Local police stormed out of a building to slap tickets with hefty fine on peaceful protesters who opposed the lockdown. The insane piece de resistance was the double fining of a rebel reporter. He received a fine under the lying and misnamed “Re-opening Ontario Act” for being in a public gathering of more than five persons. He received a further municipal fine for shaking hands with another consenting adult. Yes, shaking hands in Doug Ford’sOntario is now illegal.
One of the darkest days for civil rights in Ontario was April 16. The government authorized police to pull over pedestrians and motorists and demand that they jusify being away from their home. It sounded like some grade B movie from the 1940s with some surly police agent demanding: “Where are your papers?” What is sandalous is that this was a cabinet decision. Doug Ford and his cabinet had met and discussed this police state measure. Sylvia Jones, a lawyer, had seen no problem with trampling the rights of taxpaying Ontarians and their right to be free from intrusive police checks? True, most police forces announced they would not be making such stops. Good, but it was Doug Ford and his band of freedom thieves who had sought to tighten police state rules on Ontarians. The announcement was walked back a little, but not entirely: Police can stop motorists or pedestrians if they think they’re participating in a public gathering of over five persons.
Ontarians can look with envy at states such as Florida or Texas. There businesses are open, restaurants are open, bars are open. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has FORBIDDEN local governments and school boards from imposing the hated masks on people. Oh, yes, these free states are not cesspools of disease; They have lower infection rates than Ontario, which has groaned under eight months of lockdown tyranny!
And you expect my donation to further enable this tyrant! No way.
Paul FrommDirectorCANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
EOC boss Paul Johnson said bylaw officers were called to a number of private residences and establishments between Christmas Eve and this past weekend to follow up on complaints about gatherings that exceeded the province’s limit of 10 people per indoor setting.
EOC boss Paul Johson said bylaw officers were called to a number of private residences and establishments between Christmas Eve and this past weekend to follow up on complaints about gatherings that exceeded the province’s limit of 10 people per indoor setting.
Hamilton police say they laid charges in connection with an alleged house party on Primrose Avenue in the central lower city on New Year’s Eve.
Const. Jerome Stewart told Global News that a gathering of about 19 people led to the issuing of provincial offence notices following a disturbance call from a nearby resident around 2:a.m. on Jan. 1.
“There was some kind of function going on there that was not a family function,” Stewart said.
“We believe only three people were residents of the home.”
Brantford police say they also handed out a ticket to a 30-year-old on News Year’s Eve in connection to a large gathering at a house in a residential neighbourhood around 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Johnson said the city laid 32 charges under the re-opening Ontario act in Hamilton during the holidays related to inadequate use of face coverings and lack of social distancing.
“We did have some bylaw charges at Waterdown Memorial park for after-hours use,” Johnson said.
Under the Reopening Ontario Act attendees to a gathering deemed “illegal” by police and bylaw officers can face fines of $880, while an organizer of an overcapacity event could be dinged $10,000.
Since Christmas Eve, 14 businesses have seen charges from bylaw officers with eight receiving multiple charges under section 7.0.2 orders.
Johnson characterized the behaviour of those who hosted indoor gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s as “disturbing.”
“These are not cases where something is just amiss for a couple of seconds or somebody didn’t replace somebody at the door for a couple of minutes,” Johnson said.
“We were called to establishments with small gatherings for people, all of which are not allowed under the grey category we’re in,” Johnson said.
One of the businesses charged was a Tim Hortons in Stoney Creek in which 15 staff members gathered for a non-public function.
“It was overcapacity,” said Johnson.
“There were people not wearing masks and there was not the proper social distancing.”
Johnson went on to warn businesses that being closed to the public doesn’t change the enforcement of regulations.
“Simply closing your doors to the public, does not turn that space into an area where social gatherings can occur,” Johnson said.
Hamilton police say they laid charges in connection with an alleged house party on Primrose Avenue in the central lower city on New Year’s Eve.
Const. Jerome Stewart told Global News that a gathering of about 19 people led to the issuing of provincial offence notices following a disturbance call from a nearby resident around 2:a.m. on Jan. 1.
“There was some kind of function going on there that was not a family function,” Stewart said.
“We believe only three people were residents of the home.”
Brantford police say they also handed out a ticket to a 30-year-old on News Year’s Eve in connection to a large gathering at a house in a residential neighbourhood around 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Johnson said the city laid 32 charges under the re-opening Ontario act in Hamilton during the holidays related to inadequate use of face coverings and lack of social distancing.
“We did have some bylaw charges at Waterdown Memorial park for after-hours use,” Johnson said.
Under the Reopening Ontario Act attendees to a gathering deemed “illegal” by police and bylaw officers can face fines of $880, while an organizer of an overcapacity event could be dinged $10,000.
Since Christmas Eve, 14 businesses have seen charges from bylaw officers with eight receiving multiple charges under section 7.0.2 orders.
Johnson characterized the behaviour of those who hosted indoor gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s as “disturbing.”
“These are not cases where something is just amiss for a couple of seconds or somebody didn’t replace somebody at the door for a couple of minutes,” Johnson said.
Police lay charges in weekend church gatherings with 100 alleged unmasked people
Mon., December 28, 2020, 1:25 p.m. EST·1 min read
Police lay charges in weekend church gatherings with 100 alleged unmasked people
WHEATLEY,
Ont. — Police have laid charges after they say large gatherings were
held two days in a row in a Wheatley, Ont., church this weekend.
Chatham-Kent Police say they found more than 100 people without masks inside the church at both times.
Police say a 50-year-old man from Merlin, Ont., was charged over the gathering at on Saturday at the Old Colony Mennonite Church .
They say another man from Merlin was charged over a gathering at the same church the next morning.
Both
men were charged with failing to comply with the Reopening Ontario Act,
which limits religious gatherings to 10 people indoors or outdoors
during lockdown.
Ontario was placed under a province-wide lockdown on Saturday, which will remain in effect for 28 days in southern Ontario.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2020.
© Global News