A protest was held outside Owen Sound city hall Wednesday afternoon that saw at least 50 people turn up.
They were protesting in opposition to vaccine passports, vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
Flyers that read “Support a free Canada,” were posted around the city Tuesday notifying people about the event.
At the same time as the protest Wednesday, the Province announced it will require proof of vaccination at numerous location including restaurants, (excluding patios, delivery and takeout) nightclubs, banquet halls, gyms and sport facilities, casinos, concert halls, cinemas and a number of other places. It will allow medical exemptions and children who are too young to be vaccinated will be exempt.
Outside City Hall, some protesters’ signs read, “No vaccine passports,” and “CNO and RNAO do NOT speak for all nurses. I am a nurse. I respect patient autonomy.” A man wore a t-shirt that read, “The media is the virus,”
Some expressed fear and mistrust of the vaccines that are being offered to Canadians, while others didn’t want to lose access to various settings.
One protester, Darlene doesn’t believe there is a pandemic, saying, “I’d like to see people turn off the media. Because that’s the only place this pandemic exists.” She also doesn’t trust the vaccine, believes it is an experiment and doesn’t want to get it.
“I don’t know anybody who’s been sick, I don’t know anybody who’s been to the hospital with this. I don’t know anybody who’s been to ICU. I haven’t attended a funeral.”
Another Protester, Paul, is concerned about his son who would be going into 4th year physics in university if restrictions weren’t in place. He says his son was vaccine hesitant and eventually received his first shot, but is strongly opposed to a second dose, “He’s got an A average in physics and he can’t go back to finish his fourth year because of this stupidity. The mandates and the passports and all the nonsense.” Paul says online schooling would be difficult because his son has labs he needs to participate in and the testing option could potentially produce a ‘false positive’ requiring to isolate for two weeks, disrupting that schooling.
Another protester, Esteri says, “It should be my body, my choice.” She says, “They take a little, they take more, they take more. The buck stops here, people. Wake up. I go to a trainer, I don’t know if she’s going to let me in for individual training, but I will not put this into my body.”
Also at the protest was Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound People’s Party of Canada Candidate Anna-Marie Fosbrooke, who had election signs on hand and was speaking to the crowd from the steps of city hall.
There was no visible police presence at the protest.
Meanwhile, the majority of people in Grey Bruce will have access to those venues that the Province says will soon require proof of vaccination.
Medical Officer of Health for Grey Bruce Dr. Ian Arra says around 82 per cent of people in this region have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and about 76 per cent have received two doses.
Arra gave that vaccination statistic on the Open Line show on 560 CFOS on Tuesday morning. He said for those who have not seen anyone die from COVID-19, “I don’t know what you can say to families who lost their loved ones. I have a friend, a physician in London, Ontario and she works on a COVID floor and I don’t know how you can convey this information to her that people didn’t die.”
He noted there have been 22 deaths linked to the virus in Grey Bruce, saying, “This is the result of a tremendous amount of effort and work of experts in case and contact tracing, and healthcare workers and long-term care professionals who protected individuals living there.”
Arra maintains the COVID-19 vaccines available to residents are safe.
Public Health Grey Bruce’s daily COVID-19 report says 225,570 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in this region to date.