Mr. Bernier was arrested early this afternoon after speaking at a freedom rally in St.-Pierre-Jolys, a small village 57 kilometres south of Winnipeg. Reportedly, less than 15 people were in attendance. RCMP officers stopped the vehicle Mr. Bernier was a passenger in, handcuffed him and detained him.
Mr. Bernier has been speaking across the country against lockdowns calling for a complete end to the lockdowns. He has spoken at freedom rallies in Barrie Ontario, Vancouver, BC., Edmonton, Alberta and now Manitoba.
After more than 15 months of severe restrictions, Manitoba has announced it will “allow” groups of five people to be on public property as of Saturday, June 12, 2021, and five people outdoors on their own private property.
The Manitoba Crown Prosecutor claimed Mr. Bernier, a former cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, is a “flight risk” and demanded $1,000 cash bail. The Crown sought additional conditions that would have violated Mr. Bernier’s freedom of speech, association, and assembly including prohibiting him from communicating online or via social media for the purpose of organizing any protest rallies, posting anything about rallies, or attending any such rallies. The court denied this Crown Prosecutor request.
“Mr. Bernier, who is campaigning in preparation of an anticipated federal election, is obviously entitled to criticize the existinglockdowns and draconian restrictions, and governments which impose them, which have been tyrannically impacting the rights and freedoms of Canadians for 15 months,” says Justice Centre President, John Carpay.
People's Party of Canada spokesperson Martin Masse said in a statement that Mr. Bernier was "wrongfully arrested" on charges that violate his Charter rights. "This isn't about Covid anymore. It's political repression. This is the kind of stuff countries like China and Russia do," Mr. Masse said.
The Justice Centre will represent Mr. Bernier in court at the end of July 2021 to address the two Manitoba covid tickets issued.