Police defend two tickets to anti-mask organizers

With some on social media questioning why police didn't ticket more people at a Saturday anti-mask/anti-lockdown rally, police say they had reason to handle it as they did.

“It's not just the rally, but any time we're looking at gatherings or even house parties ... we're looking to identify those that are responsible for either organizing it or own the house and hold those people accountable for having the gathering,” explained Regina Police Service Deputy Chief Dean Rae.

“In this case, we identified two individuals who were responsible for organizing the rally. Those were the two that we felt that were responsible and as being responsible for bringing people together,” he added.

Rae said police were in contact with the Crown prosecutors' office prior to Saturday's event, double-checking they would be proceeding correctly once the selfstyled “Saskatchewan Freedom Rally” rolled into the city. Police also gathered as much information as they could ahead of time so that once the rally began, they knew who the organizers were.

“We believe we had the evidence and the grounds necessary to lay the charges, and we did so,” Rae said.

Some commenters on social media said they believe police should have gone further with ticketing. Rae said that wouldn't have made sense from a practical perspective.

“We're not going to issue tickets to everyone that was in attendance ...,” he said.

“To put that in front of the courts, I think we're likely not doing our due diligence as far as the investigation goes. So we did an investigation and that investigation led us to believe that two individuals were responsible for this, and as a result, we only charged those two. The courts will ultimately decide their guilt or innocence.”

The Saturday rally was held and attended by individuals against COVID-19 restrictions. A similar event was held a week earlier in Saskatoon.

While police in Saskatoon didn't ticket anyone at the time, Regina police handed out the two tickets at $2,800 a piece. Roughly 300 people were estimated to have gathered outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, approximately 10 times the 30-person limit then put on gatherings under the public health order.

Prior to the event, an RPS spokeswoman said police had been in contact with organizers, “to ensure that they are aware of the Public Health Orders.”

Police reported they had a plan in place for Saturday to ensure public safety and said they expected people to follow the rules.

Come Saturday — as at the Saskatoon event — numerous attendees were without masks and were seen to be disobeying social distancing rules.

The rally came on the same day Saskatchewan announced its highest daily death toll of 11 people dead from COVID-19.

Saskatoon- based organizer Mark Friesen — who subsequently posted a video of himself receiving a ticket — said he plans on fighting it in court.

Friesen told the Leader-post the ticket won't dissuade him and that a further rally in Saskatoon is already in the works.