Thorold city councillor Jim Handley says it was the harm of the lockdowns that he has been seeing, and the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that made him join hundreds of protesters in St Catharines who despite the Ontario-wide stay-at-home order gathered in St Catharines on Saturday to protest the restrictions.
Speaking to ThoroldToday.ca after the march, Handley said he was there representing himself as a private person, and not a councillor, and that he was standing up against restrictions on small businesses, as well as the negative effects the lockdowns are having on Canadians.
"I am a Canadian. I have a right to assemble, and I am doing my own research on this. I don't just make up my mind because someone tells me to," Handley said.
He said the lockdowns have brought more harm than good through mental health implications, drug overdoses, and suicide, and that the decisions surrounding the lockdowns are resting on a thin scientific basis.
Despite several protesters in Saturday's march donned signs with anti-vaccine and anti-mask slogans, Handley said he believes COVID-19 exists.
"There is a virus out there, and I believe that. I just think they are blowing it way out of proportion."
He said some of the restrictions, brought forward by a Section 22-order from Niagara Region's acting medical officer of health, 'shouldn't have been made by an unelected official,' and that the march was an important expression for the frustrations of many low-income individuals who are harder hit by loss of income and social interaction.
Handley said that while he will be getting vaccinated, which he sees as his duty as a civil servant and frequent traveler, he believes that alternative medicine and supplementation with things like Vitamin D plays a much larger role in managing the symptoms of the virus, and builds resistance. Asked how he viewed the march organizer's prior attempts of keeping her barbershop open by operating as a film studio, which under the previous restrictions was still allowed to stay open under special health measures, Handley said they were only using a legitimate loophole in the law.
"They are exercising their rights. It is a loophole in the law, and they are using it. Other businesses are doing it too. The bottom line is that you can't take away someone's freedoms and rights."
Handley said if a similar case would become a council matter in Thorold, he would have to look at it on a case-by-case basis.
What his fellow councillors would think about his attendance at the protest, he didn't really worry about.
"I don't have any support from there anyway."
Asked what he thought about some of the signage at the protest, implying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau through the pandemic response is only doing China's bidding, turning Canada into a communist state, Handley said;
"This is Canada, but if we keep going like this, we will be a communist country eventually."
ThoroldToday.ca was not able to obtain comment from Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini on Handley's participation.
At the protest was also West Lincoln Mayor and regional councillor Dave Bylsma, who was invited to speak at the event. St Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said in a statement on Saturday evening that he was 'deeply troubled to see Bylsma speak at the event.
"The fact that he blatantly broke the provincial government's Stay At Home order is a serious breach of his elected position, and I trust that NRP and Public Health will act accordingly," said Bylsma in a written statement.
Don’t allow today’s protest deter all the ppl who are working hard to eradicate #COVID19 fr @St_Catharines. With vaccine rollout ramping up quickly & ppl doing their part we are getting close to putting COVID in the rearview mirror.
— Walter Sendzik (@WSendzik) April 10, 2021
Stay home, stay safe https://t.co/kjmakz14mX pic.twitter.com/XtchJ8NZQh
In recent weeks, Niagara Region Public Health has been ramping up its campaign to convince residents to stay home amid rising numbers of the virus.
You can find the most up-to-date information about COVID-19 in Niagara on the Public Health website.
