Maxime Bernier, leader and founder of the conservative People’s Party of Canada, was placed under arrest by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for attending a protest against Canada’s highly controversial mask and lockdown policies.
In video footage posted to Twitter on Friday, an officer can been seen approaching Bernier’s vehicle. “If I can get you to step out of the vehicle, I’m going to place you under arrest right now?” the officer declares. “Right now you’re under arrest under the provincial health orders. Okay, so if you can put your hands behind your back and face towards the vehicle? Do you have any weapons or anything on you, sir?”
“Weapon? No, no weapon. Only my words,” Bernier replies. He was then spirited away to the backseat of a police vehicle, and placed under arrest. The PPC leader had been fined by local authorities earlier in the day, and threatened with further fines and arrest if he continued to speak out against lockdown policies.
Our Leader Maxime Bernier was wrongfully arrested this afternoon by the RCMP in St-Pierre-Jolys, Man., for attending rallies with supporters.
-PPC Team pic.twitter.com/sbOpu6RORn— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) June 11, 2021
Breaking: Maxime Bernier arrested by St. Pierre RCMP pic.twitter.com/0V7X4uLTqH
— nicole buffie (@nicbufflin) June 11, 2021
MAD MAX MANITOBA TOUR
Just got another ticket for my presence at the Niverville event, and the officer warned me that I could be arrested if I go to other rallies.
Section 2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; pic.twitter.com/RGAxZUhQZy— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) June 11, 2021
“I received a letter from Mike Leblanc, manager of the Health Protection Unit with the Manitoba Department of Health,” Bernier posted on June 10. “He says I cannot attend rallies and have to self-quarantine at my hotel for the whole duration of my stay. I will not surrender my constitutional rights.”
I received a letter from Mike Leblanc, manager of the Health Protection Unit with the Manitoba Department of Health.
He says I cannot attend rallies and have to self-quarantine at my hotel for the whole duration of my stay.
I will not surrender my constitutional rights. pic.twitter.com/CD8iq0sEBg
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) June 10, 2021
“Please note that Mr. Bernier does not have access to his smartphone while in jail,” PPC officials posted from Bernier’s account. “We have had no contact with him since his arrest. He has only spoken to his lawyer.”
“The arrest and detention of Mr. Bernier for supposed health offences’ is an exclamation point on the continued outrageous oppression of Manitobans by the Pallister government,” the president of the legal firm representing Bernier said on Friday. “Few, if any, other places on the planet are still locked down as tyrannically as Manitoba.”