Montreal protests: Police Brotherhood wants to force protesters to reveal their faces

Published by: TVA Nouvelles
Published on: November 29, 2024

he president of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, Yves Francoeur, declared Friday on TVA Nouvelles that he is mandating his lawyers to find legal ways to force demonstrators to reveal their faces, describing the situation as unacceptable.

“Yes, citizens have the right to demonstrate, but why would someone need to cover their face, if it is not to do bad things?”, declared Mr. Francoeur. Moreover, his public comments come a week to the day after a demonstration against NATO that degenerated downtown.

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human rights

Masking is a right

Published November 19, 2024

Published by: The Peak
Published on: November 19, 2024
By Abigail Streifel

Content warning: brief mentions of genocide.

We’re still in a pandemic nearly five years after the first outbreak of COVID-19, but some places in the US and Canada are criminalizing the use of face masks in public. North Carolina has passed a law that restricts wearing masks, the governor of New York supports similar restrictions, and university campuses in California have enacted policies limiting masks. Here in Canada, people in Toronto have been arrested for wearing masks while protesting. Each of these restrictions seek to stop people from “concealing their identities.” The bans present multiple problems: the first is that they pose a risk to public health, and particularly the safety of disabled people. Second, they specifically target activists protesting against the genocide of Palestinians. Both of these issues are related to the right to keep our communities safe, which should not be questioned.

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California

Despite Covid surge, Los Angeles mayor considers mask ban at protests

Published June 25, 2024

Published by: The Guardian
Published on: June 25, 2024
By Lois Beckett

As Covid cases rise across California, the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass announced that city officials were exploring the legality of wearing masks at demonstrations.

The announcement came as a response to a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Los Angeles synagogue that made international headlines.

Bass, a Democrat, said at a press conference with local Jewish leaders on Monday that she would be seeking “several points of clarity” from the city attorney “around what are the parameters with protests: when permits are needed, whether or not people should be masked, and establishing clear lines of demarcation between what is legal and what is not.”

The move represents a stark reversal from 2020, when public health officials urged protesters to wear masks, and Democratic politicians embraced mask-wearing, while Donald Trump and many Republicans rejected masks and other public health measures.

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British Columbia

Advocacy group calls for stronger COVID-19 measures this fall

Published September 19, 2023

Published by: The Peak
Published on: September 19, 2023
By Michelle Young

On August 28, DoNoHarm BC hosted a protest in front of the Minister of Health, Adrian Dix’s office to call for the return of universal mask protections in healthcare settings. The in-person protest featured 25–30 people, but thousands of postcards were mailed to MLAs as part of a campaign to amplify the experiences of those affected by the removal of masks in healthcare. The event organizers read some of the submitted stories to represent those who could not attend.

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British Columbia

Four months after healthcare mask mandate dropped, a protest calls for its return

Published August 25, 2023

Published by: The Georgia Straight
Published on: August 25, 2023
By V. S. Wells

“It’s now obvious we’ve started a COVID surge with a new variant, right when flu and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] are about to hit. Our healthcare system is on its knees. We have the tools, and we need to use them. Not restoring mask protections to healthcare would be criminal.”

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universal masking

DoNoHarm BC protests the removal of mandatory masks in healthcare settings

Published May 15, 2023

Published by: The Peak
Published on: May 15, 2023
By Michelle Young

All COVID-19 patients (including vaccinated adults and children) are potentially at risk of long-term health damage or death, though some groups are disproportionately affected. These risks multiply with each reinfection.

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British Columbia

DoNoHarm BC to stage a die-in protesting end of hospital mask mandate

Published April 27, 2023

Published by: The Georgia Straight
Published on: April 27, 2023
By V. S. Wells

Getting rid of masking means I can’t safely get the care I need. I need regular follow-up care, and because I’m immunocompromised, getting Covid in hospital is a massive risk… Right now, one of my greatest health risks is accessing medical care.

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Tag: protests