Allegations against a Chatham-Kent woman stemming from anti-lockdown protests in April are expected to be resolved soon.
The court case against Liz Vallee, who ran as a local candidate for the People's Party of Canada in the recent federal election, will return to Provincial Offences Court in Blenheim on November 17, 2021 for a resolution meeting. Vallee is charged with organizing anti-lockdown protests in Chatham on April 17 and 18, 2021, in contravention of the Reopening Ontario Act.
Her case was up in court on Tuesday morning, a day after she announced that she and her family are quarantining because of COVID-19. She posted an official public statement on her Facebook page on Monday night to confirm that she, her daughter, and her son have tested positive for the virus and to clear up some rumours spreading through the community.
Vallee said she was forced to come forward because misinformation about her 10-year-old daughter surfaced on a social media forum. She said her daughter notified her on September 18, 2021 that she was stuffed up and sneezing but didn't think anything of it because her daughter has allergies that usually show up in the Spring and Fall.
Vallee said the symptoms were mild but she kept her daughter at home without any contact outside of the family just to be safe. Vallee said it's uncertain where her daughter caught COVID-19 because the only public place she has been in recent weeks is at school.
Vallee said alarms went off when her son woke up with a sore throat on September 22, 2021. She said her daughter and her son tested positive for the virus soon after but her and her husband originally did not. Vallee noted she came down with mild COVID-19 symptoms on September 24, 2021, was retested and tested positive on Sunday, but hasn't been out in public since September 21, 2021.
She said her campaign workers and members of the public should not be worried about being in close contact during their infection period.
Vallee said Chatham-Kent Public Health acted very quickly to notify any close contacts and said she is sorry about this disruption.
"Contrary to what has been insinuated on social media, neither she nor anyone else in my family has had any recent involvement with my previous election campaign," said Vallee. "We apologize for the upheaval that this has caused."
Vallee is worried about her daughter's medical information being released online and about people being afraid to get tested for fear of being abused online.
Vallee concluded her statement by saying that her children have recovered well.