A Chatham-Kent woman who was accused of organizing anti-lockdown protests last year has been fined after pleading guilty.
Liz Vallee is the first local protester to get penalized for holding an anti-lockdown rally. Vallee was fined $2,000 after pleading guilty Wednesday to violating the Reopening Ontario Act.
Prosecutor Brenda Mercer said Vallee was waiting for a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms decision to come down and defend her right to protest the lockdown, but when it came it wasn't favourable to her cause and she decided to plead guilty.
Vallee was charged with organizing anti-lockdown protests in Chatham on April 17 and 18, 2021, in contravention of the Reopening Ontario Act during the third wave of the pandemic. There were about 30 people at each of the demonstrations during the stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Vallee ran as a local candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in the recent federal election.
Meanwhile, a Wallaceburg woman accused of organizing a protest in Chatham against COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 is waiting for her trial. The case of Laura Myers will be heard in Provincial Offences Court in Blenheim on October 17, 2022. Myers was charged with failing to comply with the Reopening Ontario Act after a protest at Tecumseh Park on November 21, 2020 and a march through the downtown core afterwards. The rally held by the Chatham-Kent Freedom Group was attended by about 100 people.
Chatham-Kent police previously said a ticket was issued because the protest exceeded the 25-person outdoor limit imposed by the province at that time in the pandemic.
Myers could be fined between $10,000 and $100,000 and spend up to one year in jail if she’s convicted.
Principal of the Dresden Private Mennonite School Heinrich Unger is still going through the courts after being charged under the Reopening Ontario Act for allegedly breaking the law and holding a holiday event for parents and students in December of 2020. Neither Unger nor a defence lawyer has shown up to court several times and Prosecutor Mercer said a new summons has been issued for Unger and he will be prosecuted if he doesn't show up this time. His case is up again at the Provincial Offences Court in Blenheim on Wednesday to determine if the new summons has been officially issued.