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“If you tell the truth consistently, trust is automatic” – Former CBC Reporter blasts media coverage during pandemic and Freedom Convoy

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1 year ago

5 minute read

Article submitted by Adele Paul

Former CBC reporter testifies at National Citizen’s Inquiry in Toronto

At the National Citizens Inquiry in Toronto, former CBC reporter Rodney Palmer delivered testimony critical of Canada’s public broadcaster during the COVID-19 crisis. Palmer testified to a series of events that he called engaging in ‘propaganda’ and censorship rather than good faith ‘newsgathering’ at CBC.

The events included an April 4th, 2020, piece from Adrienne Arsenault entitled “How to talk to your family about COVID-19 misinformation” which offered suggestions on how to talk to family members who might falsely suggest the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from a lab. Palmer asserts that there was insufficient evidence at that time to make any definitive claims about the virus’ origin.

Other events of concern to Palmer were the steps taken by the CBC to promote ‘trust’ in journalism since 2021 which include joining international conglomerates including the Trusted News Initiative and the Trust Project, among others, which sought to control the spread of ‘misinformation’. This, according to Palmer, was an attempt to address a March 2021 survey which concluded that half of Canadians polled said they felt journalists intentionally try to mislead them. Palmer was critical of this approach stating, “If you tell the truth consistently, trust is automatic.”

In addition, Palmer testified that CBC actively engaged regularly in censorship. One such event happened in 2021. CBC Marketplace reported over 800 pieces of content to social media giants demanding that they be censored, many of which were subsequently taken down.

Another red flag for Palmer was the public broadcaster’s reporting on early treatment of COVID-19. In fall of 2021, CBC issued a series of stories which reported that ivermectin, a widely administered anti-parasitic drug cited by many medical professionals as a treatment for the disease, was primarily for use in livestock and warned that it could potentially kill or make humans seriously ill. Their reports, he said, failed to include that ivermectin was a nobel-prize winning and widely-used medication for humans and cited in extensive scientific literature as having a therapeutic benefit for COVID-19.

Palmer concluded with some of his own work covering the Freedom Convoy in which he interviewed a number of truck drivers, many of them people of colour, who denounced the notion that the movement was led by racists or white supremacists, a narrative espoused by Canadian politicians including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and bolstered repeatedly by the CBC.

When asked what might be done to improve the prospects for Canadian media, Palmer was reserved. He said they might be forgiven for the exceptions they took early on in the emergency when they acted as a mouthpiece for Public Health when little was known about the virus, but finished by saying “the emergency is over, but the exception still exists.”

The National Citizens Inquiry, a citizen-led initiative aimed at giving voice to citizens regarding Canada’s response to COVID-19, kicked off its second round of testimonies in Toronto Thursday morning. The inquiry launched in Truro on March 16 and will facilitate 8 hearings across the country throughout the spring collecting testimonies from ordinary Canadians and expert witnesses.

From the National Citizens Inquiry Facebook page

Rodney Palmer is an award-winning journalist who has worked for 20 years as a foreign correspondent for CTV news and investigative reporter for CBC Radio & Television in Canada and abroad. He was the CTV News Foreign Correspondent and Bureau Chief in India, China, and the Middle East.
Rodney’s explosive testimony during the NCI #Toronto hearing on day 1 provided evidence as to how #CBC in particular is not conducting newsgathering, they are focusing on propaganda.

 

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Pastor Artur Pawlowski appeals conviction for preaching at Freedom Convoy border protest in 2022

Published on September 13, 2024

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The Alberta pro-freedom pastor’s lawyers pointed out to the Calgary Court of Appeal that he did not ‘incite mischief’ but encouraged peaceful protesting.

Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski is appealing his conviction over a sermon he gave during a Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On September 10th, the Calgary Court of Appeal heard Pawlowski’s case after he was criminally charged for delivering a sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade.

“Pastor Artur did not actually incite mischief,” Pawlowski’s lawyer, Sarah Miller, told the court.

In May 2023, a court found Pawlowski guilty of mischief and breaching a release order for his sermon to the protesters.

Pawlowski is also facing a serious criminal charge of “willfully damaging and destroying essential infrastructure,” which will be ruled upon once a constitutional case brought by his lawyers is heard.

Pawlowski’s conviction stems largely from a sermon he gave in Coutts on February 3, 2022 to a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana.

At the time, he told the large crowd of protesters who had gathered in support of the trucker strike to peacefully “hold the line.”

While Pawlowski’s lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

During the appeal, Miller admitted that there was mischief at the protest but pointed out that Pawlowski was not part of it.

“We’re not saying that there was no mischief afoot. We’re saying it’s not on Pastor Artur,” she said.

Indeed, Pawlowski recently posted his speech on X, formerly known as Twitter, as evidence that he did not incite violence or mischief of any kind.

“Here is again my entire sermon to the truckers delivered by me on private property in a supposedly free and democratic society!” he wrote.

“For those words, the conservative Canadian government locked me up in prison!” he continued. “Please support my fight against this totalitarian regime! I have launched a lawsuit against them, and you can become part of this fight for freedom!!!

“Be blessed and stay strong in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ!” Pawlowski declared.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.

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COVID-19

Canadian who protested COVID measures at bridge blockade wins appeal

Published on September 12, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

The Democracy Fund in a press release said its client Theodorus DeBoer, who had pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of mischief for obstructing traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, has had his criminal record ‘vacated.’

A Canadian man who got a criminal record because he participated in COVID protests in 2022 that blockaded a large border crossing between Canada and the United States has won an appeal with the help of a pro-freedom civil liberties group.

On September 10, the Democracy Fund (TDF) in a press release said its client Theodorus DeBoer, who had pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of mischief for obstructing traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, has had his criminal record “vacated.”

In February of 2022, during the same time the Freedom Convoy was taking place in Ottawa, Canadian and American truckers made a convoy blocking access to the border crossing from Michigan into Windsor, Ontario. The blockade was a sign of solidarity with the freedom movement which was protesting COVID mandates put in place by the federal and provincial governments.

DeBoer took part in the protests, and as part of his original plea deal, the “prosecution agreed to drop the more serious charge of disobeying a court order,” TDF noted. 

TDF said that the prosecutor and the defense also made a “joint submission” regarding DeBoer’s sentencing, “asking the trial judge to discharge DeBoer with conditions as opposed to any sentence that would carry a criminal record.”

However, the trial judge instead took the “unusual step of rejecting the recommendation of the lawyers and imposed a suspended sentence, which involve probation and a criminal record,” said TDF.

According to lawyer Alan Honner, who was retained by TDF to argue DeBoer’s appeal, judges are required to “give way to joint submissions except in rare circumstances where the proposed sentence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute or otherwise be contrary to the public interest.”

After a time, the Appellate Court agreed with Honner’s appeal submission, concurring that the trial judge had indeed made a mistake in applying the wrong legal test.

TDF noted that this “varied the sentence to bring it into conformity with the original joint submission,” and thus DeBoer’s “criminal record was vacated.”

While many Canadians who fought COVID fines, charges, and rules were successful in getting them overturned, others have not been successful.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, a Trudeau-appointed judge recently sentenced two men involved in a 2022 Freedom Convoy-inspired border blockade protest in Coutts, Alberta, to six years in prison.

Also, Canada’s Supreme Court recently decided it will not hear appeals to two high-profile cases brought forth by People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier and former Premier of Newfoundland Brian Peckford. The pair had alleged their “Charter rights” were violated because of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s COVID jab travel mandates, which banned the vaccine-free from flying.  

COVID vaccine mandates, which also came from provincial governments with the support of the federal government, split Canadian society. The mRNA shots have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.

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