Trevor Simpson is a Calgary man who was ticketed $1200 for allegedly not practicing safe social distancing, at a lockdown protest in Calgary on Boxing Day. He says police waited until he was three blocks away from the rally and alone, and was blocked by four Calgary Police Service officers on bicycles. “It was really outlandish to me that they would wait until I was no longer breaking the law to actually fine me!” says Mr. Simpson. “I told the police as they were writing the ticket that it went against my Charter rights and I did not believe the ticket was legal and fair.” 

Mr. Simpson’s ticket has been withdrawn by the Provincial Crown Prosecutor. 

“Public health officials are not the supreme law of the land – the Constitution is,” noted Jay Cameron, Litigation Director for the Justice Centre.  “A significant portion of the arbitrary and confusing public health orders which have so oppressed Canadian society are, on their face, unconstitutional and cannot be justified.  As a result, many of the tickets issued for the supposed violation of such orders will never be prosecuted.  We expect the mass withdrawal of Covid tickets to continue as prosecutors across the country correctly decide to stay charges.”