Bernie Driedger is a primary care paramedic who was issued a $1200 ticket on December 22, 2020, for not wearing a mask while buying a turkey and ham in a small Co-op grocery store in La Crete, Alberta. He was photographed, he believes, by a “nosy out-of-towner going around town taking pictures of La Crete residents and businesses because the majority of people refuse to wear masks.” “I believe the photo was sent in to the provincial snitch line,” he explains. 

Mr. Driedger says he has lost trust in his fellow citizens and has since moved out of the community. He received a three-day suspension from work because of the photograph. “On a personal level, I believe wearing a mask is unnatural, unsanitary, and predominately anti God… I believe it to be symbolic. Wearing a mask shows the world I am easily compliant and am a willing participant in orders unsubstantiated by proper science or reason. This also shows that if I give a little on my convictions here, maybe I will give more in the next rollout of unjust violations of our freedoms,” he explains. 

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 Driedger’s ticket has been withdrawn by the Provincial Crown Prosecutor.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