Freedom rally in Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna in January 2021.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

In the past two-and-a-half years, the organizers of the weekly ‘freedom rallies’ at Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna have never even applied for a permit.

Yet they’ve met every Saturday for all that time – sometimes by the hundreds – with loudspeakers and often with tents set up to sell merchandise.

All of which is illegal, according to the City of Kelowna.

“Our job here is all about ensuring the fair and equitable use of public space for the general public,” Kevin Mead, Kelowna’s bylaw services manager, told iNFOnews.ca. “There is a process by which you can apply for a permit for an event, which provides you with unfettered access to public space, this one being Stuart Park.”

That process was explained to organizers when the rallies first started in response to provincial COVID restrictions.

Not once has anyone applied for a permit.

That being case, the city started issuing tickets which now total about 200.

The majority of those have been appealed and, in 75% of the cases, the appeals have been upheld by a provincially appointed mediator, Mead said.

The city filed for an injunction last week. While the application has been filed, it has yet to be served. Once that happens, those served have 21 days to respond.

Only rally organizer, David Lindsay, is named in the injunction. It also lists unknown persons operating as ‘Common Law Education and Right” along with John Doe and Jane Doe.

READ MORE: City of Kelowna seeks injunction against anti-vax protesters

In addition to holding events without permits, the demonstrators are accused of setting up loudspeakers, erecting tents from which to illegally sell merchandise and for “standing and loitering on public roadways adjacent to the park and Highway 97 and walking in group parades or processions through the park and down roadways.”

While the rallies have drawn hundreds of supporters at times, the attendance has dwindled to 20 to 50 these days, Mead said.

If the injunction is granted, it would ban such events from any park in the city’s downtown core. It would also ban respondents from setting up tents, selling merchandise or creating a nuisance.

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