ATHABASCA/BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK - The organizer of the five Enough is Enough anti-COVID-19 measures rallies across the Town and County This Week region now faces $6,000 in fines and says she has “zero intention” of paying them.
Following rallies Feb. 18-20 in Westlock, Athabasca and Barrhead, RCMP handed Westlock-area DJ Benita Pedersen three $1,200 tickets for breaching 73 (1) of the provincial Public Health Act (contravening an order of the Medical Officer of Health), specifically in relation to mass gatherings. Following her rallies in Westlock and Barrhead Feb. 11 and Feb. 18, Pedersen was issued $2,400 in fines.
“I have zero intention of paying any of these. I have not broken any laws,” Pedersen wrote on social media Feb. 25 following the second Westlock rally.
“This emergency health order the province pretends is necessary is unjustified.”
She says she’ll be fighting the tickets with help from the media outlet Rebel News and its Alberta bureau chief Sheila Gunn Reid, who she says help people who have been issued tickets “unfairly.”
“Personally, I have partnered with Rebel News and their legal team. My matter comes up in the last week of April. I will most definitely keep the public posted with regards to how things unfold,” she wrote.
