People flocked to Tim Hortons in Oshawa this week to protest Ontario’s new vaccine passport law.
Ontario businesses are now required to apply for their immunization status and at least a few people are not happy with the new rules. There were demonstrations in the streets of the city and in front of hospitals.
And now it looks like people are entering Oshawa restaurants in an attempt to protest.
“We have worked amazingly as a very large group and our leadership has been very helpful,” a protester said in a tweet. “We held on… closed a few Timmies… had two freedom / anti-segregation sit-ins and we gained new supporters.”
The protester, People’s Party of Canada candidate Darryl Mackie, compared his plight to that of the black civil rights movement in the United States.
“It’s our Rosa Parks moment”, Mackie says in the video sitting without a mask in the Oshawa Tim Hortons.
I am here! It’s not funny ! No problem so far … but we must stop the segregation of our society before it begins. Give me freedom or give me death! pic.twitter.com/ka4BAl0DHU
– Darryl Mackie (@DarrylMackiePPC) September 22, 2021
“I choose to sit in the restaurant against the segregation in society that is happening,” he says.
He says staff members asked for his immunization status and he refused to give it.
“Why would I give personal health information to a random stranger?” “
– Darryl Mackie (@DarrylMackiePPC) September 23, 2021
The comparison to Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a separate bus in Montgomery, Alabama, offended many.
“You are not Rosa Parks and this is not segregation”, one person wrote. “Black people couldn’t just get a free vaccine available to everyone that would give them equal rights. And comparing the two situations is not only ignorant, it is offensive to just about everyone.”
Do you seriously compare racial segregation to that?!? Guess what would happen if you didn’t have a shirt or shoes to walk into a restaurant or store?
You would be denied service!
– Scott Johnson (@ bosoxfan1990) September 23, 2021
“It’s not segregation. You made a choice”, one person commented.
Well you can get the death wish you know. People seem to struggle with reality and what to do to get out of it. It has nothing to do with freedoms.
– Vitamin C (@gtamoeb) September 23, 2021
“It’s funny how you equate privileges with human rights, it’s almost like you have no idea what you’re doing”, another wrote.
So do you think that freedom allows all citizens to choose the rules / laws with which we order our society and which they will follow? Is there a limit to all of this or are you just promoting anarchy?
– Toarea Fan 🇨🇦 (@TOareaFan) September 23, 2021
Tim Hortons did not respond to a request for comment, but it appears he finally called the police.
Durham Police later arrested Mackie at Tim Hortons on Thornton Road and charged him with trespassing and not leaving the scene.
