CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Jan. 3, 2021
A group of demonstrators took to the streets of Shawville on Sunday afternoon to protest public health restrictions. More than 50 people turned up to the gathering, travelling the length of Main Street waving signs and voicing their views.
The majority of signs had to do with the closure of small businesses, but others decried restrictions on religious gatherings or lockdowns more generally.
Melinda Hodgins said that there was no sole organizer of the gathering, but that it had emerged from group discussions on social media.
“A lot of us have gotten together on Facebook and we had this general consensus that we were not going to take these lockdowns anymore,” she said.
Hodgins also questioned how . . .
certain items and services had been deemed non-essential.
“I think that whatever they’re deeming non-essential, says who?” she said. “Where does that come from? Non-essential to whom? None of it makes any sense at all. It’s nonsensical and it’s unjust and the people are fed up.”
Jackie McBane also took part in the protest and said that she recently had difficulty replacing her son’s winter jacket after it broke.
“I came out because on the 27th, my son’s jacket broke, his winter coat broke and I went to Canadian Tire and Giant Tiger and they both told me they weren’t allowed to sell me a winter coat for my kid,” she said. “I can’t wait 13 days for my kid’s coat to come in. Luckily I live in the community that I live in and I had a million people message me and … somebody gave my son a winter coat because he didn’t have one, but I couldn’t buy one because it’s non-essential. I think that’s terrible.”
Michaela Corrigan, who is self-employed as an esthetician, said that the sudden imposition of red zone restrictions meant that she had to cancel appointments and go without income over the holidays. She already had to shut down for three months earlier in the pandemic.
“My business is closed because I’ve been declared non-essential,” she said. “So I wasn’t able to work during the first lockdown and I’m not able to work again now.”
Mike Gray, standing with his sign nearby, chimed in that he thought restrictions didn’t make sense in an area like the Pontiac that has had such low case numbers.
“The numbers don’t match what the fear is,” he said. “We’ve been doing really well here for 10 months the way we’ve been going. There’s no reason to change anything, keep going with the protocol that we had and keep us open. Let us work.”
At the last MRC council meeting on Dec. 16, the day before the red zone restrictions came into effect, the mayors passed a resolution expressing their disappointment with the change from the orange zone and how it was implemented. However, officials urged the public to respect the rules over the holiday period.
