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LET THEM PLAY: Concerned Calgary Parents Sue City Over Vaccine Passes at Youth Rec Facilities

By Rebel News - January 12, 2022

A group of over four thousand concerned parents and citizens are part of the ‘Free to Play’ group and have been advocating for youth access to recreation.


There have been 20 deaths among those aged 0-19 in Canada attributed to COVID-19, although in many of those cases there were co-morbidities contributing significantly to these deaths.


While each of these cases represents a life lost far too soon, these numbers highlight just how little this illness effects youth compared to older populations. In light of this information, when the Government of Alberta implemented its Restriction Exemption Program, otherwise known as a vaccine passport, it deemed youth recreation facilities, such as hockey arenas, to be out of scope. While we oppose vaccine passports encompassing, the government was at the very least acknowledging the reduced severity of outcomes for minors and emphasizing the importance of recreational activities carrying on for the mental and physical well-being of youth.

The City of Calgary wasn’t about to let the one intelligible part of the provincial vaccine passport stand — it extended the mandated to be all-encompassing in Calgary, which meant that arenas and sports facilities in the city, even those serving youth athletes, would be forced to implement vaccine passports. This meant that unvaccinated parents and youth would have to undergo several weekly tests at their own expense to participate in recreation. For some families this meant a cost of thousands of dollars.


The city's decision divided communities, rendered some unable to afford recreation for their kids and eliminated what was likely, for many youths, the one remaining semblance of normalcy in the world of COVID-19. While youth mental illness, depression and anxiety were skyrocketing, Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek was apparently too blinded by her pro-vaccine rhetoric to look at the wellbeing of these youth holistically.


Children are the least likely segment of the population to be affected by COVID. Since this crisis began, only 20 deaths have been attributed to COVID among those aged 0-19 in Canada. And in many of those cases, comorbidities contributed significantly to the deaths.


While each death is no doubt tragic, these numbers highlight just how little this illness affects youth compared to older populations.


However, youth mental illness, depression, and anxiety have all skyrocketed over the past two years.


Perhaps the glaring reality of this situation was the impetus for Premier Jason Kenney to omit recreation facilities, such as hockey arenas, from his Restriction Exemption Program, Alberta's Orwellian-named vaccine passport system.


Yet Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek was apparently too blinded by her pro-vaccine rhetoric to care.

She extended the mandates, first put in place by former mayor Naheed Nenshi, to be all-encompassing in Calgary.


This meant that arenas and sports facilities in the city, even those serving youth athletes, would be forced to implement vaccine passports.


Kids need to be kids, and when policies begin to undermine their childhoods, parents become political. It's what inspired a group of parents to band together to form a group called "Free to Play" to advocate for youth access to recreation.


And when we heard their story, we agreed to help their legal battle through our civil liberties initiative at FightVaccinePassports.com.


Lawyer Derek From and one of the organizers of Free to Play joined me to discuss this critical legal fight for our kids.


Click here to learn more about this lawsuit and how you can support it.


Why should children have to suffer over a virus that is statistically no worse for them than the common flu?


Our Fight Vaccine Passports initiative is one of the only legal campaigns of its kind in Canada against these draconian health measures, which have turned our country into a full-blown biomedical security state.


If you believe that we should protect the rights of kids to be kids and want to help us fight for youth access to recreation without requiring a vaccine passport, please click here to donate.

Every contribution will go directly towards lawyers working on this case and others like it. Your donation will also qualify for a charitable tax receipt through The Democracy Fund.

Someone has to stand up for these kids. Why not us?


If you want to see kids get back to being kids and want to help fund this lawsuit, please click here to donate to the legal crowdfund or visit FightVaccinePassports.com.

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