Yesterday, I asked Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister, a question about why the Liberals won’t ban an Iranian terrorist group. It was a fair question about a matter of public interest. Freeland is a public person, and I asked her the question on a public sidewalk outside a public event.
That’s what journalists are supposed to do.
Instead of answering me, she stayed silent, which is her right. But then a swarm of police grabbed me, smashed me against the wall, arrested me, handcuffed me — and accused me of committing assault!
BREAKING: Rebel News reporter David Menzies (@TheMenzoid) was brutally arrested by police after he tried to ask Chrystia Freeland questions.
Visit Rebel News for more on this story: https://t.co/J42ReU1MjY pic.twitter.com/5vgNotnjyy
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 8, 2024
In the end, the Mounty decided to drop the charges against me, and I was allowed to go home. I think they realized that we had filmed the whole thing, and they looked just atrocious.
After I was released, I managed to speak with attendees of the event and ask them about the Liberal’s record on Iran and, for those who saw what happened with my arrest, about what they thought of the police’s behaviour.
The event was a vigil for the victims of the shooting down of Flight PS752 four years ago by the Iranian military. Despite 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents who died when that plane was shot out of the sky, the Liberals have refused to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group. That’s what I was asking Freeland about, how she had the chutzpah to show up at a vigil when her government won’t even recognize the perpetrators of the act.
According to the attendees at the event, the Prime Minister said listing the IRGC was something the government would be looking into implementing, but that led to the question of when. Trudeau and his Liberals have had four years.
But, of course, they are seemingly more concerned with assaulting a member of the free press than dealing with terror regimes.
This isn’t the first time the RCMP has physically attacked me just for asking questions. Two years ago, when I tried to ask Trudeau a question, I was assaulted by his bodyguards, too.
And my colleague, Alexa Lavoie, was actually shot in the leg by an RCMP officer at a peaceful trucker protest in Ottawa.
In every case, we were just doing normal citizen journalism. This has got to stop.
Rebel News has retained Sarah Miller, one of the top young litigators in Canada, to take these bullies to court.
The thing is, suing the government is like “fighting city hall”. They have all the resources, including free lawyers. Well, they’re not free — they just use taxpayer dollars to pay their bills. So, they will surely hire half a dozen of the most expensive lawyers in the country. We’ve seen them do that before.
But just because they have more money than us doesn’t mean they’re right. I think the video evidence in this case is so overwhelming that we’ll be able to win, even with just one lawyer — and Sarah Miller is a very, very good lawyer. (She managed to overturn Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s lockdown conviction in an amazing 3-0 ruling in the Alberta Court of Appeal.)
I think that even the RCMP know they’re in trouble — late today, the RCMP admitted that they were reviewing their officers’ conduct. But we know that the RCMP always whitewashes things for Trudeau. That’s why we need to get in front of a real court — and maybe even in front of a jury of ordinary Canadians.
Tonight, Sarah sent me a copy of her retainer agreement. She’s not cheap. But we need a top-notch lawyer. I think it’s possible that this lawsuit could cost as much as $100,000. That’s enormous; and of course Freeland and the police will probably spend a million dollars fighting us inch by inch.
But I truly believe that we can win if we can get in front of a judge. The video of the police misconduct is just so conclusive.
We don’t take a dime in government money, which is probably why Freeland hates us so much (she can’t control us). But that means we have to ask our viewers for help.
Please help me defend my rights. And the precedent that we set will defend all journalists and, indeed all Canadians.
It shouldn’t be a crime to ask a politician a tough question.