Messages of support and bible passages cover the windows of JAKK Tuesdays, where the locks have now been changed.
Kingston police and the sheriff’s office arrived at the pub at 5 a.m. Saturday, one day after a court injunction was served, to enforce the Section 22 public health order that required the business comply with provincial mandates or close.
The eviction of JAKK Tuesdays comes after months of openly flouting COVID-19 mandates, which resulted in the business being stripped of its liquor and business licences.
Kelly Hale, the owner of JAKK Tuesdays, failed to respond to an interview request from Global News but took to the podium Sunday as a guest speaker of a protest rally dubbed ‘Fight for Freedom’ by organizers.
“Every one of us here is a warrior and we got to keep this battle going for truth and justice. Just say no,” Kelly Hale said in his speech to supporters at the rally.
Hale, while open, had refused to ask his sports pub patrons for their vaccination status, one of the subjects he touched on while speaking at the rally.
“If a husband and wife go to the same doctor and the husband goes to the doctor and asks for his wife’s personal medical information, what do you think the doctor is going to say to him?” Hale asked the gathered crowd of several hundred at the protest.
“But I’m suppose to ask that information for people to have a bite to eat at my restaurant in freedom. Not on my watch, people, not on my watch.”
KFL&A Public Health released a statement regarding Jakk Tuesdays and the Section 22 order.
“COVID-safety measures, as outlined in the Reopening Ontario Act, are designed to protect people from the spread of COVID-19 and adherence to these measures is an important way of safely operating during the pandemic,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Piotr Oglaza said in the media release.
“J.A.K.K Tuesdays Sports Pub was in contravention of the rules that are designed to protect people from the spread of COVID-19.”
According to KFL&A Public Health, Hale is appealing the Section 22 public health order and it will go before an appeal board at a date still to be determined.