Just over a year ago, B.C.’s Southern Interior made national headlines when a Remembrance Day ceremony in Kelowna quickly went from being a solemn affair to an angry one.
After the ceremony around the cenotaph in City Park ended, a woman with a microphone and loudspeaker began speaking out against COVID-19 health measures that were in place at the time.
In an instant, many in the crowd immediately voiced their displeasure, saying it wasn’t the right time or right place to discuss such things.
Fast forward five months, and police charged Linda Denise Jackson, born in 1965, with a rarely-used offence under the Criminal Code of Canada: Section 176 (3), disturbing order or solemnity of a meeting.
The information (charge document) was sworn on April 12, with police holding a press conference the next day.
Jackson’s first court appearance was May 19. Since then, the file has been in court eight more times, with the latest appearance being on Oct. 31.
The next court date will be Nov. 14 at 1:30 p.m. — more than a year after the incident occurred.
During the press conference, police Insp. Adam MacIntosh said, “Kelowna RCMP officers support a person or group’s right to protest, but, when they choose to willfully interrupt the assembly of citizens at a Remembrance Day ceremony, this is a step too far.”