tank: conservatives' silence on saskatoon mom's ejection troubling
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teri redekop waits outside the gather local market building while she awaits approval from the rcmp to enter the mark carney rally in saskatoon.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
i reacted initially with extreme skepticism toward a social media post claiming a saskatoon woman wearing a transgender rights t-shirt was forcibly removed from a pierre poilievre rally.
it sounded like a hoax to exacerbate existing fears about the conservative party’s attitude toward the lgbtqia2s+ community.
plus an estimated 3,500 people attended the poilievre rally in a warehouse on the outskirts of saskatoon on april 24 and most had smartphones. where was the video? also, what party would remove someone for quietly asserting human rights at a political event? in canada?
surely the negative repercussions would be far worse than the perceived benefit of pandering to social conservatives.
but there was indeed video of teri redekop being led away in handcuffs by police as she tries to explain she registered for the event. the video shows four police officers surrounding redekop as she is handcuffed and led off the property.
redekop wore the same shirt with the words “you will have to go through me” in the colours of the transgender flag to a rally in saskatoon’s riversdale neighbourhood featuring liberal leader mark carney the day before the federal election.
redekop registered for that event, too, but was informed rcmp had placed her on a “list of known rally disturbers,” redekop told regina leader-post reporter nykole king. liberal party officials convinced rcmp to allow redekop inside.
redekop, who returned from maternity leave to her job at a saskatoon warehouse on election day, explained she is neither a conservative nor a liberal.
“i literally just want to be like an informed citizen,” she told king on the day of the carney rally. “how is this democracy if this rally is only for your supporters?”
redekop explained security at the poilievre event told her she was trespassing and asked her to leave. then, she says, one of the men grabbed her. saskatoon police confirmed they assisted with the removal of “a small number of individuals” from the conservative rally.
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the saskatchewan rcmp refused to reveal details about why redekop was removed from the rally or why her name was placed on a list of rally disturbers, citing “security reasons.”
but redekop confirmed this week she has complained to the provincial public complaints commission about her treatment by saskatoon police officers. redekop sported bruises from the encounter days after it happened.
yet, as troubling as redekop’s story is, the silence from the conservative party resonates as equally disturbing. messages to various party officials as well as the three saskatoon mps who were re-elected april 28 — brad redekopp, kevin waugh and corey tochor — have gone unanswered.
this party wants to govern canada and just received 65 per cent of the vote in saskatchewan, winning 93 per cent of the seats. but no apparent explanation exists for redekop’s treatment. no denial. no apology. no sympathy.
redekop says her mp, brad redekopp, who is not related, responded to her that he did not witness her interactions at the event. no, you probably wouldn’t in a warehouse with 3,500 people inside.
i attended the event and was struck by how lax security seemed. i strolled through the public entrance without a question asked before inquiring about media. i was then told to enter through another entrance.
but actual disrupters did get in, including the same pro-america hecklers who interrupted carney’s first rally in saskatoon on april 9 by shouting “51st state.” at the poilievre event, they screamed “stop the immigrant invasion.” another man with a palestinian banner also interrupted poilievre.
those hecklers were apparently removed from the rally, but it’s not known if they were handcuffed and treated roughly like redekop.
since her story became public, redekop has heard from another woman with a similar account. darlene zaifman-guslits of london, ont., said she was barred from entering an event featuring poilievre at the london jewish community centre in july of last year.
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zaifman-guslits said in an interview this week that a conservative staffer told her she was barred because she was wearing a scrunchie in pride colours and a t-shirt that said “protect trans kids.”
at poilievre’s saskatoon rally, one attendee brandished a sign saying: “bring back normal for a change.” some messages are considered less threatening.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
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