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On Friday’s Rebel Roundtable livestream, David Menzies and Drea Humphrey, joined by former Toronto police officer Ross McLean, reacted to Hamilton police putting out a call on social media asking community members to report the venue hosting the controversial Dominion Society of Canada’s Aug. 29 “DomCon” conference. 

“Hamilton Police continue to encourage venues to consider the impact this event and its messaging may have on the broader community when making decisions about hosting it,” police said in a statement. “The messaging associated with DomCon is divisive and exclusionary and can negatively impact the sense of safety and belonging within our community.”

Meanwhile, a house in a local Hamilton neighbourhood has allegedly been the site of drug dealing and prostitution for more than a year, with police only recently confirming that it is under investigation. 

Given McLean’s long history of participating in and supporting law enforcement, he said this level of political involvement and two-tier justice within the system hits close to home. 

“There are lots of great police people, but the leadership at the top, at the police boards, is horrific with a couple of forces,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of police suicides the last month… and there’s been times when that’s been tied to poor leadership, and poor oversight.” 

Drea pointed out that the repercussions of Hamilton police’s approach go beyond violating the rights of the Dominion Society.

“Regardless of what you think of the Dominion Club, nothing illegal is happening here,” she said. “Also, this is affecting businesses. If they want to have the Dominion Club there, do a conference, that’s money in their pocket. And now they’re going to be terrified to do [so].”