VICTORY: B.C. mother jailed after shopping maskless has charges dropped

We’ve had another big win for freedom through our Fight the Fines civil liberties project, by getting criminal charges related to tyrannical COVID-19 restrictions withdrawn!

In the spring of 2021, a mom of four named Michelle Deshaies was apprehended multiple times, fined thousands of dollars and even sent to jail by Creston, B.C. RCMP officers. Michelle’s ‘crimes’ were protesting peacefully and shopping after her medical exemption claims were ignored at the town’s Home Hardware store.

Before the indoor mask mandate was lifted in the province, the B.C. Human Rights Commissioner made it clear that “In some cases, people cannot wear masks due to a medical condition or disability—and discrimination on the basis of disability is prohibited under B.C.’s Human Rights Code.”

This meant that businesses are expected to “take every step possible to accommodate people protected by the Code, short of undue hardship.”

Yet Deshaies was asymptomatic and socially distancing while shopping, posing no logical risk of undue hardship for the business — so why was the only accommodation she was offered the choice to get out, or have the police sicced on her?

Additionally, one’s choice to peacefully assemble to protest in Canada is constitutionally protected. That includes during life with COVID-19, which was exemplified by a B.C. Supreme Court ruling in March 2021, where a Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled in favour of another peaceful protester like Deshaies who was fined for peacefully protesting.

So, what excuse did the Creston police officers have for escalating these situations to the point of humiliating, arresting, charging and even imprisoning Deshaies?

I’ve reached out to the RCMP and the Home Hardware store to try and get some of these answers, and I will update this report if I receive a statement from them. You can see that the laws and human decency that should have been on Deshaies’ side did not save her, but thankfully, freedom defenders like you did.

Through the continued donations to our Fight the Fines charity, in partnership with registered Canadian charity The Democracy Fund, we were able to hire Deshaies an amazing criminal defence lawyer named Mohamed El Rashidy to fight her charges at no cost to her, and her criminal charges have now been dropped!

Watch this report to see how Deshaies’ nightmares unfolded, and hear the strategy El Rashidy used to get her charges dropped.

The battle for Deshaies isn’t completely over.

We still have a lawyer working to have her other five COVID-19 related charges dropped as well. We can only continue to do so with your support. Please donate what you can to help cover the legal fees for Deshaies as well as thousands of other Canadians we are also defending at FightTheFines.com.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

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