On Tuesday, Calgary’s first responders stood for one hour in silence and solidarity in front of City Hall against both the city’s and province’s recently announced mandates.
WATCH: Calgary- EMS, firefighters, and police officers protest downtown against mandating COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination passports pic.twitter.com/JnLstPQ0cb
— 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) September 8, 2021
The first responders ranged from firefighters, EMS to police and stood locked arm in arm under the hot September sun in their silent protest of Kenney’s mandate and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi mandate, which makes vaccination mandatory for City of Calgary employees.
Calgary, Alberta: firefighters, EMS and police stood in silence for an hour at City Hall to protest virus mandates. Nice to see cops supporting the people that they represent.
FREEDOM IS NOT NEGOTIABLE. FIGHTING BACK IS THE NEW NORMAL. 👉https://t.co/MVX24I6kFK pic.twitter.com/gQmJ85c5eE— Detje (@hethoudnietop14) September 8, 2021
Some of the protesters’ signs read “First Responders for No Mandate,” “Frontline for Freedom,” “First Responders United,” and “My Body, My Choice.”
Clearly, despite media assertions, not everyone thinks the mandates are necessary.
On September 2, one day before Kenney’s mandate announcement, Calgary’s paramedics voiced their concerns regarding mandates and low job retention as a result.
“The morale is very low; it has been since the pandemic started… I’m seeing more staff shortages than I have in my entire career,” said Gordon, an anonymous paramedic who has occupied the role for 12 years.
He says that he expects many more first responders and other essential medical staff to leave their posts due to these mandates.
“November first is when I hope and pray for the public because when people are going to need an ambulance or need a doctor or need a nurse, there’s going to be far less of them because there’s going to be people that stand strong on getting a needle,” said Gordon.
The city’s various union leaders say they have been totally “blindsided” by Nenshi’s mandate, which threatens the livelihood of many Calgarians.
“I was completely blindsided by it,” said Calgary transit union leader Mike Mahar.
“As recently as Wednesday, we had met with city officials, and they were talking about [the] confirmation of being fully vaccinated or participating in rapid testing, and the rapid testing was being set up to be as least intrusive as possible.”
D’Arcy Lanovaz, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), says he was similarly gobsmacked by the threat of termination policy included in the mandate.
“That was not any of the conversations that we’ve been having with the city literally for months,” Lanovaz said. “All of the conversations we had — they were heading in a different direction, and in 24 hours, it flipped.”
In defence of his workers, Lanovaz says that he is considering litigation to protect workers threatened by the municipality.
“What we have to look at is, is the employer’s position legal? And have the rights of our members been protected? The only thing that’s not ambiguous in this situation is every union has a clear obligation to come to the aid of any member that has been disciplined,” Lanovaz says.
Protesters left single file, also in silence, placing a hand on a memorial to The Calgary Fire Department as they departed.
“Duty with Honour,” the memorial reads.
