Fringe Sask. political figure raising funds to pay pandemic-era fines

A Saskatoon fringe political figure who received a series of tickets for flouting pandemic-era public health orders is trying to raise funds after losing an appeal to have them quashed last month.

In an online fundraiser, former People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidate Mark Friesen is trying to raise $100,000 to cover the cost of 11 tickets for holding outdoor rallies while gatherings were restricted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The province said we could not congregate with more than 10 people. So the police issued me 11 tickets,” he writes on the fundraiser page.

“This fundraiser is to raise money so I can pay those tickets. Either that or I got to jail. I am confident that people will step up to help me in my time of need.”

Friesen has fought the fines in a series of court cases, claiming the public health orders were invalid, violated his Charter rights, and that the police gave no warning that those gathering at his rallies might be charged.

In January, 2023, a judge rejected those arguments as he fought tickets he received for a Dec. 2020 gathering at the Vimy Memorial in Kiwanis Park in Regina.

“The police are not required to warn people who are breaking the law that they are doing so and that if they do not stop they may be subject to some form of sanction,” the provincial court judge wrote.

Friesen has lost multiple similar cases in provincial courts across Saskatchewan fighting similar charges.

Last month, King’s Bench Judge Michael Megaw heard a collective appeal of those provincial court rulings from Friesen and a group of others.

Again, the group argued that the public health orders were made “without legislative authority,” despite Saskatchewan’s attorney general pointing to the provisions of the Public Health Act that specifically authorized them.

In his written decision, Megaw says they’re not saying anything new.

“The appellants here have essentially advanced the identical arguments which were placed before the Provincial Court, and which were not accepted,” he said.

By Tuesday, Friesen had raised $4,170 since the first donation on March 6.