Cochranite Deborah Murphy was responsible for organizing the very first Cochrane Freedom Rally on Sunday, January 30, 2022, and the subsequent eight Freedom Rallies in Cochrane. On Wednesday, March 23rd, on the eve of the ninth Cochrane Freedom Rally, Deborah received a message from, Inspector David Brunner, commander of the local RCMP detachment, that he wanted to meet for coffee to speak with her about the ongoing rallies. The next day, they met at Good Earth Coffee House. Mr. Brunner was accompanied by another officer (introduced as Chad). From the start, Mr. Brunner explained that there had been some concerns expressed about the freedom rallies, that he wanted to get ahead of the situation and didn’t want to go down the path that the City of Calgary went down, without being specific as to what it was ‘down that path’ he wanted to avoid. The need to show heavy police presence? He didn’t want to see people man-handled and arrested? He didn’t want to see a court injunction put in place? That Cochrane could end up like Calgary was something he indicated as possibly foreseeing in his ‘crystal ball’.
While Mr. Brunner indicated that he had received some minor complaints, nothing too serious, from some citizens with respect to the rallies, he was inclined to take it more seriously given that he received a complaint which he understood as coming through the Mayor and Town Council, using their authority to give direction to our local RCMP detachment.
Mr. Brunner indicated that he answered to an executive who is in charge of emergency services who works for the Town who had contacted him, and that that person was Stacey Loe, Executive Director, Protective and Community Services. Apparently, Ms. Loe gave Brunner the impression that she was given direction by the Mayor and Town Council to contact the local constabulary.
At one point Brunner indicated that he didn’t want it to be a Calgary where there is a “court injunction”, suggesting that is what he meant by getting out ahead of the Sunday rallies so that what had happened in Calgary would not happen in Cochrane, referring to the court injunction that the Calgary Mayor had put in place the previous week with respect to the Calgary freedom rallies.
It is conceivable that that was the message he had received from Stacey Loe, that is, get ahead of this or ‘we’ may need to bring in a court injunction. That Ms. Loe would be attentive to Calgary and how our left-leaning next door neighbour Calgary manages its affairs, remember that Ms. Loe in July 2020 was the one who had brought forward the proposed mandatory mask by-law for Cochrane, following in the footsteps of the City of Calgary, prior to any steps being taken by the provincial government in that regard. Even Mayor Genung went along with that rationale. At the start of the Council’s discussion of the proposed mask mandate motion at its Special Council Meeting on July 29, 2020, Mayor Genung pointed out (2:30 to 2:57 minutes in video), “The reason we are here today…is to discuss masks. It is no surprise it is in response to what our neighbors to the east has done, the City of Calgary, mandating masks…We are in a sense responding to what our neighbors have done”.
On formally taking up his position as full-time, permanent commander of the Cochrane detachment in May 2021, Inspector Brunner declared, “I want to build on the relationships and maintain those strong relationships that we have with our community partners. There are a lot of demands on policing right now, and I think that we have to remain engaged with our partners, and not just our partners, but the general public, to let them have a voice.” Hopefully, that would allow those in the community, the general public, to “have a voice” when it comes to standing up for our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the supreme law of the land, something I understand that he and other officers took an oath to uphold. Is that asking too much of our local constabulary to allow the general public, to “have a voice”? Noteworthy, he and the detachment would not submit to supporting a declaration in support of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when pressed to do so in October 2021.
Interesting Mr. Brunner making the observation that the complainants see another Ottawa thing occurring in Cochrane. Did he have in mind the police mounted on horses trampling protesters and then his RCMP Musical Ride colleagues boasting about brute force being used on protesters demonstrating against Canada’s coronavirus mandates, with one member of the RCMP Musical Ride declaring that it’s “Time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground”?
On Friday, March 25th, Deborah contacted Councillor Patrick Wilson to enquire when the Council made the decision to contact the local RCMP about the freedom rallies in Cochrane. Despite Mr. Brunner giving Deborah the impression that the Mayor and Town Council were the primary complainants that he was responding to, shockingly, Mr. Wilson assured Deborah that he knew nothing about this matter!
Deborah told Mr. Brunner of her disappointment that her mayor could not have phoned her himself to discuss any concerns that he and council may have had, instead of dispatching Ms. Loe to call in the police, although it has not been ascertained that Ms. Loe was in fact acting on behalf of the mayor as, according to Councillor Patrick Wilson, she certainly wasn’t acting on behalf of the Mayor and Council.
On Monday, March 28th, Deborah Murphy sent an email to Mayor Genung and the Town Council requesting details on how this directive to Stacey Loe, Executive Director, Protective and Community Services, came about or if indeed she had received such direction from the Mayor and Council.
In that email, the Mayor and Council were also advised of another shoddy aspect of this story, the shutting off of power at the Centennial Plaza, the home of the freedom rallies. Until the sixth freedom rally, the power for the sound system was conveniently drawn from the Town’s outlet at Centennial Plaza. However, on week 7 of the rallies, Deborah and team showed up at the Centennial Plaza shocked to find that the power had been cut off. In Deborah’s March 28th email, the Mayor and Council were also asked to explain why the power was suddenly cut off and who gave such a directive?
By such ‘sabotage’ was the intent to not only shut down the power, but also to shut down the rallies? Alternative means to power the sound equipment became available for the subsequent rallies on the 7th to 9th weeks. Given the failure of that petty ploy by whoever was responsible at the Town office, was that the reason why the next step was to call in the police?
Unbeknown to the Town of Cochrane and Inspector Brunner, earlier in the week Deborah Murphy had decided that she planned to make the ninth rally on March 26, 2022, the last rally that she would organize. She made that announcement at the nineth rally saying that she hoped going forward that people would use that time to simply meet up with like-minded, freedom-loving folks from the community at the Centennial Plaza.
After a week had lapsed and not receiving a response to her March 28th email from either the mayor or the town councillors, Deborah sent another email on April 4th reminding the Mayor and Town Council that she had not received a reply to her March 28th email:
A week ago today, I sent an email to you and all the council members. You mentioned today on a Facebook post that you are “committed to transparent government”. When should I expect a reply to my email regarding who gave the directive to contact the RCMP detachment with respect to the freedom rallies in Cochrane?
Specifically, I would like to know if you gave that directive.
Another week later, on April 9th, with still no reply, Deborah sent an email as follows to the Mayor and Town councillors:
According to your April 4, 2022 Facebook rant you declared that “all residents are encouraged to connect with their elected representatives to seek clarity and understanding on any issue” and that those associated with the Town of Cochrane are “committed to transparent, open government”. Disappointingly, I started this journey over 2 weeks ago “to seek clarity and understanding” related to Stacey Loe, Executive Director, Protective and Community Services, having contacted the commander, Inspector David Brunner, with the local RCMP detachment to meet with me to have a chat about the freedom rallies being held in Cochrane.
Specifically, I had asked if you had given a directive to Stacey Loe (I would add directly or indirectly through the CAO, Mike Derricott) to have her contact the local RCMP detachment to get in touch with me related to the freedom rallies held in Cochrane. I understand a business ethic that one would be expected to receive a response from one’s elected official within two business days. Two weeks have passed and disappointingly all that I have received is silence. Accordingly, and disappointingly, I have no other recourse than to pursue a Freedom of Information on the matter.
Because of the Mayor Genung’s unwillingness to answer a question from a Cochrane resident first sent to the Mayor and Council on March 28th, Deborah resorted to making a FOI (Freedom of Information) request to the Town on April 9th to try to get to the bottom of the matter:
Records Requested:
All records related to discussions about the freedom rallies that had taken place in Cochrane and, in particular, the records related to what person or persons, if anyone, gave the directive to Stacey Loe, Executive Director, Protective and Community Services, to contact the commander, Inspector David Brunner, with the local RCMP detachment to meet with me to have a chat about the freedom rallies being held in Cochrane.
Date Range of Records:
January 30, 2022, to present
The very next day, Sunday, April 10th, Deborah finally received a response from Mayor Genung (copied to the councillors):
While my goal is to respond to emails as timely as possible sometimes circumstances do not allow so I thank you for your patience. The answer to your question is no I have not given a directive to Stacey Loe (I would add directly or indirectly through the CAO, Mike Derricott) to have her contact the local RCMP detachment to get in touch with you related to the freedom rallies held in Cochrane.
To get to the bottom of this matter and to try to get answers with respect to other questions that were asked of the mayor, such as “the details on how this directive to Stacey Lowe came about” and why after having power at the Centennials Plaza for 6 weeks, it was suddenly cut off, Deborah decided to continue with the FOI request to the Town.
I previously described how the Town Administration and specifically the Town CAO, Mike Derricott, attempted to prevent me from appearing before my elected Council members as a delegation on June 14, 2021 to make my presentation, “Getting Down to the Facts on COVID-19”. Speaking to Mr. Derricott on June 3, 2021, I was advised that I would not be allowed to appear before Council as a delegation and that, instead, my only option to express my position was to contact the Council members directly. Deborah’s experience in not getting a reply from the Mayor and Council disappointingly shows how fruitless this option can be.
To be continued once the FOI information is received from the Town.
Thanks for the memories, Deborah. Here’s a video from the second rally, the February 6, 2022 Cochrane Freedom Rally.