WARMINGTON: Drag Queen event becomes verbal clash between fire captain and journalist

· Toronto Sun

Drag performers. A fire captain. An independent journalist and a bylaw officer.

Welcome to Cannington, Ont., where there was no fire Saturday.

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But there were fireworks.

If in Ontario the law allows a public library to have children read stories by men dressed up to look like women, it should also be legal for journalists to cover it. Sometimes, however, things are not so simple in today’s complicated world. Sometimes these lines get blurred and there is confusion about just what the rules are and what they are not.

Sometimes tempers flare. This is what happened in Brock Township in Durham Region on Saturday. It’s not always quiet in a small town. May 30 in quaint Cannington, Ont., is proof of that. The stage for creating drama was both inside and outside the family-friendly ‘Drag Queen Storytime’ event at the Timothy Findley Memorial Branch of the Brock Township Public Library.

Harsh words exchanged

It seemed to all stem from an independent journalist trying to film what appears to be a progressive Pride flag on both the door of an ambulance parked in front of the fire hall next to the library and a smaller version of the same flag tucked into the uniform of a bylaw and animal control officer.

At that point, a fire captain, who identified himself as Christopher George, is seen on video with a cup of coffee in one hand, approaching the photographer and appearing to walk toward him in a robust manner to get him to leave the property. There were harsh words between the two men — including each threatening to have the other arrested.

“I am sorry you are so full of hate, so full of anger,” the fire captain said to the journalist. “It must be hard to live a life like that.”

The photographer is heard to use foul language in the interaction but did not appear to breaking any laws. There was also a verbal exchange between the person filming and a bylaw officer who indicated could be “trespassed” because he was a “public nuisance.”

But on social media, the Truth North Transparency X account, which displays other interactions with law enforcement and states “I am a public photographer who exposed the entitlement and ignorance of those who surround us everyday,” posted about this incident with the comment “while filming outside of a Drag Queen Story Time” he said he was assaulted.

No comment from police

Durham Regional Police have so far not commented if they are investigating this allegation.

The mayor of the Township of Brock, however, said he is looking into this.

“I have just learned of this incident as it just came to my attention this Saturday afternoon,” Brock Township’s Mayor Michael Jubb told the Toronto Sun . “I will be speaking to Township staff about the incident and seek further details. From that we will decide on and take steps to address the incident accordingly.”

He will have the advantage of having his own video footage to study since Sarah Jones, manager of bylaw and animal services, is seen saying she has a full recording of what happened there on her body camera.

There are different points of view on what transpired. Whatever your opinion, one key point is that no law prohibits anyone from filming on public property. If there is a dispute about whether the person is on public or private property, it becomes a police matter.

The minute you start pushing somebody back, it could become a charter of rights issue. Usually, a middle ground can be found. For example, one could politely ask the person to please stand on the sidewalk and film from there. In a free society, as much as someone may not want to be photographed, it’s not within their purview to remove or stop a corporate, state or independent journalist from documenting the moment.

Police run into this problem, too. They set up boundaries and zones, but in the end, as long as they are lawful, the photographer or videographer has the same right to be there as everybody else at the event. When someone uses profanity or shows disrespect to a person in uniform, there also must be a reminder that the person they are insulting is a human being, as well, and also on the clock and doing what they believe to be their job.

Respect must go both ways. De-escalation is always better than conflict. Sometimes, there’s opportunity for all sides to get what they want with no hard feelings. But there are people who foster conflict to get clicks on social media — just as there are some in uniform quick to exercise their authority. But there is no one better or more important than anybody else at something like this.

Mutual respect needed

Just different perspectives. There should be room for all opinions, with no power games. Just mutual respect.

Mostly, people on all sides just want to find a way to do what they are being paid to do and without incident. It would have been a better approach in Cannington to politely ask the videographer to cover the story from the sidewalk and for him to do that. Perhaps from this video, there could be lessons learned and new approaches tried. If so, it might not make great material for social media.

But goodwill lasts longer than a post on X.

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