Tyler Nicholson, the organizer of the weekly “freedom rallies” in Barrie, has created a GoFundMe page to try to cover his legal fees, setting a goal of raising $50,000.
On the GoFundMe page — which as of Friday at 2 p.m. had already raised almost $18,000 from more than 200 different donors, ranging from $5 to $1,000 — Nicholson writes he was recently served with court documents from the City of Barrie, which is seeking an injunction against the Oro-Medonte Township man to prevent more rallies from occurring.
Nicholson refused an interview with BarrieToday unless a donation of $500 was made to his GoFundMe campaign. BarrieToday declined.
However, on his GoFundMe page, Nicholson outlined the legal action that has occurred in recent days.
“On Sunday May 16 (Mayor) Jeff Lehman and his band of senior staff leveraged the power of the City of Barrie, without a vote by council, to serve me with a frivolous court action taking up reams of paper," he says. "Jeff's plan to overwhelm me and get a temporary court order to silence me is already a stretch. He served me on Sunday at noon with a 500-page record, and I was in court the following morning at 9:30 a.m.
"We got a very good lawyer that he didn't expect us to get; he gave us zero notice of a hearing, hoping I would not have been prepared and ultimately would lose on the injunction to silence me. We are fighting so that doesn’t happen,” Nicholson adds.
Nicholson also said the city's legal team is trying to "intimidate" him.
“They're also charging exuberant legal costs that I might be liable for if I lose this fight," he claims. "I am willing to take this risk to fight for what is right and stand up to being bullied by politicians using taxpayers' money to fight for their interests. But if we want to win, we have to fight and that’s going to cost, too, so we are raising funds to continue this action to its conclusion.”
When contacted Friday by BarrieToday, Mayor Jeff Lehman declined to comment.
City of Barrie spokesperson Scott LaMantia confirmed to BarrieToday that Nicholson was served last Sunday with the application material and notice of motion, as well as an affidavit in support of the city's interim injunction.
On May 13, the City of Barrie issued a notice of application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an injunction to restrain the organizer from organizing, hosting and participating in any further gatherings on city property.
The demonstrations, which have typically attracted between 200 and 500 people, are contrary to the provincial stay-at-home order, provincial legislation and regulations, the city’s COVID-19 emergency measures bylaw, and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s public health guidelines.
Since the protests began, Nicholson has also received two Provincial Offences notices and one Part III summons, Barrie police have confirmed.
The protests, which have been running almost every Saturday since mid-March, had initially been held at Meridian Place until the city issued an emergency order April 29 to close and fence off the downtown square. Since that time, the demonstrations have been held at Centennial Park and the Sadlon Arena parking lot.
In a nearly 30-minute Facebook Live video posted May 18 at 5 p.m., Nicholson says he plans to fight the city and notes he set up the GoFundMe page to help cover any legal fees he accrues.
“I got served with an injunction — it’s an application for an injunction. It hasn’t yet been decided. What they tried to do was blindside me with it. I got served at 12 o’clock Sunday. A car came in to my driveway and he had a box… about 30 pounds with my name (on it)," he says in the video.
Nicholson noted the box contained information about the last 14 months surrounding the pandemic and every event “they’ve” taken part in, claiming the city has had people gathering “intell."
Nicholson goes on to say the suit filed against him is not, in fact, a provincial order violation, but rather a civil lawsuit.
“This is a civil lawsuit where the corporation and the City of Barrie, Ontario under the Ontario Superior Court, has filed a civil lawsuit against Tyler Scott Nicholson. Although the lawsuit says Tyler Scott Nicholson, it should translate to the City of Barrie, Ontario, under the Supreme Court of Ontario, is filing a civil lawsuit against Canadian citizens,” he says. “They’re trying to drown me. They didn’t think I would be prepared. I was able to retain counsel… and I am very confident in who is representing me.”
LaMantia told BarrieToday the city has only issued only one proceeding and that is the application for an injunction.
“On May 17, the matter was adjourned until Thursday, May 27 on the basis that Mr. Nicholson provided his undertaking to not organize or take part in a rally in Barrie this weekend,” said a statement provided by LaMantia from the city’s legal team.
“The parties will be back in court next week to address the city’s request that an interim and interlocutory injunction be ordered until the application is heard on its merits.”
An injunction is an order stopping someone, or prohibiting them, from doing a specified action. The court may approve an injunction to prevent harm or to protect a legal right.
“If the court orders an injunction restraining the organizer from a certain conduct and the organizer does not comply with this order, a court may find them in contempt,” said LaMantia. “Should there be a finding of contempt, a judge may make an order for a remedy as appropriate, which may include a fine or imprisonment.”
In the same video, Nicholson said he would be held responsible for the city's legal fees should he lose.
“This is a big deal… and we are going to fight. If I am already liable for tens of thousands of dollars if I lose, then I might as well put together a fund to try to fight this thing," he says. "If I am going to have to pay to lose then I might as well take my chances and pay to win."
Nicholson noted he had been advised to start a GoFundMe page to help cover his legal fees.
“It’s not something I thought I would ever want to do, because this was never about any of that… even with the legal fees for the fines that I am going to maybe fight one day. I am reaching out and putting it out there," he says.
As for Nicholson’s claims that he would be held liable for covering the city’s legal fees should he lose the case, that is not an absolute, as an award of costs is always in the court’s discretion, noted LaMantia.
Since being served, Nicholson says he's “respectfully bowing” out of the weekend rallies and claims he was merely the emcee.
“It was never me, I was just the emcee. I was just somebody who was comfortable on a mic," he says in a May 18 video on Facebook. "There’s dozens of people that put together Saturdays. It wasn’t me, but I always said that I would take the fall. That’s it, that’s all. I am comfortable on a mic and that’s it. I would never have been able to do what we’ve done alone.”
Because Nicholson would not accept an interview request, BarrieToday was unable to ask who is behind the organization of the protests.
For the last two months, Nicholson has taken credit for organizing and hosting the events, including in a May 10 Facebook Live video where he states multiple times that "nobody is going to stop" him from continuing to run the rally.
“Write whatever fine you want. If I can keep a kid from contemplating and even following through and attempting suicide, (I'm going to) keep doing it," he says in the video. "It’s worth all the fines you can throw at me. It’s worth all the hate you can throw at me. I will take it all. All the arrows, all the bullets, all the rumours, all the hate. … There’s nobody that’s going to stop me. No mayor, no MP, no premier, no prime minister, no cops. Nobody’s stopping me from helping the kids.”
Nicholson was also involved with a rally in Toronto on May 15, which he said he was “teaming up and co-hosting the event."
“From there, we are going to come back throughout the summer and we are going to be hosting these rallies in Barrie all over the place. Pick a park, we will be there," he says in the video. "There’s nobody that’s going to stop me. None of these clowns. Nobody is going to stop me, I'm gonna keep doing it and keep doing it. None of you, there’s nobody, there’s nothing, nothing’s gonna stop me.”
In the preamble of his GoFundMe page, Nicholson also says he has been subjected to name-calling and other negative behaviour. Yet in multiple videos and social media posts, he takes aim at various members of local media by calling them “slugs," “sloths," “clowns” and “dimwits,” and also refers to Lehman as “Jeffy Boy."
The courts are expected to deal with the city's injunction request on Thursday, May 27.
