The organizer of a mask free shopping trip to Devonshire Mall this weekend is not backing down.
Speaking on AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show, Currie Soulliere says she is going ahead with Saturday's event despite public backlash.
According to Soulliere, the goal of her trip is to find stores that respect mask exemptions and shop at only those stores. She says she organized the trip because she feels intimated going out in public without a mask.
"There's been an extremely hateful backlash against us, really against me for seeking to safely defend my rights within the law and I feel very afraid and I think making masks mandatory has an effect on the public that leaves people to wish to do violence and potentially may do violence," says Soulliere.
Without giving a reason why, she says her exemption is personal and says her event on Saturday is not a protest.
"It's just a shopping trip," says Soulliere. "I don't even want us all to gather together. I just want more people who are mask exempt to be in the mall so that people who are mask exempt feel safe from confrontation, harassment and violence."
"We have several questions related to our rights but we're not going to trespass, that's not the point,” she adds. “The point is to find stores that respect mask exemptions and shop at those stores and only those stores. We don't want to bother anybody who would be afraid. We want a place for us to when we feel afraid."
Soulliere says doesn’t believe the mandate from the health unit is real and goes on to say it’s a violation of rights.
She has created a Facebook group called Questioning Covid in Windsor-Essex for all the details about Saturday’s planned shopping trip at Devonshire Mall.
AM800 news has reached out to the mall's general manager but has yet to hear back.
As heard on AM800 news on Monday, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said the event goes against the health unit's face covering order and the city's mask bylaw.