VANCOUVER --
Just one day after federal health officials issued a dire warning about the possibility that COVID-19 variants could cause case counts to skyrocket, hundreds of unmasked protesters gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery for an event dubbed the “BC Grand Freedom Rally.”
A pair of Ontario nurses travelled to B.C. to take part in the event, which featured anti-maskers and other COVID-19 conspiracy theorists.
"We have doctors and nurses, some of them have been threatened to lose their jobs, some of them have already lost their jobs,” said event co-organizer Vladislav Sobolev.
Neonatal ICU nurse Kristen Nagle, who lost her job in London, Ont. after speaking at a rally in Washington, D.C. on the day of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, addressed the crowd of hundreds at the art gallery Saturday afternoon.