Yesterday, a property owner asked me to move from in front of her business location. I know it’s not great to have a protest near your business, so I agreed to rotate my chosen place each day in order to try to accommodate her wishes, which I did.
Today, a second business owner came out to ask me to move my protest to the other side of the street.... I wasn’t even standing in front of his office, I was standing in front of a neighbouring building. He told me he was concerned that people would drive by and think someone was protesting against his business. I suggested all he had to do is tell his customers, ’By the way…the protest outside has nothing to do with me.’ When I reminded him that I wasn’t in front of his business, and suggested that no one was going to associate a guy wearing a blue beret and a UN flag with a protest against him, he told me my sign was too small and people driving by couldn’t read it, so they might think it was about him. It was all I could do to read his sign from the sidewalk, so I didn’t think that was going to be a problem. I told him I was rotating positions, and that free speech was why we live in Canada, but he wasn’t happy.
I’m not naming the business owners because I don’t want to focus on them, but the lesson (also learned in Caledonia, BTW) is unmistakable: when push comes to shove, don’t count on too many business owners to lead the charge to defend your Charter rights.
OK. If you can't guess, go here.
