‘We’re sick of your nonsense’: Mayor speaks out after protest

• Basran says majority don’t believe in protesters’ message
• Says protesters feel no shame or embarrassment

The Mayor of Kelowna has reacted with anger to the actions of anti-vaccination protestors who marred Thursday’s informal Remembrance Day event at the City Park cenotaph.

“I was absolutely disgusted,” Colin Basran told Kelowna10. “There is no way to justify this kind of protest on Remembrance Day. It’s completely disrespectful of our veterans and upsetting to a lot of people in our community.”

Basran, who attended a ceremony at the Legion and found out about the incident through social media, had a strong message for those who disrupted things.

“Please don’t come back,” he said. “If you live here and you feel this is an acceptable way to behave, first of all it’s not and please consider staying home, we’re sick of your nonsense.”

“The unfortunate part is the people we’re talking about here, feel no shame or embarrassment by doing this and that’s what’s really sad.”

With a series of protests in the city over the months: outside the hospital, schools, and on the streets, Basran said he is a little worried about the reputational damage it’s doing to the city. However, he added most residents ‘don’t believe in [the] crap’ being preached by anti-vaxxers.

“They’re doing the right things, they’re behaving responsibly, they’re getting vaccinated, and they believe in science,” Basran said. “It’s a small minority of our residents who are unfortunately making a lot of noise, so it is frustrating.”

He commended those who attended Thursday’s ceremony to pay respects to those who have fallen and were behaving in a respectful manner, while highlighting a silver lining for veterans in the ordeal.

“Our community is rallying around our veterans which is what I hope they would do and that’s what we’re seeing,” Basran said. “I want our veterans to know that nobody is standing for this, what happened was not okay, but we’re so proud of the contributions you have made to our country.”

Kelowna RCMP are investigating the protest and are asking anyone who attended the ceremony to upload or send a link to the video at KelownaRemembranceDayVideos@rcmp-grc.gc.ca