[00:00:00]

Shawn Buckley

And so our next witness is, if he’s here, is going to be Don Woodstock.

Kyle Morgan

Good day, sir. Can you state your full name for the Commission?

Don Woodstock

Don Woodstock.

Kyle Morgan

And can you spell your first and last names.

Don Woodstock

D-O-N W-O-O-D-S-T-O-C-K.

Kyle Morgan

And do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Don Woodstock

Yes, I do

Kyle Morgan

Where are you from, sir?

Don Woodstock

Jamaican-born, but Canadian citizen since 1995-96.

Kyle Morgan

And I understand you live in Winnipeg right now.

Don Woodstock

Yes, I do.

Kyle Morgan

How long have you been in Winnipeg?

Don Woodstock

Since November 1999.

Kyle Morgan

Can I ask you your profession or line of work?

Don Woodstock

I’m the proud owner of JamRock Security. We’re a security company providing some of the top-of-the-line products for home security, burglar alarm, commercial, industrial, residential security.

Kyle Morgan

And how long have you been in that area of work?

Don Woodstock

A little over nine years for myself, personally, but I started in the security business. It was my first job in Canada, in Toronto. I’m still doing it today.

Kyle Morgan

So when I spoke to you before, I was struck with the perspective that you have regarding what happened in our society during the COVID pandemic.

Don Woodstock

Yes.

Kyle Morgan

Can you tell us a little bit about your business, how everything affected your business?

Don Woodstock

Well, we started just before COVID. Just, sort of, sheer trying to diversify to try to get online and promote the business online instead of the door-to-door approach, which we’re accustomed to. COVID hit, and we had to be very creative but, more so, push the envelope in terms of getting the business online.

So I had to be vaccinated to get into people’s home because this is what I was told I had to do. We gave our customers the option to have a “vaccinated install” done, somebody who is vaccinated, or we have somebody who is not vaccinated, because some of the guys did not want to. Subsequently, all the guys, eventually, had to be vaccinated because nobody would entertain us.

Then we get into the business of self-install. So we would sanitize the product, do a lot of the back-end work to get the product to where it needs to be, and we would ship it to you. You get it and plug it in, and then we end up walking you through the process of installing it. So that was some of the major changes that we had to do.

Kyle Morgan

From talking to you, I understand that your business did relatively well during these years?

Don Woodstock

It’s not something I am going to boast about because I’ve seen some of my clients being devastated by this. It pains my heart. But, yes, we have almost tripled our business because of COVID.

And I say that because when you get a phone call at 10, 11 o’clock at night asking for security because somebody thinks the neighbours are watching them, it speaks to a bigger issue. When they get a phone call that somebody, in an apartment block—eight, nine, ten stories up—saying they need security for their windows and the doors, it speaks to another issue. Who’s climbing it, you know, Spider-Man? So it’s real.

Kyle Morgan

Yeah. So what you’re saying is that before the COVID pandemic era, you noticed a change between the patterns of your customers and their desires of your business during the COVID era.

Don Woodstock

Absolutely. It’s night and day. Someone would call because they have a burglary, yes. And someone would call because they have a concern about their general security. But more people were at home, and they were afraid to go from one room to the next without making sure the door in that room was locked or the window was secured, or we had to put sensors.

[00:05:00]

One lady spends, pretty much, almost $4,000 protecting her home and then turn around and have to sell it and move because there was nothing I could do to keep her mind focused, and just, “It’s okay.” It doesn’t work.

Kyle Morgan

So what do you attribute this change in behaviour of your customers to? Do you have any thoughts about that?

Don Woodstock

Fear. Unnecessary fear being promoted by the propaganda-media frenzy. Neighbours not trusting neighbours anymore. People watching people.

Simplest move people make, they call me and ask me, you know, “Don, should I get a security system to make sure that the neighbour’s dog doesn’t come over my place to poo?”

“And how do you know the neighbour’s dog is pooing on your property?”

“Well, dogs do that, don’t they?”

“Well, have you seen any poop on your property?”

“No, but I want a security system just in case he does.”

Well, how do I secure that? It’s— Yeah.

Kyle Morgan

Okay, do you have any other observations or were there any other effects that your business experienced during these years that you want to tell us about?

Don Woodstock

I had to travel because guys who were not COVID could not do the work outside of Winnipeg. Because my business covers Manitoba and, so, we have clients— Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, all over the place. And I had to line up six feet, social-distancing. I’m vaccinated, yeah? I line up to go in the plane, six feet. I got to the door and I’m sitting shoulder to shoulder, like sardine, you know, with everybody for two hours. And if I need to drink water, I have to pull the mask down and drink and put the mask back on. And right there, tells me this whole thing was a hoax and it was a scam to, kind of, keep us confined.

But more power to the people out there. Power to the people who saw this coming and decided to fight it because, Tiananmen Square, it took one guy to stop it. Nelson Mandela stopped apartheid with his efforts. Gandhi did it. We are the Gandhis.

Kyle Morgan

Now, I understand that you experienced difficulty meeting with certain tradespeople and people you were working with.

Don Woodstock

Yes.

Kyle Morgan

Can you describe to us how you would deal with those issues?

Don Woodstock

Well, we discover, pretty soon, that the small businesses were closing, which was the engine growth of our economy. But the large businesses were open, so we decided to start meeting at Walmart and Shoppers Drug Mart and Home Depots. And it worked because I could go to Home Depot and spend the entire day—meeting my trades and walking up and down the aisle and discussing projects—and nobody said anything to us, so, why not? In fact, I did a petition in the middle of the thing that all churches should go to Walmart and conduct services. Nobody would stop them.

We have to adapt. I think that’s one of the things that I, personally, have got from this whole thing is— Government is going to bullshit us as much as they can, but we, the people, have to stand up and realize what the truth is. And once we do, then we adapt and we overthrow them, eventually. We have to adapt to this and rise above it, beyond it, and don’t buy into it.

And there was so much anger between people that even when I installed a person’s home and keep them safe, they’re still worried about their neighbour coming over. Like, your home is secure: if anybody came to the door, the alarm is going to go off, the siren goes off. And it still wasn’t enough for some people. They still wanted more security. They still wanted something else, and I couldn’t help some folks. Couldn’t help some folks.

Kyle Morgan

Looking at what happened in our society, what do you think should have been done differently regarding the response to the COVID pandemic?

[00:10:00]

Don Woodstock

Media. Anything the government tells the media and the media swallows it, we should know, right away, it’s a lie. If the media is promoting anything, you know it’s supposed to be contrary. We don’t have to look far from the last election: everybody thought that Glen Murray was the best thing since sliced bread. Anything people promoting where the media is concerned, and if they’re pushing the agenda to say, “This is for you.” Whenever governments use those terms, just remember Adolf Hitler. They all say, “This was for you,” right? It’s never for us, it’s for them. To do what? Ultimate power.

So I think we need to find a way to look beyond and don’t get to the point where we hate our neighbour, whether they’re vaccinated or not vaccinated. The government did a fantastic job of letting us hate our neighbours because this one is vaccinated and this one isn’t. And this one is wearing a mask and that one is not wearing a mask.

I see this whole thing as just, man, it’s a big boo-boo that went down, and they managed to control it with the media. And for the people who stand up—for the people who are prepared to be the Gandhi and the Mandelas of this world—power to us all, you know.

Kyle Morgan

I think you mentioned something to me about engagement and people shouldn’t have kept quiet. Do you recall talking about that?

Don Woodstock

Yes, too many people were prepared to take the income from the government and take the buyout from the government and be silenced by the government because it’s an income in the pocket. I’m not a medical professional, in any way, but, you know, the medical doctors have the information, the scientists they have the information, yet still they were prepared to be silenced with it because the government were paying them to be silenced with it. And they should have sensed that something is wrong when things like those happen.

When people ask me whether or not I want to be vaccinated, I said, “no.” But to satisfy you, Mr. Client, if I need to come into your home, I’m going to be vaccinated. And what do I do? I’ve had people call me four or five times and says, “I can’t get anybody out to my house. I have two senior people in the home and we are both elderly and sick. We don’t want anybody to come into the home without vaccination.” The mask thing doesn’t work. What do you do?

That motivated me to go, “You know what, I’m going to take this damn, stupid vaccination just to, kind of, get some action going.” And my business was riding high, so what do I do? Do I drop it? Walk away from it? Or do I adapt? I chose to adapt. I don’t like the fact that I have to take a vaccine to adapt. If I could do otherwise, I would.

Kyle Morgan

I think those are all the questions I had for you, sir. I’m going ask the commissioners if they had any questions. It appears there’s no other questions.

Don Woodstock

Good.

Kyle Morgan

I really appreciate your testimony, sir. Thank you, very much.

Don Woodstock

You’re welcome. Thanks.

[00:14:05]

Final Review and Approval: Margaret Phillips, August 10, 2023.

The evidence offered in this transcript is a true and faithful record of witness testimony given during the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) hearings. The transcript was prepared by members of a team of volunteers using an “intelligent verbatim” transcription method.

For further information on the transcription process, method, and team, see the NCI website: https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/about-these-transcripts/

Summary

Owner of security company who had a surge in his business installing security systems during the pandemic because of increased and rampant fear people were feeling during that time.

SUMMARY: Don Woodstock is the owner of a security company in Manitoba called JamRock Security. His company provides home security and burglar alarms for commercial, residential and industrial security needs. During the COVID pandemic Don’s business almost tripled in size. He and his staff felt they had to get the shots to enter people’s home as they were so full of fear and would not have someone unvaccinated come in.

The level of fear being felt by people that Don encountered was enormous. People were unreasonably afraid, worried that someone was trying to break into their windows despite living six stories up in an apartment building. Don believes that we, the people, must adapt to the lies government tells us. He says, “I think we need to find a way to look beyond and don’t get to the point where we hate our neighbour, whether they are vaccinated or not. He said that the government did a fantastic job of letting us hate our neighbours because one was vaccinated and one wasn’t, and one was wearing a mask and that one wasn’t wearing a mask.