[00:00:00]

Shawn Buckley

So I’d like to call Dr. Gerald Bohemier to the stand.

Dr. Bohemier, we’ll begin by asking you to state your full name for the record, spelling your first and last name.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Gerald Bohemier, G-E-R-A-L-D. Bohemier is spelled B-O-H-E-M-I-E-R. In French it’s Bohémier, but we’ll go along with the Bohemier or Bohemier.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, well I do want to say it correctly, so I apologize if I’m not. And I’ll just call you Gerald because I know you as Gerald. Do you, Gerald, promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I do, so help me God.

Shawn Buckley

Now, I’m going to state your age, and I do that for a reason because it makes your story more compelling. But you are 72 years old.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I’m 73, almost 74 in a few months.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, so much for my notetaking during interviews. So you’re 73 years of age, and you are a retired chiropractor.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s correct. I’ve been retired for about 20 years now.

Shawn Buckley

Even though you’re retired as a chiropractor, though, you basically spent your entire life looking into natural health issues.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes, and I continue to do that. I coach a lot of people. I’ve been asked by a lot of people to help them understand how they can naturally become healthy again, and many times, try to not have to rely on any kind of pharmaceutical medications. And I’ve been very proud and happy to have the knowledge and to be able to assist them when I can.

Shawn Buckley

Yes, you basically devoted your entire life to trying to be a healer to people.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Well, that’s a word that I’ve never used about myself because the healing comes from the inside of the body.

Shawn Buckley

But you know what I mean.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

The best thing a doctor can cure is bacon and ham and sausages and things that are dead. The entire healing is an automatic thing you’re born with. It’s part of being a human being. It’s part of God’s creation, basically.

Shawn Buckley

When COVID hit, you were working part-time doing some quality assurance work for a natural health product company. Am I right?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes, as a senior and having had the opportunity to be their spokesman at many health expos in Winnipeg and abroad, I was offered the job when they decided to open up a new plant here in Winnipeg to become their quality assurance supervisor. And to make sure that every product that is sent out to the market follows all of the rules, all the regulations, and that the lab tests show that the product is indeed safe and safely available for the public.

Shawn Buckley

Now, I’m not from Manitoba, but since coming here for the hearings, I have learned a lot about a notorious group called the Manitoba Five. And my understanding is that you are a member of this notorious group.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Proudly, a Manitoba Five member, yes.

Shawn Buckley

Can you share with us the journey of how you came to be an esteemed member of this group? My understanding is it basically began in January to February of 2020 as we were learning about this new virus called COVID-19.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

So yes, I was like everybody else. I was listening attentively to what was going on in the media and my metres of non-truths were just firing on all cylinders. And that’s because my whole upbringing and the whole professional training as a chiropractor believed in the terrain theory as opposed to the germ theory.

And therefore, I was never worried about a germ or a virus. I was always worried that if I was going to protect myself or my loved ones, I would train them to understand that the terrain, which is your body’s physiology and chemistry, was always up to par

[00:05:00]

so that any bacteria or any microbe that could be coming in that’s different, the body is going to be surprised by, but it’s not going to have a big effect.

So that was basically how I felt, very strongly about, and how I’d been trained. How I had scientifically read and read and read. If you saw my collection of books that I have, you would see that I felt very strongly about that position. The terrain theory—

Shawn Buckley

Gerald, I’m just going to focus you because I’m wanting you to talk about you going to rallies, what you were protesting there and get into what those experiences were.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Right. So the minute I started hearing that there was going to be some rallies organized— and these were rallies that, initially, I had heard from a few of the ladies that were putting them on—I decided that we’re going to attend these rallies and we’re going to see what’s going on here. Because hopefully, they are going to tell the truth about what’s going on.

So I attended many, many rallies everywhere from the legislative building, the City Hall, at the Forks, where we have our very infamous— What’s the name of that big building there, my mind is slipping up, the Human Rights building. We had rallies at that exact site on numerous occasions. And one of the times—and I’m just going to put this as an aside there because it is on my mind—there was at the Human Rights Museum, if you were not vaccinated you were not allowed in that building. And so, the dichotomy was just so overwhelming. Then many of the rallies that I attended to and spoke at were out of town, in Steinbach and in Winkler, and elsewhere.

Shawn Buckley

Now, did you notice a police presence at these rallies?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that.

Shawn Buckley

Did you notice a police presence at these rallies?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

They were always present. They were always, initially, very kind and just observant. And then we started to see that they’re taking pictures. And eventually, following these rallies, they started coming to the door and pounding the door. We would not answer them because we did not recognize who was that.

We’re seniors. We don’t let anybody into our homes, and especially when they have an attitude of pounding on the doors. They were there to deliver tickets, and the tickets were $1,296. I thought that was pretty weird until somebody pointed out that that’s the multiplication of six times six times six times six. And so, I thought, okay, we got some bureaucrats involved here.

There’s no doubt that they’re out to punish. They’re out to punish a dissenting voice that on social media was completely censored. I, and many others that had the same ideas as I did, were censored. So the only place that my voice was heard was outdoors in public, in gatherings called rallies.

Shawn Buckley

So I just want to focus. So you were trying to have a voice online.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes.

Shawn Buckley

And you were finding that you were censored.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s right.

Shawn Buckley

And your voice was about the government activities. You were basically trying to have a voice about what you thought about lockdowns and masking and mandates and things like that, right?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Absolutely, absolutely. They were all ridiculous, in my opinion, and I had to tell the people my story. Then don’t forget: there were many, many, doctors worldwide and scientists worldwide that had a voice that was never heard.

Shawn Buckley

Right. But what I want to focus you on and you started to talk about it— Because I’m wanting you to share, basically, your experience with state power. Because you were going to protests to have a voice, to basically say, “Look it, I disagree with this.” My understanding is you were always completely peaceful.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

And the protests were peaceful.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Very much so.

Shawn Buckley

But you discovered right away that the police were filming.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley

And then you told us about people coming to your door. But these weren’t the police coming to your door, were they?

[00:10:00]

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

No, it was very quick to see that they were tattooed, very large people with attitude. And I’d hear them say, “Come on, Bohemier, come on out here; put your big pants on, we’ve got something to give you.” That kind of stuff. My wife was shaking. She still has PTSD. When somebody knocks at the door, she jumps right away. And this is three years later.

Shawn Buckley

And these people would, literally, be banging on there. Like a pounding on the door.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

We’re talking fists here.

Shawn Buckley

Okay. Because I think the world needs to hear what you’re saying. So the state of Manitoba basically hired some Canadian ambassadors that were big.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

That were tattooed.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

That were not police officers.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

No.

Shawn Buckley

And they were coming to your door to give you tickets for your protest.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes.

Shawn Buckley

And they would pound on your door.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley

And they would yell through the door.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

Basically, taunting things. Can you repeat what they were saying?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Well, like I just said, the worst of the words were, “Come on, Bohemier; put your big boy pants on and come on out here. We’ve got something to deliver to you.” And I did go out initially, the first time, or two times. But after that, they were not going to come to the property anymore. We put up a No Trespassing sign. They were always escorted by a real police officer. We recognized that there was always a cruiser car with a couple officers in there. Just in case that I would take out a baseball bat or something like that. But I’m not that kind of person.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, so there would always be a police car and then another vehicle?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah, one or two other vehicles, up to three vehicles that I can remember at one time. Yes.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, and then you basically said that Rose would freak out. So can you explain for us who Rose is and give us more of an understanding there, what you’re describing?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Rose and I have been together for 23 years. So she is my partner, and she’s amazing in this. She has the same drive for natural health and natural health products. And so, we get along just incredibly that way. And she’s diminutive; she’s not very big and strong. And when these poundings happened, it was very threatening. It was very threatening, especially to her. I wasn’t really bothered by that because I knew the door was secure enough that they couldn’t pound their way in. And that there were police officers out there and that would never get to that stage.

But, nevertheless, it still left us with this impression that—my goodness, what is going on in this world? This cannot be happening in Canada. This is like thugs at the door here to give me a ticket? Why don’t you just mail it to me? That kind of stuff.

Shawn Buckley

How many times would this have happened, where basically these big, tattooed people are showing up and pounding on your door to give you tickets?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Well, of the nine tickets that I received, I believe at least seven were delivered to the door. A couple more, the other two, would have been delivered, let’s say at the Church of God, at that one incident that was heard where the police were blockading people entry to that church.

I had shown up in support of that church and eventually stepped out of my car and walked over and stood between the tow truck and the van that they wanted—that the police had ordered towed out of the way on the highway. This van contained children and a family. And I started to yell, “Criminal Code 176, you are causing—” Yeah, what’s the word I used? They were doing a crime. How do you say that?

Shawn Buckley

Committing?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

You were committing a crime. “You’re committing a crime against The Criminal Code of Canada, section 176, where you cannot interfere with a church or a pastor when he’s in the process of wanting to give a sermon or his congregation a service.”

And when I started saying that, some young guy pulled out his cell phone, and sure enough, he was flashing it around, “Yes, Criminal Code 176 does say that.” All of a sudden, the police officers seemed to calm down. And the superior, the superintendent, not the superintendent, but the sergeant

[00:15:00]

from that detachment of the RCMP started to look at his officers. And then he seemed to melt away and tell the tow truck to back off. And we were very happy. At that time, the preacher approached the car that was on the highway, being blocked, and we had a prayer service right there on the car. And the family in the car. And we knew we had had a victory right there.

Shawn Buckley

So getting back to these tickets.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

So you said there were roughly seven, at least seven times they came to your door.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

How would that be timed in relation to rallies that you attended?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Well, many of them were several days after a rally. Sometimes, I would get a ticket at a rally, like in that case of the Church of God. I was parked on the highway. When they recognized my car—that’s easy, the plate number—they had surrounded my car. And they put a ticket in my— I wouldn’t open my window to talk to them or anything. So they put the ticket in my windshield wiper. And I flushed it off. So that was a ticket for a previous occasion.

Shortly after that, they were banging on my door to give me one for having attended at that particular outdoor event that was against the rules of the government.

Shawn Buckley

How many thousands of dollars in total have you been ticketed, do you think?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

The face value is 9 times $1,296. I believe that’s got to be close to $12,000 plus, somewhere in that vicinity.

Shawn Buckley

Now as I understand it, you’ve also had the experience of being arrested.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Oh, my goodness, yes.

Shawn Buckley

And can you share with us what happened?

Gerald Bohemier

Yes. Unbeknownst to a warrant that had been, as I understand, encouraged by our premier of Manitoba at the time— “That we’ve got to do something. These clowns are not going to stop just with fines.” We seemed to be just thumbing our nose at the fines. And we were, absolutely: got another one, no problem.

I was in the backyard doing gardening with Rose. And at the same time, I had lent my sound equipment—because I’m a musician, I have a very powerful sound equipment—to another group of people in Winkler that wanted to do a rally that day. I was not able to attend, but they had access to my sound equipment. And that gentleman’s father was returning the equipment to me at the same time as the police officers arrived. They came into the backyard and said that I was under arrest. And I said, “For what?” “There is a warrant out for your arrest, and we’re taking you in.” Oh my goodness, and all hell broke loose.

Interestingly enough, the father that was returning the equipment had a phone, and he started filming the whole thing. So the whole thing is videotaped and available on Rebel News. It became quite the public embarrassment to me in public to get arrested. But, nevertheless, I took it with my big boy pants on. And off I went with some resistance, and eventually, they started hurting my shoulders too much. I begged them to not do that because at my age, I don’t want to be injured. So they did handcuff me in front, and then I went into the car. They escorted me downtown, into the elevator upstairs, and into the jail area where they began to process me.

They had told Rose, before leaving— Because she was so worried, “When are you going to come back?” “Oh, it’s a two-hour process. He’s going to be processed and released on a promise to appear. He’ll be back in a couple hours.” This was seven o’clock at night. And so by—

Shawn Buckley

Now did the officer tell you that he could have just given you the promise to appear at your home?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

No, he never did that, never offered me that as an option, no. And it gets worse.

I get processed. I’m still in the processed room. I was interrogated, blah, blah, blah. Three hours later, those officers that brought me in are still there, and I turned to one of them. He was a corporal, interestingly enough. I had learned subsequent to that, that two groups of officers refused to come to my house to arrest me. Why?

[00:20:00]

Because one of the officer’s father, who was significantly injured in a motorcycle accident and had suffered tremendously, was helped by my chiropractic adjustments. His son refused with his team of officers to come and arrest me, who had helped his father so much.

The second set of officers that were told to come and pick me up said, “There’s a conflict of interest. My mother’s his first cousin.” And so, that led only the corporal, so that’s probably one of the superior officers in the thing, to team up with somebody else to come and to arrest me.

So I’m talking to the corporal now, after three hours of being in this jailhouse, still sitting in the interrogation rooms. And I say, “You told my wife it’s going to be two hours, and I’ll be processed and released on a promise to appear.” And he turned all red. He says, “Yeah, that was our intention. But when we got here, we were informed that there was a memo sent out by the Department of Justice to hold us here until we appeared in front of a magistrate and not before. So therefore, you’re going to probably spend the night here, unfortunately.”

I found out recently that there were magistrates available up until 11 o’clock at night in a typical jailhouse like that. And I don’t know if that’s right. But if so, I was lied to that I would get out after a promise to appear. And I was told that the only way we’re getting out is in front of a magistrate, to make a contract with him or her. And that there was none available, and we are going to have to spend the night in jail. So there I was—

Shawn Buckley

So I’m just curious because I’m familiar with the criminal laws. The arresting officer can release you on bail conditions. You were not released by the arresting officer on bail conditions.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I was not given that option. No.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, and the officer in charge, which is probably the corporal, can also release you on bail conditions and that didn’t happen.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That never happened.

Shawn Buckley

You were held, my understanding is, for 16 hours.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s correct, by the time we were finally walking out the door.

Shawn Buckley

So you weren’t in the interrogation room that whole time. You were put in a cell, am I correct about that?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yeah, right about the time that he was telling me that you’re going to spend the night here, that’s when they escorted me to a jail cell. Because they had finished talking to me, asking me all the questions that they would ask, and I was assigned the jail cell.

And the problem is that when I entered there, I was told that there’s only one layer of clothes that you can have on. And so by the time I would strip down to one layer of clothes, I would be in my underwear and a t-shirt. And I says, “At my age, I’m going to freeze to death here.” And then one young officer said, “Well, put your sweater on and your sweatpants on, and that’ll be your one layer of clothes. And then plus that, I’ll get a little blanket or something like that when you’re in there.” And I thanked him for that because how incredibly smart was this young officer to give me that option.

So I stripped down and put on the warmer pants and the sweater. And therefore, I was definitely more comfortable for the rest of the evening. Because I got put into a concrete room, the lights on, with no soundproofing, so it’s very noisy. Everything’s concrete. I’m given this little flimsy, what they called a wool blanket. It’s definitely not the kind of wool blanket that I’ve ever seen. I’m sitting on this concrete thing, embarrassed to death, not knowing what’s going to happen next. I’m 70 years old. I’ve got an enlarged prostate. I’ve got to pee every hour. So I knock at the door. And all the way till midnight, the staff would open the door, allow me out, and put me back in, no problem, no questions asked.

Shawn Buckley

You mean allow you out to go to the bathroom?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

After midnight there is— I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.

Shawn Buckley

I just want to clarify. They would allow you out of the cell so that you could go to the bathroom?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley

Okay.

[00:25:00]

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

At midnight, there was a crew change. There was no way I was sleeping. There was noise, the doors slamming all the time. Everything’s steel and concrete, and they’re processing people all night long, and bing, bing, bang. I was not aware at the time that there was some of my friends that had been arrested that day either. But anyways, we met the next day.

Somewhere after midnight, it’s time to pee again. I get up and knock at the door, and a lady shows up. “Yeah, what do you want?” “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.” “Okay, put on your mask.” “No, I don’t have a mask, and I don’t wear a mask, and I was allowed and processed in this facility with a mask exemption.” “Well, we don’t care about mask exemptions.”

Well, hearing that discussion, the sergeant comes from the desk. He puts his face about 12 inches from mine, and he’s turning red, and he’s F-bombing me that, “You’re going to wear this effing mask because I’m here to protect my staff. And I don’t care about your effing medical, whatever it’s called, to not wear a mask.” And I says, “Well, I’m not going to wear a mask.” I was looking at him. He turned so red, I thought he was going to explode. That’s how livid he was. He wasn’t wearing a mask. Anyways, I just stared him down, and I finally said, “I am not going to wear a mask.” And he slammed the door, slid the window off. Basically, tough luck, buddy.

So I turned around very depressed about that and very innervated by the force of his voice and the closeness and the redness in his face. And his eyes were just bleeding. I thought he was going to blow a fuse. And I turned around, and oh my goodness, there’s a floor drain in the corner. And so I relieved myself in a floor drain in a corner. How embarrassing is that? But it was a solution, and for the rest of the night, I didn’t have to bang on the door and have that kind of treatment by this staff that had replaced the earlier staff, which was very kind, all the way through.

In fact, so kind that one time— Around 11 o’clock, they were ready to go. He knocked at the door, one of the jailers, a very young, obviously a very junior member. He said, “I’ve got good news for you.” “Oh, what?” He says, “I’ve got news from your son.” I said, “My son, he lives in Michigan.”

“Yeah, but he went to school with one of the officers that refused to arrest you. And I’m not going to mention the name.” But he said, “Your son sends off a message, ‘Dad, I’m proud of you. You’re my hero.’” And so, it was a moment of joy that this young officer, the jailer, had brought me. It was like a gift. It made me very emotional, and I still am.

And so after midnight, it’s just regular freezing to death in there. There’s no way to stay warm. The little blanket was used as a pillow because it’s all concrete. A big concrete pad, probably the size of this table. And you have to stretch out in there and try to be comfortable. There was no way to sleep. I didn’t get any sleep. And the next morning, they finally came around 11 or 12, saying, “You can call a lawyer. Which lawyer do you want to see?” I said, “Rocco Galati.” “Okay, we’ll get in touch with Rocco Galati, and we’ll see if you can have an interview with him.” And so they did call, and he was not available. So they came back and said, “No.”

Shawn Buckley

Gerry, I’m just going to speed you up a bit because some of that we don’t need, but—

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Okay.

Shawn Buckley

But you were eventually released after 16 hours and put on conditions.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Got to see a magistrate, read the riot act, signed the— “Under duress.” If you look at my signature on that release order, it’s written, “under duress.” They did not pick up on that, I guess, because I scribbled it. But you can probably see it. And I was let go.

I asked them, I says, “Can you call my wife and have her pick me up?” “No, we don’t do that here,

[00:30:00]

but if you go downstairs, you’ll go to the end of the block, and there’s police services in there, and you can go in there and have them do that.”

Well, I did that, and they wouldn’t do it. So here I am, in the middle of, I don’t remember the name of the street there, York or whatever. So I turn around, I say, “Okay, well, I’m just going to walk to St. Boniface. There’s a couple restaurants that I could use their phones there,” because I had no phone, no nothing.

Shawn Buckley

Gerry, I’m just going to focus you because we don’t need that much detail. I was just trying to get that you were, basically, prohibited from having contact with people and the effect that was going to have on you under that court order.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

But there’s one interesting part about my walk back home, I have to say it. Because on the opposite side of the street, there was a release of another one of the top five, Miss Vickner. And all of a sudden, we get to Main St. You can imagine, she’s walking on one side, I’m walking on the other side. And we say, “Oh, my goodness.” And we went and we crossed and we looked and we were so timid. And we hugged. And then, we went each our own way, not to be all of a sudden discovered. Because we were told not to be within 200 metres of each other or any of the five.

But anyways, I got a hug in before I entered St. Boniface. Okay, go ahead.

Shawn Buckley

So how did it make you feel? Because once you were under the court order, it did basically stop your activities.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

My voice was extinguished for over a year.

Shawn Buckley

Right. So for over a year, you couldn’t participate in rallies.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

None. Under the pressure that I would go to jail until the trial date, which was never revealed to us until many months later. It was almost a year, anyways.

Shawn Buckley

Right. So basically, the force of the state succeeded in silencing your voice.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I was depressed. I was sad. I was not permitted to do something that I enjoyed so much, talking to people about alternative health and how to stay well in spite of a so-called “virus” that’s going to cause so much havoc. I didn’t believe in that theory anyways.

Shawn Buckley

Thank you. I’ve got no further questions except that I want you to share how you learned about losing your job.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

The night after the first rally we went to, there was a couple of young individuals that picked the pictures out of the [Winnipeg] Free Press, and on their Facebook, I guess, said, “Hey, we got to find out who these people are. We got to find out who they work for. And we got to get these people fired.” And it got to the company that I was working at.

And oh, my God. So they, in a knee-jerk reaction, immediately published a letter to the Free Press and to the government saying that we have no affiliation with Dr. Bohemier. None. So that night after the rally, when this was all happening— Because the Free Press had published the papers already, published the pictures already. I found out while at home celebrating that we had such a great rally that— You’re being fired. You don’t have a job anymore. They’re saying that they’ve cut costs. I says, “What?”

No, I know these guys; I’ve known them for 35 years. They would never fire me without at least calling me and telling me, “Hey, we got a problem. We got a PR problem. We’re going to have to let you go. We got to disassociate our company from your activities.” That never happened; it still hasn’t happened today.

Shawn Buckley

Right. So basically, you were fired because of people’s actions and social shaming.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

And it wasn’t a big job. But for a 72-year-old, one day a week, I was in there doing paperwork, making sure that all processes got done properly so that we could certify that the product could be released to the public. So that’s what the quality assurance person was entitled to do. The quality assurance person had to have a degree, and I did have a degree. So I fit all the criteria, and, man, it paid really well. A couple hours every Wednesday I’d drive in 75 kilometres from our farm and did all that paperwork for them, and said goodbye, and they gave me a big fat check every month.

Shawn Buckley

Right. Thank you. I have no further questions. The commissioners might have some questions for you.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes, sir.

Commissioner Drysdale

Good afternoon, Dr. Bohemier.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Good afternoon.

Commissioner Drysdale

When at the time that your employer fired you had you been convicted of a crime?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

No, not at all. Never been convicted of any crime.

[00:35:00]

Commissioner Drysdale

I think somewhere in your presentation you mentioned that you felt you were under pressure. Did you feel like you were under pressure when you made the decision to go to these rallies? Were you apprehensive about doing that?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

No, on the contrary, going to these rallies was like, oh, my goodness, my voice can be heard here. I really believed that the things that I had to say would help people, would help people lose the fear. I saw the fear campaign, and I needed to go to these rallies. I felt I needed to be there.

Commissioner Drysdale

But did you not understand that there was some potential for retribution or fining in any of these activities that you undertook?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Not at the time, not at the first ones. But once the tickets started being delivered, yes. I knew that it was game up. Because I had nine tickets. But we did probably 15, maybe 20 rallies.

Commissioner Drysdale

So there was at some point in time when you did understand that there may be consequences?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Yes, at that point, I thumbed my nose up at the consequences. I was going to speak, and people needed to hear that they don’t have to be afraid of a virus.

Commissioner Drysdale

The reason I ask you that question is because previous witnesses today said that other people have felt pressure in their positions and that perhaps explained why they didn’t serve the Manitobans. I’m particularly talking about the judge who testified today that other judges must have felt pressure. And my point is, you must have felt pressure, too, but you did what you thought was right.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

I did so. And when I received the notice that I was no longer employed, I was expecting a phone call to tell me what had happened. They never did that. But I retired at that point. I made up my mind, I don’t need that job. And therefore, although it was great people to work with and the products that they produced were great, I just quit. And so, basically, that was a relief off of my shoulders. I don’t have to worry about Wednesday mornings anymore, going to spend a day at the factory. So no, I just— Get me out at a rally and give me a horn. I felt I was doing something. That was important to me.

Commissioner Drysdale

Thank you, doctor.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

You’re welcome.

Shawn Buckley

Thank you, Dr. Bohemier. On behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry— Oh, I’m sorry, there is another question. I apologize, Commissioner.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Oh, sorry.

Commissioner Kaikkonen

I’m just wondering: If you had another opportunity to speak to those ambassadors who came pounding your door, what would be the words that you would tell them?

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Knowing that they were hired thugs, I would have not spoken to them. I would not have given them five minutes of my time. I would have gone to the police officers. I says, “Get these people off my property.” And they would have had to. Because unless they had a court order to be on a property, they would not have been able to be there.

Commissioner Kaikkonen

Thank you.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

You’re welcome.

Shawn Buckley

Sorry to be premature commissioners.

So, Gerald, on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, we sincerely thank you for coming and sharing your story today. It was very important to hear your experience.

Dr. Gerald Bohemier

Thank you for the opportunity.

[00:38:52]

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

Dr. Gerald Bohemier is a retired chiropractor. When COVID hit, he was working part-time as a quality assurance supervisor for a natural health product company. As a firm believer in natural health, he was suspicious about the COVID dogma from the outset and started attending rallies questioning this dogma.

He states that, while there was always a police presence at the rallies, initially this presence was more observant than obtrusive. Quickly the police became more intrusive and authoritarian. He states that protesters were always peaceful. He describes outright intimidation that he faced as a result of his participation in protests. He received nine tickets for protesting, including seven that were delivered to his home from what he described as large, tattooed, belligerent men who were not police but were escorted by police.

He describes his arrest, and the abuses suffered, from the police not following established procedures, to being detained without bail, to being only allowed one layer of clothing, to being denied access to a toilet. He was held for 16 hours before being released under a court order that prohibited him from having contact with certain people. For almost a year, he was banned from attending rallies.
He also lost his job as a result of his protest work.