Ezra Levant and lawyer Aaron Rosenberg launch maskexemption.ca, offering legal guides and wallet cards to bypass Toronto’s Bylaw 541-2020, which mandates masks despite near-zero ICU cases by July 20th. The bylaw exempts medical conditions (Section 2A3) and human rights protections (Section 2D), but Levant criticizes Mayor John Tory for hypocrisy and enforcement gaps, calling the law "cowardly." With 9,000 Canadian pandemic deaths, they warn mask mandates could spread despite fading risks, leaving citizens to navigate bureaucratic overreach. [Automatically generated summary]
Today I announce a new project called Maskexemption.ca.
I sit down with a civil liberties lawyer and look through Toronto's mask bylaw and study the exemptions.
And there are exemptions.
And we've created a card that you can keep in your own wallet to show shopkeepers their obligations and your exemptions.
I hope you find this interesting.
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That's at RebelNews.com.
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It helps us stay afloat, I'll tell you that.
All right, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, are you exempt from your city's mask bylaw?
It's July 20th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is government will walk publishing is because it's my bloody right to do so.
You know, when the pandemic was in its earliest days, we didn't know how it was spread.
We didn't know how contagious it was, and we certainly didn't know how deadly it would be.
We knew one thing for sure.
China was lying about it the same way that the Soviet Union lied about Chernobyl.
In the end, Chernobyl claimed only about 100 lives.
I mean, it was an economic disaster, and of course, for those hundreds who died, some of them most painfully, it was a tragedy.
But in the end, the scale of the disaster was limited.
What would it be like with the Chinese virus that emanated from Wuhan?
We might never know until the fall of the Communist Party in China.
It took us till the end of the Soviet Union to learn the truth about Chernobyl.
But in those very early days, we didn't have reliable information.
People were scared, and reports came from Italy of the virus tearing through that first world country, too.
We looked to countries like Taiwan, a country that's just across the straits from China, has a lot of back-and-forth flights to China, and yet managed to contain the virus there with less than 10 deaths in total so far in a country of 23 million people.
One of the ways they did it, they said, was masks for everyone.
Cheap, clean, hygienic masks distributed for free at the country's drugstores, like a prescription.
You just pop by and pick up your mask allotment.
So precious were these masks that they banned their exports, the Taiwanese government giving away to allies as gifts as compared to the unhygienic or flawed PPE that came from China itself.
But was it the masks that protected Taiwan?
Or was it their policy of a very strict quarantine?
For example, if Taiwanese citizens were in China, including in Wuhan, they were simply not allowed back to Taiwan, even if they were citizens, if they had the virus.
There were also strict quarantines for people who had risk profiles.
So instead of letting the borders stay open and locking down the whole country, they did what the medieval cities of Europe did during the plague.
They only put the sick people in quarantine to let the healthy people live free.
I say this now with some hindsight because I remember in those early weeks interviewing public health officials from Taiwan who said masks were a very important part of it.
And indeed they did say so and I believed it and maybe they were.
But I can't help but thinking now that the most important part was the absolutely airtight quarantine of people who actually were in virus areas.
Fast forward to July.
Thank God the pandemic is over.
Here's the chart of pandemic cases in Ontario.
Here's the chart from other jurisdictions.
The pandemic's over.
You can see it peaked in mid-April and thankfully was never more than a fraction of the doomsday scenarios issued by every political leader in Canada.
So why, now that the pandemic has been over for more than two months, why are there policies to bring in mandatory masks only now?
Back in March and April when we didn't know the facts and when the best practitioners in the world, the Taiwanese, were giving out masks for everyone, it would have made sense.
At least it was the best practices from the best country when the virus was still growing.
But now, months after the virus has receded, where many provinces haven't had a single new case in days, let alone someone in hospital, where even the largest cities in Canada, like Toronto, don't even have a single patient in an ICU in an entire hospital.
Why the mandatory masks just now?
Is it because Justin Trudeau bought $2 billion worth of masks months ago and they've only arrived now, grossly overpriced, and he wants to have a cause to use them?
Is that why?
Or is it more nefarious than that?
Is it to keep people in a state of fear, to condition people to obey, to keep control over the country?
That's what some people on the more paranoid end of the spectrum would say.
I don't know, but I don't like it, especially when it comes from politicians who themselves don't seem to follow any of the rules that they have for the little people.
So today we talk about a website we've created called maskexemption.ca.
And it comes from my own personal experience here in Toronto, a city with an idiot mayor who went to a crowded park where he did not socially distance himself from anyone and he wore the mask bizarrely under his chin while he talked to people.
Mask Exemption Cards00:11:13
That blooming idiot has now passed a law requiring everyone to wear a mask, even when he did not do so weeks and weeks ago.
My own experience was I went into a Starbucks and I was told by the young staff there to put on a mask and they didn't know the law, they didn't know the rule and I certainly wasn't going to debate with teenagers about it.
They just said for me to do it.
But I knew that the law had an exemption, a lot of exemptions actually.
It's actually quite a bizarre law.
If you think it applies to you, it applies to you.
But if you don't, if you have an exemption, then it doesn't apply to you and you're not required to explain why.
And so in today's show, we'll sit down with our civil liberties lawyer, Aaron Rosenberg, and go through the Toronto bylaw and explain what you have to do and what you don't have to do and what shopkeepers are not allowed to do and the risk to them if they try it.
This law is the worst in Canada, but there are other varieties of laws.
And over the weeks ahead, as we find out more mask laws around the country, we'll update the website maskexemption.ca to address those specific bylaws.
So today's will focus on Toronto.
It's the biggest city in the country.
We'll explain the exemptions and how you can lawfully use them.
And most importantly, we'll publish on maskexemption.ca a simple, easy to understand legal guide for shopkeepers and members of the public both, so that we all know our rights and responsibilities under these laws.
Finally, we will have little laminated cards suitable for carrying in your wallet.
So when you go into a store and you're asked about your mask, you can say the exemption.
And if they don't believe you or trust you, or if they start to grill you, you can take out your card and read the law.
And if that's not enough to convince them, the website maskexemption.ca is right on the card and they can see for themselves.
Now, I don't recommend getting into a fuss or a fight.
The shopkeepers and the clerks who work at stores, they're not the ones who wrote this foolish law.
The damn fool mayor is.
And I think it is a shucking off of responsibility that the mayor is making shopkeepers the enforcers, something that police or bylaw officers wouldn't or couldn't do.
So be polite out there.
Don't get into fights.
Don't raise the temperature, but calmly and coolly educate people.
This is based on a project I saw, the ACLU in the United States, giving people a little card to read when they're arrested.
They're Miranda rights, what they should tell a police officer, just in their wallet.
This would be the same thing, but telling the clerk at your local shop, you don't want to fight with them, but neither do you want them to be used by a mayor to muzzle you.
Stay tuned for our episode of maskexemption.ca.
The other day I went to a Starbucks and I was told by the teenage workers there that I couldn't come in without a face mask.
Now I've read the Toronto mask bylaw and I know there's an exemption in it and I told these kids that, but they're just kids.
They weren't going to, I didn't want to argue with them and they weren't really in a position to argue with me so I just stood at the door and they gave me my Starbucks.
But I wasn't pleased with it.
Then I went to a neighborhood shop that I go into every week and the lady there had a face mask on but it wasn't even covering her nose.
She told me to put a mask on too and I said, hang on, you're not even wearing your mask properly.
She said, I know, but I'm wearing it.
Put one on.
And I thought, I don't want to go around life arguing with friends, people who I deal with on a regular basis, but neither do I want to have them impose some unscientific mask law on me.
Now that the pandemic is over and we know, well, really, the mask doesn't do much and it certainly doesn't do anything now.
And I also know that there are specific exemptions in the law.
And so I thought, what would happen if we helped educate shopkeepers everywhere, maybe with a little card, to teach them that there are exemptions in the law.
And in fact, if they don't respect those exemptions, and worse, if they actually grill a customer like me about the exemptions, that is against the law.
And so we came up with the idea of a card, a laminated card, that people in Toronto or other cities could have.
And if other cities across Canada do bring in mask bylaws, we could have cards for those cities too.
And you could get that card at a new website, maskexemption.ca.
And for every jurisdiction, Toronto or any other places that make a mandatory law rule, we would have right on the website an explanation of the requirements to provide proper exemptions.
And joining me now in studio to talk about the exemptions in Toronto's law, and there'll be other similar exemptions and laws around the country, is our friend Aaron Rosenberg, a lawyer with ReLaw LLP.
Aaron, great to see you again.
Thank you so much.
Now the main thing that I as a citizen feel is I don't want to fight with people who are my friends and neighbors and teenagers working in a Starbucks.
I don't want to be the lawyer guy, but just because they don't know there's an exemption, I don't want to have them force me to put on a muzzle, especially now that there's next to zero risk.
The law, and let's talk about Toronto's bylaw 541 2020, it's called.
It actually has a long list of exemptions, doesn't it?
It sure does.
You know, some of the exemptions include if you have an underlying medical condition that makes it impossible for you to wear a mask.
And one of the other main ones that we'll be talking about is where there's a protected ground under the Human Rights Code that is reasonably accommodated by not wearing the mask.
So that could include, I don't know if it was your religion or if there was some other inherent characteristic.
That's sort of a human rights catch-all.
That's section 2A5 of the law.
I'll just read it.
The policy shall include the following exemptions from the requirement to wear a mask or face covering.
Persons who are reasonably accommodated by not wearing a mask or face covering in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
That's the one I want to focus on today.
So if someone has a medical condition, obviously.
People under two years old, you know, little kids, not covered, obviously.
People who need help to remove it or put it back on, obviously.
But let's talk about 2A5, because that's the basis upon which a number of people, I think, could legally carry a card and say, hey, shopkeeper, don't want to fight, but please check out maskexemption.ca and educate yourself because not only do I have the right to be exempt from the mask, but if you ask me questions about it, that's against the law, isn't it?
Well, yeah, that's right.
I mean, it's very clear, okay, that a person does not need to, a patron does not need to provide proof that they are exempted by one of these exemptions, which you just pointed out.
But unfortunately, the way it appears, based on your experience and the experience of many others, is that there does need to be some sort of proof, something that people can show storekeepers who otherwise just aren't aware of the law and the exemptions to say, look, I need help.
And it's no different than a handicap sticker, for example, which I think is the prime example.
We don't require those that have some sort of disability to express the disability every single time they go somewhere in the city.
Instead, we have a very clear emblem that says, I need this parking spot.
Here's the sticker.
It's a visual stamp that shows that.
So that's why I think these mask exemption cards are important, because normally the people that need the exemption or need the assistant the most are the ones that need this type of support the most.
Yeah.
And again, I don't blame the shopkeepers I've encountered in the last few days for not knowing the law.
How could they?
They're not experts.
This law was just cooked up.
It's so weird that they're bringing in the mandatory mask now in July after the pandemic's over instead of in March and April when things were really iffy.
And, you know, the first case I mentioned of some teenage staffers at Starbucks, how on earth would they possibly know?
And you don't want to get into a fight, but if you just had a card that said, hey, click here, guys, and just educate yourself a little bit on the law because I don't want you breaking the law of exemptions.
Let me read section 2D.
So 2A outlined the exemptions, and we read one of them.
But 2D says the policy shall not require employees or members of the public to provide proof of any of the exemptions set out in Section 2A.
So, I mean, I suppose you could tell the shopkeeper what your exemption was if you wanted to talk about it, but this would be like if some shopkeeper said, prove you're handicapped.
Prove you can't use your legs.
You're in a wheelchair.
Prove it.
That would be crazy.
Same thing here.
If you have an exemption from this face mask, you could talk about it if you want, but no employee has the right to make you prove it.
Is that what Section 2D of the bylaw says?
That's exactly what it says.
That's the letter of the law.
But what we're seeing from the stories that are out there, from the reports, is that shopkeepers and patrons are having this tussle over what is an exemption, who is exempted, what's a bona fide exemption.
That's all happening at the scene of these establishments.
And again, that's why it's so important for people to be able to know what their rights are, to prove that in fact they do have an exemption, because the law says you don't need to prove it, but in practice it looks like you're going to have to.
We're going off the Toronto City bylaw.
Elsewhere on our page, maskexemption.ca, we will look at the analogous wording in, for example, there's a bunch of towns and cities in the Peel Regional Municipality that have similar laws.
I think that one city writes the law and another, a lot of others just sort of cookie cut or copy it.
System of Beliefs Exemption00:02:54
But we will have the tweaked wording for the different laws.
I want to come to one exemption that I want to talk to you about.
If you have a physical handicap, you can't put on a mask, you don't have the ability to take it on or off, that's specifically laid out in Section 2A3.
But Section 2A5 says anything covered with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
So that's everything from national origin to gender to physical ability.
But they also have one word in there that I find interesting, creed, C-R-E-E-D, from the Latin credo, I believe.
Creed means a belief system, doesn't it?
Yeah, it sure does.
I mean, it's the courts have recognized a creed to be a reflection of a comprehensive system of beliefs.
And so you'll see that across Canada, people have used creed as a test ground to insert various types of belief systems.
So for example, we've seen cases where vegans have brought forth tests with respect to creed or those that disagree with animal cruelty.
And so they'll use that creed as a way to show, look, this is my system of beliefs and it should be protected.
So it's more than just a hunch or a political talking point.
It's a deep-seated system of beliefs, and we might find them unusual or strange, but other people deeply believe in them.
So for example, I suppose atheism is quite obviously a creed.
Well, that's right.
It's the absence of a religion.
But it's a worldview, it's a system of beliefs.
Exactly.
And so that's, it's a bit of a catch-all to cover those that might not necessarily be viewed as a religion.
Got it.
So obviously an atheist, I don't think there's anything in atheism that would be against wearing a face mask.
But if someone like me had a deep-seated belief in personal liberty, who spent his whole life fighting for personal liberty, likes to think I believe in science and minimal infringements on personal liberty, my creed is live free or die.
And my creed is I don't bend the knee to some junk science politicians in City Hall passing a law saying I have to wear a mask three months after the pandemic's over.
That's my creed.
Now I'm not asking you to be a doctor telling me that's an exemption.
I'm not asking you to be a judge judging my creed.
I'm just saying that's my creed.
And whether or not some court or some professor later on says libertarian, you know, small government lifestyle, which I have practiced my entire life, is a creed.
Mask Exemption Rights00:13:44
That's not the point because the real point is the shopkeeper is not allowed to ask you to prove it.
Well, that's exactly right.
So that would be, in my view, a reasonable position to take.
Now, do you win the day at the end of a human rights tribunal case?
That would be left to be seen.
But ultimately, again, as you pointed out, the shopkeeper is not in a position to be challenging that exemption.
So maybe one day a judge or a human rights tribunal member would say, nah, Levant, believing in personal freedom, living a small government belief system, that's not a creed.
And I couldn't see that happening in Canada, frankly.
I happen to believe it is a creed.
But what you're saying is it's not for the shopkeeper to decide because Section 2D says the policy shall not require employees or members of the public to provide proof of any of the exemptions set out in Section 2A.
And that's the problem with this whole bylaw system, is that the burden has been placed onto shopkeepers, shopkeepers that have been hit hard by the pandemic, that want to rebuild their business, and frankly probably do not want to be dealing with this issue.
But because the city, for whatever reason, has decided that they don't want to be the ones enforcing this issue, they've left it to the shopkeepers to be the bad guys.
Yeah, I think it's a cowardly approach to lawmaking.
Instead of having city police, which by the way have other things to do.
Instead of having bylaw officers do it, they have other real things to do.
They're actually trying to turn every shopkeeper into a cop, into a bylaw officer.
It's incredibly unfair on the shopkeepers.
It's unfair to customers who, when they deal with a cop, at least know the cop understands the law.
When I'm dealing with those teenage staffers at Starbucks, I'm not going to push back on them like I would a cop because how on earth would they know the law?
They're just teenage Starbucks workers.
I think this is a cowardly law written by cowardly politicians.
But there is that safety valve of Section 2D.
The policy shall not require employees or members of the public to provide proof of any of the exemptions set out in Section 2A.
So it is my creed, my worldview, my deeply held belief system that I've practiced my whole life, that I am not going to wear a muzzle because John Torrey, the cowardly mayor of Toronto or any other mayor, says so without scientific or epidemiological basis.
So the way that you articulated that, try to imagine now if we go for a walk, go into a Starbucks, you're going to have the same kid there and you're going to express this well-articulated creed at the same time.
No chance, no chance.
And they would laugh at me, and by the way, I wouldn't want to put them through that because they're just a kid working at Starbucks or they're just a gal at the bakery that I go to get sandwiches.
I don't want to turn everything into a fight.
And that's where maskexemption.ca comes in.
Because we are going to have little cards that have these key sections of the law explaining the rights.
So you don't have to talk, you don't have to argue, just show the card.
And they'll have the website, maskexemption.ca, that will link to this video and other short videos explaining a video for employers, a video for members of the public, and what the law is.
And hopefully, the combination of the card that has the summary and the info right on it and the website for those who are truly interested will diffuse most of these situations.
I've seen this before.
The ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, had little cards sometimes that they would give out to people for what to say if they were arrested.
Now in that case, you're dealing with professional police officers who would say, oh, they have the right to remain silent.
I know that's true.
I'm not going to argue.
I don't think this is going to be 100% successful because you're going to have some shopkeepers who are confused and scared and angry and stressed out.
But I hope that maskexemption.ca, combined with people using that card calmly and say, listen, I understand you're confused by the new law.
Please take a second to look at my rights and your responsibilities.
And if you need more, click on maskexemption.ca because I have an exemption and you're not actually allowed to even ask me about it.
So please take a look.
Yeah.
Well, I think that's really, I hope that that will be effective.
I think this is an important initiative for those that disagree in principle with the mask bylaws, but also those that really have a bona fide protected ground other than that that need the assistance and may not be able to articulate it.
Yeah, that's right.
No one under two has to wear a mask.
Anyone who has an underlying medical condition, including it's difficult to breathe.
That's such an important one.
It's difficult to breathe with a mask.
Anyone who needs help to remove or put on the mask.
There are a lot of exemptions.
The one that I would likely rely on is Creed.
All right.
I want to close on this.
And we'll put this up as a separate video on the website.
Advice to shopkeepers.
So a shopkeeper comes on maskexemption.ca, they're a little confused, they're a little put off because they have a problem that they didn't want.
What is the number one thing that shopkeepers need to know about someone with a maskexemption.ca card?
Well, you know, I would say that it's really no questions policy.
If the exemption is cited, you don't need proof of the exemption, and so you just let the person go about their business.
Because according to this bylaw, there's nothing you can do.
And in fact, if you try to make someone prove the exemption, you could be violating their rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Well, that's right.
And you know what?
That's a really interesting point, is that it appears that the contravention provision is meant to address those that are not complying.
That would be establishments that do not put in place a policy or those that are not complying with it.
But there's another side to this, which you pointed out, which is that if establishments are not complying with the exemptions, then they could be at risk of contravening it itself.
So a good practice for a shop would be ask people to put on a mask, but as soon as they say, no, I'm exempt, you can't ask questions about it and you should accommodate the exemption because it's not up to you to judge the exemption.
It may be up to someone else, maybe the Human Rights Commission, it may be the police, but it ain't up to the shopkeepers.
Yeah, it's really, there is no right to get into a cross-examination with a patron who was citing an exemption.
It would be like demanding someone in a wheelchair prove they can't use their legs.
It's unseemly, and it's certainly not in the spirit of the bylaw as it was drafted.
All right.
So that's your advice for shopkeepers.
What's your advice for a customer, a citizen, someone like me who just wants a coffee, just wants a sandwich?
I think probably the key is stay calm, realize you're not dealing with trained police officers or lawyers.
And to me, I would think, calmly invite them to read what the law is on the card.
And if that doesn't put the problem away, have them go to maskexemption.ca.
That's my hunch.
What would you say as a lawyer to a customer who wants to use this mask exemption card?
Well, I agree.
I mean, I think that directing the shop owner or the shopkeeper to the mask exemption website and the card and trying to explain it.
I think the focus is de-escalation because I think what we've seen in the reports of those that are citing exemptions is that things escalate quickly and not necessarily between the most important parties being the patron and the shopkeeper, but rather those other folks around that decide that they want to interject as a political matter to reflect on their political issues.
We saw that recently in Ontario, a tragic case of a actually turning into a shooting, if you can believe it.
And tempers are high, stress is high, people are unemployed, there's a lot of genuine worry about the pandemic and a lot of fake worry and public health theater, I call it.
So this is a challenging situation.
Well, Erin, I got one last question for you.
If there is a customer out there who uses the mask exemption and has his rights violated under Section 2D, if a shopkeeper tries to grill him for proof of the exemption, and again, I say Section 2D specifically says you cannot demand proof.
Would you consider, with our assistance to crowdfunded, would you consider legally representing that customer against whoever was violating 2D, whether that's going to the Human Rights Commission or just writing a demand letter to, I mean, I don't know what the remedy would be, but would you be interested in helping people whose rights were violated by not having their mask exemption respected?
The short answer is yes, and the long answer is very quite simple.
And this is my belief with respect to all laws, is that laws are in place to be enforced.
Otherwise, what's the point?
Now, whether that's a bylaw or whether that's federal legislation, you have to be able to access the mechanisms in the law to enforce your rights.
And so this bylaw provides a very clear path to enforce and to examine the law, the issue that you're being attacked on, not being allowed to use your exemption.
So yes, it's important for people to enforce those laws, and I would be privileged and honored in order to be able to do so.
All right.
Well, we might take you up on that if we have problems.
So folks, there you have it.
A detailed review of Toronto's mask bylaws.
I deal with Toronto because we're based here in Toronto, Aaron's in Toronto.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, and I fear it will be a template for other mask requirement cities too.
So we've shown you the sections in Toronto's bylaw.
In the course of time, we will have other mask bylaws in Canada up there too.
You can order your mask exemption card, which will be a laminated card that you can keep in your wallet.
You want to keep it on you because when you go into establishments, you want to pull it out if you have that problem.
And I'm afraid you are going to have that problem because most people don't know about the exemption.
My advice is stay calm, keep the energy low, and just calmly and say, I know you haven't heard of this, but here's the law.
Please read it.
If you're still skeptical, please go to maskexemption.ca.
Hopefully, they will.
And if your rights are violated, you can fill out the form on maskexemption.ca and tell us what happens.
And if it's a case that we think would help set a precedent, you heard them, Aaron would take the case and we would crowdfund that so you yourself would not be on the hook for the costs.
So go to maskexemption.ca to read the law, learn about your rights, and most importantly, learn how shopkeepers, who are really victims of this too, don't have the power to demand proof of you.
You can, I suppose, make a little mask exemption card yourself, but if you order one from us, we'll mail it to you.
It'll come, a little laminated card, and it'll have the specific sections and the website that you can show people.
It's something to keep in your wallet as you go around the city until this madness ends.
So make sure to go to maskexemption.ca.
Erin, thanks very much.
We fight for civil liberties.
We don't just talk about them.
We fight for them.
Thank you so much.
All right.
go to maskexemption.ca.
Well, what do you think of maskexemption.ca?
It's a very strange law.
I think it's a cowardly law.
But it's a law that's turning every single person in town into some sort of a snitch or enforcer just when the virus itself is gone.
The number of deaths in Toronto is lower than it's been since February before the pandemic was officially declared in mid-March.
I think that this law is terrible.
It sets us against each other and keeps us apart.
That's been the true cost of the pandemic.
9,000 lives lost, each are a tragedy, it's true.
But what it's done to society, well, that's what politicians have done.
Visit maskexemption.ca to learn more and to order your mask exemption card for your wallet.
That's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rubble World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.