David Menzies, Drea Humphrey, and Andrew Chapados dissect Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park tent city—100+ homeless encampments near a school, ignored despite court orders, threats to petitioner Cynthia Dyadek, and $2,500 damage from a mall security incident in Thunder Bay where Carol Jansen claims assault. Goodyear’s CEO Rich Kramer faces backlash after Trump’s boycott call over a dress code banning MAGA but allowing BLM, exposing ideological double standards amid potential police contract losses. The episode ties corporate virtue-signaling and municipal inaction to broader failures of public safety accountability. [Automatically generated summary]
You're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show, Rebel Roundup.
Tonight my guests are Drea Humphrey and Andrew Chapados.
Now if you like listening to this podcast, then you would love watching it.
But in order to watch, you need to be a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's what we call our long format TV style shows here on The Rebel.
Subscribers get access to watching my weekly show as well as other great TV style shows too.
It's only $8 a month to subscribe or you can subscribe annually and get two months free.
And just for podcast listeners, you can also save an extra 10% on a new premium membership by using the coupon code PODCAST when you subscribe.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com to become a member.
And please leave a five-star review on this podcast and subscribe in iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Those reviews are a great way to support Rebel News without spending a dime.
And now, enjoy this free audio-only version of my show.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite Rebels.
I'm your host, David Menzies.
So much for the tagline, beautiful British Columbia.
Oh, yeah, the gorgeous mountains and the magnificent Pacific Ocean.
They're still mainstays on Canada's left coast, but so too these days are filthy tent cities.
Tent City Controversy00:11:39
Drea Humphrey visited one of the latest ones to pop up in Victoria, right near an elementary school.
And what a bad month for a good year.
No, not due to a tire recall, but rather thanks to the company implementing a discriminatory dress code that was seemingly designed by Uber woke social justice warriors.
Andrew Chapados has plenty to say on this PR disaster.
And finally, letters, we get your letters.
We get your letters every minute of every day.
And I'll share some of your responses regarding my report on Carol Jansen of Thunder Bay, who allegedly got roughed up by security guards and was banned for life when she visited the intercity shopping center.
Her crime being breaching Wuhan virus safety protocols.
Oh, just will you hear this one, folks?
Those are your rebels.
Now let's round them up.
Many parents have been tasked with weighing the mental health pros for keeping their children in school this fall against possible cons linked to the repetitive worse than the first wave of COVID-19 warnings we've been getting.
But parents whose children attend South Park Elementary in Victoria, BC have a unique concern to weigh regarding the well-being of their children, and that is the ever-growing tent city that's located directly across the street from their children's school.
Drea Humphrey here with Rebel News and this past weekend I took a walk through Beacon Hill Park.
This beautiful park which is described by Victoria.ca as the crowning jewel in Victoria's park system has become less popular for families to enjoy.
Its approximately 740,000 square meters of parkland is now being utilized as a tent city of over 100 homeless people.
According to Victoria.ca, a court order was granted to the city that required tent residents to be reallocated within the park.
While that was probably a step in the right direction, many feel it's not enough.
Concerns about both the threat of the preservation of the park and the safety of the surrounding citizens are still commonly expressed by many.
Stephen Andrew, a candidate running for Victoria City Council, told me that there is an increased police patrols in the park due to reports of increased criminal activity in and around the park.
Many people reach out to him to say that they feel unsafe.
On August 20th, CzechNews.ca reported that according to the police data calls, reports of mischief, weapons, street violence, and break-and-enters in the downtown core are on the rise.
Another common concern when homeless encampments take over any public area is the risks regarding improperly disposed needles, especially given that this encampment is literally across the street from an elementary school like this one.
Global News reported that on August 23rd, Victoria Police issued a warning to the public after a man walking through a trail at the park felt a pain in his foot only to discover he had been poked by an uncapped needle.
Now, the city's mayor, Lisa Helps, sent a letter out to parents at South Park Elementary.
According to CTV News, Helps said that the encampment tents are not in an appropriate place and that the city staff were drafting amendments to bylaws that would prevent sheltering in tents near the school.
Now, with that said, many tax-paying residents are not holding their breath for Mayor Helps and are losing faith in her, especially after Mayor Helps and other city council members stood in favor of deferring enforcement of the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. bylaw that was designed to have the campers cleared out during the day.
Over 25,000 city residents who still have concerns for the rare and sensitive ecology in the park, the safety for the local citizens, as well as who also wish to find an appropriate housing solution for the homeless, have come together to sign a petition to help save Beacon Park.
The petition states that the city of Victoria is actually breaking the law regarding the establishing of a tent city at Beacon Hill Park.
Well, yet again, another tent city fiasco, and yet again, another failure on the behalf of those in government who refuse to govern and those in law enforcement who refuse to enforce the law.
And the end result?
Law-abiding citizens suffer from enduring an eyesore occupied by potentially dangerous people.
Lovely.
And joining me now to discuss her latest descent into Tent City Madness BC style is Drea Humphrey.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, Drea.
Hey, David.
Hey, everyone.
So, Drea, why are these Tent City people getting away with such lawlessness in the first place?
You know, that's a good question.
It's almost as if, in my opinion, that the powers that be, whether it be the mayor or the people voting, are just terrified to actually be stiff on the people in the encampment.
And I know it's a complicated situation, but in this last example, being right across the street from an elementary school is just completely, completely inappropriate.
So you have to be stiffer.
You know, I think you're right.
I think they are being driven by political correctness, but at the same time, I think this is somewhat self-defeating in terms of just plain old-fashioned politics.
What I'm saying, Drea, is that I don't think the residents in tent cities are voting, right?
So that the constituencies of these mayors, these council people, they're the actual tax-paying citizens that are getting sick and tired of putting up with this.
So you would think that would be impetus for them to do something constructive for the people who are actually paying their salaries.
You would think.
I mean, a couple of people had mentioned that Mayor Help in Victoria, BC, where this last tent city that I covered was, had said when she first started that Victoria was too perfect.
So they kind of made the joke that maybe this is just adding a little bit of spice.
But yeah, we have a really big problem in BC with homelessness.
It's on the rise.
Our fatal overdoses continue to be the highest our province has seen.
So there's a real big issue, and people are dying and not finding homes.
And other people are not comfortable walking in their own neighborhoods, even though they pay taxes.
Yeah, and you know, let's talk about the danger aspect.
I mean, let's face it, there are some mentally unstable people.
There are some drug addicts that are part of these encampments, and they've been known to act out violently.
Furthermore, Drea, when it comes to intravenous drug use, aren't there reports in this neighborhood of spent needles, which, you know, God forbid, a child happens upon that.
And that's not a stretch because there's an elementary school nearby, isn't there?
There is.
It's right nearby.
And also this time of year, there's people visiting that aren't aware there's a tent city there.
It's quite a large park.
So you can enter on one end and not realize it and walk through a trail and oops, you have your kids with you.
So yeah, there was that gentleman who just was walking along on the trail and pricks his foot on a used needle.
I mean, how horrifying.
That is horrifying.
And to me, it goes against what we've always been told by our public officials, especially these days with the pandemic, Adria, that public safety trumps everything.
You know, and some elected officials are actually using public safety to trump constitutional rights and freedoms.
So why is it that with this kind of a health hazard, and that's what this is, that the health advocates, you know, the Department of Health aren't declaring an emergency because that's what I think this is, and shutting this down in the name of public health.
Well, apparently there are some sorts of advocates and they are pro the encampment being there.
I know with my last tent city coverage, there was the Indigenous leader advocates, whatever you want to call them.
And so I don't know where the other advocates are for the people.
The lady that I interviewed, Janice Williams, she basically said, you know, the silent majority is, they get in trouble for speaking out.
And this is something that we're seeing in Canada in kind of all aspects right now.
It's not just about tent cities.
It's pretty much if you're saying anything that isn't parroted in mainstream media, then you're going to get some backlash.
And that's why it's so important for the silent majority to keep speaking up, to say, no, this is how most of us think or this is how a lot of us think so that that cancel mob can't survive.
Yeah, no, that's a very good point.
And before we wrap up, Drea, when she said, when she spoke about getting backlash, is she talking about, I don't know, nasty comments online and to me, sticks and stones and all that.
Or was she actually talking about threats of physical violence, you know, people actually coming to our house to, you know, to make a statement, which to me is completely offside.
Where do you think she was going with that comment?
Well, I heard from her and another source that the original lady who is a senior who started the petition, I believe her name is Cynthia Dyadek.
She was actually threatened.
Somebody threatened to slit her throat as well as her dog's throat.
So, yeah, there's actual legitimate threats.
The crime has gone up.
Also, one of the security guards who didn't want to be on camera, he said that they were there to help staff, city staff, be escorted through the park.
So it's quite a scary place to be.
And you guys heard Danis say the comments about what the father and his daughter almost, his daughter almost saw when he went to check out the ladies' bathroom in the park fair.
So that's terrifying.
That's something you can't unsee.
And I don't know, I do read the comments.
I don't usually comment back, but I do like reading them.
And someone hit it on the nail in the comments of that video.
They said they bet it was Jonathan and Eve in there.
But yeah, I mean.
Please, I scare Easy.
Oh, boy.
Well, Drea, a great report on a terrible situation, a terrible situation that exists, as far as I'm concerned, because of a complete lack of political will to do something constructive.
In the meantime, if I was living in this neighborhood, I don't mean to be glib about this.
I'm probably buying some steel-toed boots just so that I don't have a spent needle pricking me in the foot.
Goodyear's Racial Equity Stance00:09:45
What a horrible story that was.
So once again, Drea, thanks so much for joining me today on this important subject.
All right.
Thanks, David.
Bye, everyone.
You got it.
And that was Drea Humphrey in Vancouver.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
Goodyear Tires has apparently been caught lying when they said their anti-MAGA policy going around online didn't come from them at all.
After an anonymous whistleblower from Goodyear released this image to the media showing that Black Lives Matter and LGBT pride attire was acceptable, but Blue Lives or All Lives Matter and MAGA attire were unacceptable, Twitter erupted at the double standard.
The employee said, quote, the thing that we were given in the presentation was from Akron, Ohio, and we were told is for every Goodyear site, whether it was a plant or store.
This even prompted President Trump to chime in online on Twitter saying, don't buy Goodyear tires.
They announced a ban on MAGA hats.
Get better tires for far less.
This is what the radical left Democrats do.
Two can play the same game, and we've got to start playing it now.
The president calling for a boycott is a huge deal for a company.
So obviously, Goodyear responded.
In their statement, the tire giant claimed, the visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear Corporate, nor was it a part of a diversity training class.
They continued, we appreciate the diverse viewpoints of all of our more than 60,000 associates.
We ask associates to not engage in political campaigning of any kind in the workplace for any candidate, party, or political organization.
End quote.
Unfortunately for Goodyear, there has been some leaked audio from a meeting in Topeka, Kansas, which pretty much says exactly what the leaked photo said all along.
If you pride on their face covering shirts or wristbands, that will be deemed approved because it complies with zero tolerance stand.
However, if any associate wears all blue White Lives Matter shirts or face covering, that will be not appropriate.
And that's why you never show all your cards right away.
So supporting BLM is okay.
Trump or police support is not okay, according to Goodyear.
Even by their own statement, Goodyear seems to think that Black Lives Matter is not a political statement or organization, but saying all lives or Blue Lives Matter is.
It's weird how that works.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
So is Goodyear lying and just got caught?
Or are they completely clueless?
Or maybe is it a little bit of both?
Astonishing on so many levels.
First, a company picking and choosing the proper politics and ideology for its employees to support, and then getting caught in a bold-faced lie, and then doing some quick backtracking.
Well, sort of.
Joining me now with more on this sorted story is Andrew Chapatos.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.
Thank you.
I believe this is my second appearance on the coveted David Menzies Rebel Roundup.
Well, thank you so much.
I'm glad you could bake it, Andrew.
Andrew, here's the thing.
Why in the world did Goodyear wade into this PR fiasco?
I thought the idea of a tire company is to make, market, and sell tires, not to get involved in politics in the first place.
What I find usually happens is that there's got to be somebody in the public relations department or somewhere up there in Goodyear where they've been on Twitter.
So they think that everything, everyone supports Black Lives Matter, and it's a great political or a great marketing move for them to say this is great.
Everybody will join in and we'll all get along and we'll probably get more money for supporting Black Lives Matter.
So somebody probably thought, oh, it's a good idea.
It means no harm.
Everybody agrees with it.
Little do they know, or maybe they do know, I don't know, that it is a political organization.
They need to stop pretending.
In their statement, they say they don't allow employees to wear stuff that supports political groups or political candidates.
But that's exactly what Black Lives Matter is.
It's not a grassroots movement.
It's a well-funded organization.
And as everybody knows now, their donations go to Democrat campaigns.
Yeah, and you know, let's be very clear.
When you say Black Lives Matter as a generic statement, well, of course, every reasonable person agrees with that as much as you'd agree that White Lives Matter, Asian Lives Matter, Hindu Lives Matter, however you want to frame it, all lives matter.
But the actual organization, this is something beholden to Marxism, to anarchists.
It is a very odious, anti-democratic organization.
It fuels itself on the violence we see happening in so many American cities right now.
So the idea that Goodyear was ostensibly saying, or their executive team, that this is just a statement of solidarity speaking out against racial inequity and racial injustice.
No, it's not.
Well, that's what they do with everything.
Black Lives Matter, you can't disagree with that.
And anti-fascist, you can't disagree with that.
It goes right up to Women's March, which is founded by a terrorist amongst other people, but one of them is a terrorist, looking up.
Speaking of Linda Sarzour?
No, there's another woman who is a convicted terrorist.
She was a getaway driver in a terrorist act, and she committed immigration fraud.
She's been since removed from the placards, the Wikipedia page and everything.
Wow.
And then there's Children's March.
It's all just names to cover for communism, essentially.
I mean, I hate to just be like so cut and dry like that because everything's either fascism or communism now.
But this is what it is.
Black Lives Matter admits that they're Marxist.
Have on their website destroy the nuclear family unit.
They're obviously anti-police.
They want to defund police.
None of that gets mentioned.
It's just, it's a nice phrase, you guys.
You don't believe it?
Like the people in the restaurants, raise your fist or we're going to yell at you by some scrawny teenagers who don't know what they're talking about.
Now, it should be noted, Andrew, Goodyear's CEO, Rich Kramer, he said several days ago the company had clarified its policy to make it clear that employees can wear apparel expressing support for law enforcement.
And of course, this is in reaction to the boycott announced by President Trump.
That's serious stuff, especially when your shares fall 6% overnight.
But missing from this is whether an employee can wear a MAGA hat or not.
Now, on the flip side, Goodyear says it has a long-standing policy of asking employees of refraining from working place expressions of support for any political candidates.
Well, a MA hat isn't a specific political candidate, of course.
It's a political movement.
So the retraction, the clarification, it's very hazy to me.
I'm not actually sure if I work for Goodyear what I can and cannot wear.
What do you make of this?
I would assume by the wording, as you would with any lawyer's letter or legal document like that, when they say something like that, when they're suggesting it, it means that they can't force you.
We're thinking about suing you.
And I think what they would say in the MAGA defense or the point that you just made is that they would argue, well, obviously you support Trump if you're a MAGA person, but they wouldn't allow such nuance on the other way.
They wouldn't allow you to wear something else and say, well, this is obviously a DNC or a communist thing.
I don't think they would allow room for that argument on the other side because no one ever does.
And as an employer, you do have the right to implement dress code standards.
There's no question about that.
But you can't say, well, this political movement, this ideology, okay, this one not okay.
That is completely offside.
And, you know, that's why I think the president called for the boycott.
And, you know, there was the blowback, of course, Andrew was saying, hey, Goodyear's an American company.
They're based in Akron, Ohio.
There's a plant there.
You know, with this kind of a boycott, Americans risk being thrown out of work.
How dare you, you know, the president do this?
I say, no, no, no.
What these employees, what these Goodyear tire dealers should be doing who might be hurting from this is going to their executives, you know, at Goodyear Corporate and going, what the hell were you guys thinking?
Well, yeah, people could get other tires.
And the thing about this is why they're backtracking so much is they have contracts with tons of police departments.
And one of the quotes from somebody who represented, I forget where, police department, they said, you'll let our tires wear down by us protecting you, but then you'll stab us in the back with these type of statements.
I'm paraphrasing.
That's essentially what it was.
Well, we're allowed to use your tires, but you won't publicly endorse us, essentially.
And they're still pretending Black Lives Matter is not a political organization in this statement.
And that is ludicrous.
And you raise a good point, too.
Think of the thousands and thousands of American law enforcement vehicles that are probably, a large chunk of them, buying Goodyear tires.
If you're in charge of procurement with a police force, is Goodyear at the top of your list right now?
Or maybe you're looking at competitors like Bridgestone and Toyo and Hancock and what have you.
They provide tires for President Trump's motorcade, I'm pretty sure.
That's right.
They have in the past, yeah.
So how hard would it be for them to just switch the contract?
There is some executives, some high-up Goodyear people going into many police departments and probably the White House and apologizing until, I don't know, their gums bleed or something.
Security Guard's Threat00:07:08
100%.
Well, you know, Andrew, it was a great commentary.
And you know, folks, I'll tell you, I think the ostensible reason for a business to be in business, it's to make money, it's to return shareholder value.
It is a business, after all, not a political institution.
Now, in recent years, a lot of big companies have adopted something called CSR Corporate Social Responsibility.
But that's, and traditionally, that's all been about raising money for charities like breast cancer or what have you.
This idea of a company going wading into the weeds of politics, well, look what happened to them.
Let's hope this is a cautionary tale for other companies out there that this is a this is territory that is rife with danger.
Keep it here.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
David Menzies for Rebel News here in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
And folks, I'm with Arrow and Carol Jansen.
They live here in Thunder Bay.
And on July 15th, they came here to the intercity shopping center.
And you're just to do a little bit of shopping.
And then what happened?
Then we went to go sit on the steps.
And within minutes, the security guard had come up to us.
Security guard said we couldn't be sitting on the steps because it was against the law.
Now, Arrow, the reason why he was saying that, I suppose, is that the food court was still closed down due to the Wuhan virus.
It hadn't reopened yet.
And I guess they didn't want people loitering around.
But you are dealing right now with prostate cancer.
You get tired.
So you weren't there to, I don't know, camp out.
You were just there to take a little break before you resumed your journey into the parking lot.
He had no empathy at all for your predicament.
Nothing.
He just was targeting Carol.
And I said, about the masks.
I said, that's the worst thing you could be doing is wearing these masks.
I mean, you're cutting off your oxygen.
And I said, and I need all the oxygen I can get, you know, in my condition.
So then we got up and we started walking out.
And as we were coming towards the exit, I was walking ahead of them.
Apparently, he had hollered out to Carol that, well, Merry Christmas.
And he said that we were banned for life, the two of us.
And he said that we have to vacate the premises.
And we just said, that's fine.
We're leaving now.
And we proceeded to cross into the parking lot to head for our vehicle.
Now, surely this must be the end of the story.
Oh, but there's another epilogue because you went to your new Buick SUV and you were, and it should be noted, folks, you have a handicapped parking sticker.
You are parked in a handicapped space.
And lo and behold, that security guard was not done with you yet, correct?
That's correct.
He wasn't done with us yet.
I had the door open about this much, and they came from behind me and slammed the door closed and threw me against the vehicle and then put handcuffs on me and told me I was under arrest.
And then I had been saying to him, call the police, call the police, because I was, you know, trying to, you know, get away from it.
And I got thrown against the vehicle.
I don't know how many times.
And then because I got thrown this way and I got thrown this way.
Certainly these must have been very powerful throws.
There was $2,500 worth of damage done on your vehicle, wasn't there?
Yes, there was.
Oh, and there is an epilogue to what is already an awful story regarding what was meant to be simply a routine trip to the mall.
Namely, when police arrived on the scene, they charged Carol Jansen with assault.
A security guard claims she spat on him, an allegation Carol vehemently denies.
So let's see what the surveillance cameras have to say, right?
Well, folks, apparently that footage does not exist, even though there was a camera situated just a few meters away from the altercation.
Interesting.
In any event, here's what you had to say about a shopping trip that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Hikaru Midomya writes, Mall security is not allowed to have physical contact with anyone.
It's not in their jurisdiction.
This is 100% illegal, and I hope they get sued and arrested.
Well, Hikura, first of all, all of the allegations have to be proven in a court of law.
That hasn't happened yet, but it does not look good that the mall administration won't even return our phone calls.
And we do want to hear their side of the story.
As for no video footage, hmm, my spidey senses are tingling on that one.
Beckderm writes, malls are a dying thing.
Don't go to the malls.
No need for them anymore.
Well, you are right, Beckderm.
Traditional retail outlets are struggling these days, including the Intercity Shopping Center, which has lost a few key anchor tenants in recent months.
Now, I don't want to see anyone go out of business and I don't want to see people lose their jobs.
But for security to allegedly take such a heavy-handed approach on paying customers, wow, that makes no sense to me.
CDXX writes, my cousin is a nurse in Thunder Bay.
They haven't had a case in weeks.
Well, I'm not sure what the most recent stats are, but I do know that Thunder Bay is certainly no hotbed for the Wuhan virus, perhaps because the city is so remote, which makes the alleged behavior of those security guards all the more bizarre, really, as they were allegedly lashing out in the name of pandemic safety.
Weird.
And who knew that sitting on a staircase was a pandemic faux pas?
Ross Allen writes, LOL, security believes they can confiscate cameras.
Police need a warrant or a subpoena.
Yes, folks, Ross is referring to what happens later in the video when a security guard takes umbrage to us filming in the mall and actually threatens to confiscate our equipment.
Good luck on that.
And what a happy vibe at the intercity shopping center these days, eh?
And Acost writes, if they had a BLM shirt, security would have given them a trophy.
Well, maybe we certainly do have a two-tier justice system these days.
So maybe it's a pruned idea to wear a BLM t-shirt, even if you don't subscribe to the ideology of such a radical Marxist organization.
After all, maybe this apparel can serve as a get-out of jail-free card.
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
Thanks so much for joining us.
See you next week.
And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.