By GameOnCanada.org

The Government Covid-19 Pandemic took the country by fearful storm in March of 2020. All aspects of social assembly came to a halt, including youth sports. For the next 17 months our children would be condemned to a whole year of social distancing, masks and periods of isolation. We watched as our children suffered in silence, missing their friends, school, sports, art classes, singing lessons and just normal everyday play. We watched our children slowly slip into a quiet reserve; withdrawing from the world, forgetting how to play. They became irritable and depressed. Standing by any longer and allowing the government to destroy our children’s mental and physical health was no longer an option; Rise Up Durham decided it was time for the children to play!

Dermot Pomeroy, father of three, rep hockey & baseball coach and founder of the group, Rise Up Durham, led the charge holding zoom meetings with the other members of the group. He watched as his three children suffered without their friends, especially his youngest, who only had 2 years of school under her belt and friendship circles hardly established; Dermot decided it was time to “let the kids play”. The first kids play date was established. It was an old-fashioned neighbourhood potluck picnic in the park. Flyers were created, posters shared all over social media and word of mouth spread the news quickly of united defiance of the lockdowns in order for our children to play with other children.

The first play date was so successful, it became a weekly ritual. By-law Officers did their best to break up the play dates, but the determination of the parents to make play normal again was too strong for the By-law to manage and the families were able to continue to meet and play weekly sharing the joy around to the different parks throughout Durham Region. Word of mouth and social media pictures sharing the squeals and laughter of the kids helped to spread the word of these popular play dates.

Eventually, Shari St. Louis and Ryan Penn of Take Action Canada caught wind of the play dates. They reached out to Dermot to offer their help in spreading the word and taking the initiative to a larger platform; Game On Canada, Let the Kids Play was born. The website was set up and promotion of the Kids Playdates in the park began. Rise Up Durham began reaching out to other groups to encourage all family-oriented events to be posted on the website GameOnCanada.org. It is a one-stop-shop to make it easier for families to connect with one another and for children to experience normal play with other children again.

Rise Up Durham did not stop. Even after the members of the group received over 20 summons’ and tickets for proceeding to try to live life normal by holding organized playdates; they added music fests, church services and assemblies for freedom to their repertoire of family events. Seventeen months into the lockdown and Rise Up Durham had become a strong leader in the freedom fighter movement and that is when the Government and Chief Medical Officer announced mandating the experimental COVID-19 Vaccines. Once again, Rise Up Durham rose to the occasion. Jody Ledgerwood spear-headed a campaign to educate the public on their rights regarding the illegal experimental COVID-19 vaccines.

While Rise Up Durham was busy educating the public on their rights, Joe Anidjar, another concerned parent, had received a letter from the GTHL mandating vaccines on his children wanting to play rep hockey. Knowing this was completely wrong and illegal, Joe decided he needed to take action to not only protect his children from an experimental vaccination but all children that wanted to play sports. He founded the facebook group, Families Against The Health Pass in Kids Sports. Joe was hoping to connect with other concerned parents to try to figure out a way to fight back against the illegal mandates so that all children could play sports without having to take the experimental COVID-19 vaccines. To Joe’s surprise, in under 2 weeks he had amassed over 6,000 members sharing his same concerns. Information was shared, open discussions took place and letter writing campaigns ensued. Realizing the group name was a bit cumbersome, Joe changed the name to Youth Sports Freedom Fighters.

For the love of sports and our children, everyone is encouraged to stand strong, together, and repeat; I Do Not Consent!

The team’s speaking appearances have garnered an overwhelming response from the crowds and across the country; their emails have exploded with requests for the legal packages. Concerned parents have been using the legal packages to help educate other sports associations to rethink, and in some cases, reverse their illegal mandates regarding forced vaccinations on our children in order to play sports.

For more information or to find out how you can help in protecting our children from illegal vaccine and mask mandates check out the website GameOnCanada.org. or join Rise Up Durham or Youth Sports Freedom Fighters on FaceBook and Telegram. For the love of Children and Sport, join the fight against tyranny!