Christopher Saccoccia | |
---|---|
Born | Ontario, Canada |
Other names | Chris Sky |
Occupation | Property developer |
Employer | Sky Homes Corp. |
Known for | Anti-mask activist, COVID-19 denial |
Spouse | Jennifer Saccoccia |
Website | https://realchrissky.com/ |
Christopher Saccoccia, widely referred to as Chris Sky, is a Canadian social media personality known for his involvement in the anti-mask, anti-lockdown, COVID-19 denial and anti-vaccine movements during the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] Saccoccia faces a number of legal issues and criminal charges including for allegations of uttering death threats against Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other public figures and for assault of a police officer, among others. [2] Saccoccia ran for Mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election, placing ninth.
Saccoccia is the son of Vaughan developer, and owner of Sky Homes Corp, Art Saccoccia. [3] [4]
Saccoccia is the Vice President of his father's company, Sky Homes Corp. [5]
Saccoccia believes that public health measures are unconstitutional, and violate human rights. [6] He refers to his group's activities as a "freedom convoy" and attends rallies across Canada, dubbed "freedom rallies", meeting with groups of people at each event, and encourages them to engage in civil disobedience against allegedly tyrannical public health measures, which he calls "united non-compliance." [7]
In 2020, Saccoccia founded a group known as "Mothers Against Distancing" and "Hugs Over Masks" following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada, protesting the public health measures introduced by the Ontario government and Toronto Public Health. [8]
During the summer of 2021, Saccoccia joined an Italian online movement against lockdown and COVID's prevention measures called Mattonisti by putting a brick emoji after his Twitter's account name. The movement is allegedly responsible for manipulating Twitter's tendencies by pushing certain movement's slogans as hashtags, [9] although the movement's leader deny that they have an agenda and affirm they are only an online friends group. [10]
Saccoccia believes that mask regulations such as one introduced by the City of Toronto amount to a violation of human rights. [8] [11] He and his supporters distributed fake mask-exemption cards. [11] [12] In response, the Canadian Human Rights Commission discouraged the use of the fake cards, [13] Ontario premier Doug Ford and Toronto mayor John Tory warned that Saccoccia's group were "scammers", and confirmed the cards were fraudulent. [12] [14]
In July 2020, Saccoccia and 40 activists from his Hugs Over Masks group entered a Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway station without masks to protest the introduction of a mask by-law on the TTC, again claiming an exemption. [15]
Soccoccia does not believe the use of face masks is an effective method of preventing the spread of COVID-19. He founded the Mothers Against Distancing group to protest the use of masks at schools, stating the children are "in a constant state of anxiety and fear, so there's no way they'll learn anything". [16]
Saccoccia attempted to start a private school, known as "Private-On-Demand Education Inc." without masks and public health measures, arguing that he can "[protect] and save countless children from the government that is attempting to harm them psychologically and socially condition them for a life of fear and compliance." [5]
The psychotherapist who provided Saccoccia and his wife with mask exemptions, Mary Elizabeth O’Connor, is one of four Ontario doctors under investigation for professional misconduct in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and her completion of medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccinations and diagnostic testing by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. [17] Saccoccia can be heard stating which doctor gave him the exemption while in a public video he posted to his Telegram account from the day he and his wife were detained by West Edmonton Mall security for failing to obey a no trespass order on Saturday December 4, 2021. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario suspended Dr O'Connor on 23 December 2021. [18]
Saccoccia is anti-vaccine and promotes COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy. [19] [20] He opposes vaccine mandates and COVID-19 vaccine passports being used during the Canadian COVID-19 vaccine rollout. [20]
Saccoccia said in late 2020 that he believed that Canadian government was moving toward communism, and that a new political party would be unveiled in the new year. [16] Saccoccia informed followers to attend election rallies in protest against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2021 Canadian federal election. [21] In 2021 he supported the Republican Party of Canada. [22]
In 2022, Saccoccia suggested that the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was justified and suggested Ukrainians were open to their Russian invaders. He connected Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland with his views on both the Canada convoy protest and the invasion of Ukraine. Saccoccia suggested the 2014 annexation of Crimea was justified as Crimea was always Russian property. He also suggested the Ukraine biolabs conspiracy theory was true and made fun of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's acting career. [23]
After the resignation of Toronto Mayor John Tory, Saccoccia announced he intends to be a candidate for Mayor of Toronto in the 2023 mayoral by-election. [24] He received 1.1 percent of the ballots, finishing ninth, and claimed the election results were fraudulent. [25] [26] [27]
Saccoccia, along with his wife and other followers of his loosely organized group have been arrested multiple times over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Saccoccia and his wife [28] were charged under the Quarantine Act on October 6, 2020. The pair had returned from an anti-mask event in Ireland on September 20, 2020 and had been spotted at a Toronto anti-mask event the following week. [29] They were the first people in Toronto to be criminally charged under the act. [30] Saccoccia later travelled to the Maritimes for planned rallies and on October 9, 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested him following a disturbance on his flight into Moncton, New Brunswick. He was scheduled to attend an event in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 11, however he was escorted back to the airport and took a flight leaving the region. [31]
On January 24, 2021, Saccoccia was charged with being a common nuisance and four counts of public mischief following an anti-mask event in Toronto. [32] At Toronto Pearson Airport on April 6, 2021, Saccoccia discovered he had been placed on the Passenger Protect list (commonly referred to as the Canadian No Fly List) after Flair Airlines declined to allow him onto a flight to attend anti-mask events in Alberta. [33] [34] On April 18, 2021, Saccoccia was then arrested by the Thunder Bay Police Service after an organized gathering. [35] [36] He was charged with breach of undertaking under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act , [37] and was released the following Tuesday with a future court date. [38] On April 29, 2021, the province of Manitoba announced it would issue Saccoccia with two $1,296 fines, following his attendance at a rally at The Forks in Winnipeg on April 25. [38] [39]
On May 12, 2021, Saccoccia was alleged to have told fellow anti-mask advocate Rob Carbone that he wished to shoot and kill [40] him and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford along with every premier in Canada. [41] The incident was reported to the Toronto Police Service on May 19, and a police constable attended his residence in King to effect an arrest. Saccoccia entered a car, drove towards the officer and fled. He later turned himself in at Toronto Police 53 Division and was charged with uttering death threats, assaulting a police officer, and dangerous operation of a vehicle. [42] [43] [44]
On August 24, 2021, Saccoccia was arrested in Winnipeg, Manitoba, following a rally at the University of Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Police Service stated that they arrested Saccoccia on a warrant for contravention of the Public Health Act that was issued in May, as he had violated Manitoba's self-isolation requirements for people entering the province, and attended an anti-mask rally that violated restrictions that limited outdoor gatherings to a maximum of ten people. Following his release, his bail hearing was set for October 5, 2021. [1] On September 10, 2021, Saccoccia was arrested in Hamilton, Ontario for breach of undertaking. [45] [46] On September 26, 2021, Saccoccia organized a protest at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. He encouraged his followers to go to businesses unmasked and unvaccinated. Two other protesters were arrested by Toronto Police following an attempted storming of the Toronto Eaton Centre. [47]
On November 7, 2021, in Calgary, Saccoccia was arrested by the Calgary Police Service and charged with mischief after encouraging his supporters to drive extremely slowly around airports in an attempt to block traffic to arrivals areas. [48] On November 18, 2021 Saccoccia was arrested by West Edmonton Mall security for trespassing. [49]
On December 4, 2021, Saccoccia, dressed as Santa Claus, was arrested in Edmonton at a Build-A-Bear Workshop in West Edmonton Mall during a protest. He was arrested on outstanding warrants including uttering threats and public mischief along with his wife regarding an injunction banning both from the mall. A third individual, Zeeshan Ahmed (self proclaimed Dr. Zee) was also arrested for breaching the injunction. [50]
On June 13, 2023, after turning himself in at the Toronto Police Service's 53 division, Saccoccia was arrested for uttering death threats to cause death or bodily harm. Before his arrest, Saccoccia posted on Twitter, blaming the “deep state” conspiracy as the reason behind his decision to surrender to police. He claimed it would be the 27th time he had been arrested and his 73rd criminal charge. [51]
According to screenshots posted in a piece on Saccoccia by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, he has engaged online in rhetoric regarding Holocaust denial and antisemitism, anti-black racism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia. [52]
In April 2021, Saccoccia was removed from Instagram for violating community standards. A spokesperson for Facebook (Instagram's parent company) said: "We will not tolerate content on our platform about COVID-19 that could lead to harm, including harmful vaccine misinformation and content promoting widely debunked hoaxes." [53] In December 2021, Saccoccia was suspended from Twitter for breaching the site's community standards. [54] He has also been suspended from TikTok and Facebook. [54]
Following his arrest in Thunder Bay, Saccocia and his associates demanded free food at a restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie. When the owner declined, the group began to leave negative online reviews at the business. [37] The Forks Market in Winnipeg closed its doors on April 25, 2021, in response to safety concerns caused by Saccocia's group during a rally. [39] A pharmacy in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, also closed the previous day as a result of the group moving through the town. [55]
In London, Ontario in October 2021, Saccoccia organized a rally that surpassed more than 1,000 people in attendance. Local businesses were advised to close, with some saying that staff had been harassed during a previous Saccocia rally in the district. [56] [57]
Saccoccia lives in King, Ontario, in the Region of York with his wife, Jennifer Saccoccia. [3] [30] [58]
Piers Richard Corbyn is a British weather forecaster, anti-vaccine activist, conspiracy theorist, and former politician. Corbyn was born in Wiltshire and raised in Shropshire wherein he attended Adams' Grammar School. He was awarded a first class BSc degree in physics from Imperial College London in 1968 and a postgraduate MSc in astrophysics from Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1981. Corbyn was a member of the Labour Party and served as a councillor in the London Borough of Southwark from 1986 to 1990. He is the elder brother of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, leaving Labour in 2003 due to his opposition to the Iraq War.
Krista Ford Haynes is a former Canadian professional women's American football player and conspiracy theorist. She is a daughter of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and niece of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. She was the captain of the Toronto Triumph, a team in the Legends Football League.
Artur Pawlowski is a Polish-Canadian evangelical street preacher and political activist. He is pastor of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary and previously led the Kings Glory Fellowship (KGF). Pawlowski is also founder and pastor of Street Church Ministries (SCM), a group no longer recognized as a religious or charitable organization by the Canadian government.
Vaccine Choice Canada (VCC) is Canada's main anti-vaccination group. It was founded in the 1980s under the name Vaccination Risk Awareness Network (VRAN) and adopted its current name in 2014. The group has been contributing to vaccine hesitancy in Canada, encouraging citizens to forgo immunization and legislators to support anti-vaccine regulations and legislation.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada was announced on January 25, 2020, involving a traveller who had recently returned to Toronto from travel in China, including Wuhan. Ontario has had the largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among Canada's provinces and territories, but due to having the largest population, only ranks sixth adjusted per capita. Ontario surpassed one million lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on January 24, 2022; one day before the anniversary of the first confirmed case on January 25, 2020.
Eileen Patricia de Villa is an American-Canadian physician and public servant who has served as Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto since 2017, leading the Toronto Public Health unit.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto is a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), localized in Toronto. Toronto is the most populous city in Canada, and the fourth most populous city in North America.
There have been several COVID-19 protests in New Zealand held since 2020, where people protested the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, in particular the lockdown measures in place in March–May 2020, August 2020, and August–November 2021 and the later vaccine mandates. The protests have been largely condemned by members of parliament, as well as local city and regional councils. Fears were also raised about the protests increasing the spread of the virus.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, numerous protests took place over the government's response.
Randy Alexander Hillier is a Canadian politician who served as a member of provincial parliament (MPP) in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007-2022. Hillier represented the riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston as an independent MPP from 2019 to 2022. This riding contains much of the dissolved riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, which he represented from 2007 to 2018. Hillier was initially elected as a Progressive Conservative (PC) Party MPP, remaining a member until he was removed in 2019. Despite announcing that he would run for election under the banner of the Ontario First Party in November 2021, Hillier announced in March 2022 that he would not seek re-election.
The COVID-19 protests in Canada are protests that began in April 2020, with protests in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa against the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent measures.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that monitors hate crime and far-right groups. It was formed in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario and has received funding from the Government of Canada. CAHN provides information to journalists and the media, researchers, law enforcement, policy makers, and community organizations. The organization is modelled after and supported by the American Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Its chair is Sue Gardner, former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have occurred around the world. There have been several protests against lockdowns and other restrictions introduced by the Commonwealth and state governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia since 2020. Some joining protests have also been against vaccinations, while others have also subscribed to various conspiracy theories or misinformation about COVID-19. Protests have been held in several state capitals, with most occurring in including Sydney and Melbourne. While some protests were peaceful, others ended in clashes between protesters and police. Australian police have issued fines against protesters for breaching lockdown restrictions.
Caryma Fayez Sa'd is a Canadian lawyer specializing in landlord-tenant law and cannabis law. She is also known for documenting events at anti-COVID-19-lockdown protests in Canada and other protests.
A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoys were joined by thousands of pedestrian protesters. Several offshoot protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.
The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events surrounding the Canada convoy protest, a series of protests and blockades in Canada in early 2022. The protest, which was called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, was "first aimed at a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers" when the convoy of hundreds of vehicles, including semi-trailers, headed towards Ottawa, Ontario the nation's capital, starting on January 22. The protesters quickly changed their messaging to include demands that all COVID-19-related public health restrictions be lifted.
Patrick James King is a Canadian far-right activist, and conspiracy theorist from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who lives near Red Deer, Alberta.
Tamara Lich is a Canadian activist who has organised for the right-wing Maverick Party, the far-right Yellow Vest protests, and the Canada convoy protest in Ottawa.
This timeline includes entries on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This includes investigations into the origin of COVID-19, and the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Social media apps and platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, have contributed to the spread of misinformation. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) reported that conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 began on "day one". CAHN reported on March 16, 2020, that far-right groups in Canada were taking advantage of the climate of anxiety and fear surrounding COVID, to recycle variations of conspiracies from the 1990s, that people had shared over shortwave radio. COVID-19 disinformation is intentional and seeks to create uncertainty and confusion. But most of the misinformation is shared online unintentionally by enthusiastic participants who are politically active.
Tobias Tissen is a Canadian "pastor" who is noted for his repeated failures to comply with COVID-19 public health laws, and for preaching to his congregation to disobey them. He works for the Christian Church of God (Restoration) in Hanover, Manitoba.