The Toronto police’s Professional Standards Unit says it’s investigating an Instagram photo featuring two of its officers posing with Chris Sky – one of Canada’s biggest anti-mask campaigners.
The photo was initially posted by Sky and then reportedly also posted to the police-affiliated TPS Neighbourhood Watch account with the hashtags #FreedomOfSpeech and #Advocate before being deleted, although police have yet to confirm this detail.
Sky regularly opposes mandatory mask-wearing via his social media accounts and is the head of “Mothers Against Distancing” – a group that is campaigning for schools to reopen in September. Sky has also organized several anti-mask protests and demonstrations in Canada.
Toronto police said they are “aware of the image” and that it has been forwarded to the Professional Standards Unit which is “reviewing the matter.”
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, there has been an uptick in people being investigated and facing pressure to resign for posting anti-mask content to social media.
Earlier this month, a school principal resigned after posting a meme comparing mask wearers to Holocaust victims. The resignation came after an online campaign pressured him to resign over the meme.
Last month, an Ontario nurse was also investigated after posting anti-mask and vaccine skeptic comments to Facebook.
And in yet another example of someone facing sanctions for anti-mask posts, a Connecticut cop was investigated last month over memes he posted to Facebook with some of the memes criticizing mandatory mask-wearing.
Criticizing mandatory mask-wearing on social media is just one of the many things that’s increasingly triggering investigations, coerced resignations, and firings of employees.
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