My time in Jail - The True Battle
Dec 20, 2006
Clearly the OPP was trying to intimidate me into not being involved in Caledonia. They had no charge against me to keep me overnight nor any legal right to do so.

The OPP was trying to send a message to me to stay out of town and drop the Caledonia issue. They believed that most people will rethink their actions during their night in jail and come out more inline with OPP thinking.

Just two weeks before, the OPP arrested a Caledonia man for trying to put up a Canadian Flag and when they did their OPP Press Release they called him "juvenile" and claimed he apologized to the OPP for trying to put up a Flag.

The Fact is that it is the OPP who are "juvenile" and it was they who went to this resident and apologized to him. Two OPP sergeants when to this resident's home and said they were sorry that he was arrested.

So I was not going to let the OPP use me in their next Press Propaganda Release that somehow Gary McHale apologized to them. I did nothing but exercise my rights in a democratic society.

The OPP acted completely like police in a Police State.
The Battle of Wills
While the OPP was hoping that their punishment on me (keeping me in overnight) would cause me to forget about Caledonia, I decided that I needed to send a message to OPP Brass that one night in jail was not much to sacrifice for one's beliefs.

You can imprison the body but my mind & heart are free.

After being put into a cell I removed all my clothes except my boxer shorts. Since I already had a bad cold this could have been bad. The OPP immediately told me they would have to remove my clothes from the cell but I could have them back anytime. I told them to remove the blanket from the cell as well.

In case you have not had the experience of hotel jail, all cells are cold. The walls & floor are cerment and the bed is metal with nothing between you and the cold metal.

Allow me to say that what I did is really no big deal. No real sacrifice or hardship and should not be seen as some great thing other than to send a message to the OPP that you cannot imprison my will.

The OPP immediately turned up the heat in the cell, but it took about two hours to warm up the cement and metal bed. However, after that the cell was quite toasty.

By the way, in our products for sale you can now purchase your Jail Boxer Shorts with the word "March for Freedom" on them. [link]
When dinner came they provided food & drink and I left both on the bed until they removed them about 10 hours later.

This was a little more problematic because I suffer from Crohns disease which can create side affects with the wrong foods or having no food. I have a problem with low blood pressure if I do not eat.

I continued to refuse to eat or drink until morning and had some food & drink to ensure there would be no problems.

The above are just mind games - they wanted to pressure me to stay away, but in the meantime I was telling them that one night in jail was no big deal. Since I informed them why I was doing what I was doing I can be assured the message was passed onto OPP Brass.