A crowd gathered at Winkler Park on Sunday afternoon for the Things That Matter Winkler Walk for Freedom, taking participants from Winkler Park to Highway 14 and down Main Street, ending at Bethel Heritage Park. Things That Matter is a grassroots organization started by Winkler's Karl Krebs, and has focused on uniting people with a common goal to support those who oppose the government and Public Health's COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.

Krebs commented on the goal of Sunday's walk.

"It's to realize that we're not in this alone," said Krebs. "You know, the line that's been touted so much has been that, 'We're in this together,'? Well, this is what it

really means to be 'in it together,' to stand in opposition to the government, but together and for each other, to support the convictions that we have in our lives. That we have these rights, that are given by God, and that the government is the protector of the rights and not the giver of them."

Speakers at the walk included restaurant owners Dave and Paulina Jones of Monstrosity Burger in Winnipeg, who have been ticketed multiple times for not complying with Public Health Orders, Reeve Lewis Weiss from La Broquerie, and Tobias Tissen, pastor of the Church of God Restoration near Pansy. After eluding arrest for several months, Tissen was taken into police custody October 18th on warrants stemming from breaking public health orders earlier this year. He was released on conditions. The group at Sunday's Walk shared their stories and experiences with those in attendance.

Krebs put out a challenge to the citizens and elected officials of Winkler to come up with a contingency plan that would address, what he sees, as collateral damage from the mandates.

"We're going to see marriages under pressure, we're going to see children and parent issues rise, domestic violence, addictions, all of those things are collateral damage of mandates that seek to segregate and divide a community," said Krebs. "We think that Winkler is one of the most caring communities in the country, and that's how we can muster the resources within our community, through our clergy and through our laypeople that are really well equipped in this area, who can provide some programming and some resource materials to help the individuals cope through all of the lockdowns, mandates, and restrictions, and do it in a smaller group. If we can't meet as larger groups, I think we can meet as small groups within their homes and form these Care Groups."

Krebs also put out a challenge to the City of Winkler Council to do some long-term planning for, what he believes, will be supply chain issues going forward in light of this month's announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that in January 2022 all inbound foreign national travelers crossing U.S. land or ferry Ports of Entry, whether for essential or non-essential reasons, be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide related proof of vaccination. In the October 12th statement, truckers were specifically mentioned in a list of examples of essential travelers

Organizer Karl Krebs speaks to the crowd"As the mandates go forward and the trucking industry, as of January 1st to enter the US, are going to require vaccinations," added Krebs. "There's a lot of truckers that are not going to take that vaccination, because it's their right to refuse it, but the U.S. government is going to insist that you be vaccinated. So, how is this going to affect our supply chain? How are people going to, when it comes down, get essential services and essential products?" Krebs continued, "Now, I think the challenge is for the City of Winkler and its Council and the Mayor (is) to look at establishing these contingency plans. And they're going to have to start talking about it, and the businesses themselves are going to have to be involved. There's a lot of resources in this area, and Winkler, if left alone, can better care for itself than anything we can get from the province. And the province is trying to make us dependent on it, and we're not. We can survive this, and we can do this as a community, and I think Winkler can become that example of a community for other communities to follow."

Krebs shared the need for a plan moving forward to address the division in the community.

"We hope, again, to bring the community together, to show support for all of the people. It's not vaxed versus unvaxed. We think the bridge that fills the gap between vaxed and unvaxed is the fact we can care for each other, but there are going to be people on both sides that are sick from the COVID. But we hope the community will find ways to care for each other, and make allowances for each other's differences and, as the Bible says, make allowances for each other's shortcomings," he envisioned. "And we think that is what this community needs to do, we need to start bridge-building between the two parties in the community, and we believe that can happen when we start to care for each other, regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not."

Pastor at the Church of God Restoration near Pansy, Tobias Tissen, spoke to the group at Sunday's Walk for Freedom which ended at Bethel Heritage Park