Community members are concerned a Central Park concert planned by a U.S. Christian musician might spur discriminatory rhetoric in a diverse, welcoming neighbourhood, while the City of Winnipeg is still deciding whether it will grant a permit for the public park.
Sean Feucht has advertised a concert in Winnipeg’s Central Park on Aug. 20. The event is part of a Canada-U.S. tour he has described as the country’s “hour of awakening” and an opportunity to worship Jesus.
Crown agencies and cities overseeing six public venues in Canada’s East Coast, Quebec and Ontario denied or revoked permits granted to Feucht to host events that were part of his tour this week — all citing public safety concerns among their reasoning.
Feucht has been affiliated with the MAGA movement and spoken publicly on his platforms against the 2SLGBTQ+ community as well as against abortion rights. He was also a strong advocate against the closure of places of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A spokesperson from the City of Winnipeg told CBC it received a request from Burn 24-7, a worship group founded by Feucht, to host an event at the Ellice Avenue park, but no permit has been issued yet.
“We continue to review the organization’s application, which at this point remains incomplete,” a statement from the city said.
CBC News reached out to the Canadian division of Burn 24-7, but it hasn’t heard back.
Vision for Central Park
Some in Winnipeg are worried about Feucht holding his event at Central Park, a publicly accessible city-owned venue they say has been built into a hub of acceptance.
The park is at the heart of a diverse community, frequented by people from different faiths, ethnic backgrounds and gender expressions, said Lesley Harrison.
Harrison is minister of the Knox United Church in Central Park, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada by postal code demographics.
“We have enough issues that we’re dealing with and have worked very hard to build a place that can be accommodating for all.”– Lesley Harrison
The minister is worried that the ultra right-wing and anti-2SLGBTQ+ stance Feucht has taken in the past could be replicated at his event in Central Park, which could spur division and “at the extreme, potentially incite further violence of people against people.”
“We have enough issues that we’re dealing with and have worked very hard to build a place that can be accommodating for all,” Harrison said.
“This is not the vision that we have been working very hard [on] over the past years,” she said of the potential concert.
“But to bring a place where people, let me emphasize this, of all ages are able to feel safe … and to have events that encourage them to think and to ask questions and to consider what it means to be a good neighbour.”
WATCH | Canadian cities cancel concerts of Christian rocker, MAGA star Sean Feucht:
Quebec City is the latest Canadian city to cancel a scheduled appearance by Sean Feucht, a controversial Christian rock musician and rising star in the MAGA movement. Mark Breslin, CEO and co-founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy club, says the only time event cancellations are warranted is when material is ‘egregiously wrong and potentially violent.’
She would like the city to delay granting the permit until it has enough information about Feucht, his group and the kind of rhetoric that will be spoken — a parameter Harrison has also had to meet in the past.
The minister sought permits from the city over the years to host events, including worship, at Central Park, and she said there’s been a level of scrutiny to understand whether each event fits with being part of a larger community that gathers at the park daily.
“Why would we support something that is not coming from among our people, for our people at this stage,” Harrison said.
Charlie Eau, the executive director of Trans Manitoba, is also concerned about the kind of message Feucht could share at Central Park as he has been vocally opposed to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, gender expression and immigration before.
“This person’s views are directly harmful to and make vulnerable the very people that live in the Central Park neighbourhood,” they said.
“It needs to be stopped.”
Eau is concerned about the message the city would send by granting a permit for the event, and they would like to see it denied.
They acknowledge private venues are within their right to host him, but Eau is hopeful they would consider not doing so, given the discriminatory remarks he has made in the past.
“This person is hateful towards so many underserved and marginalized communities, and his rhetoric is going to bring together more people to spread hate and nobody should be platforming it,” they said.
Feucht says he’s facing ‘religious persecution’
Feucht declined an interview with CBC Manitoba. But in a statement issued last week after venues pulled permits for his other events, the musician said his group “will not cower in the face of religious persecution.”
“Here’s the hard truth: If I had shown up with purple hair and a dress, claiming to be a woman, the government wouldn’t have said a thing,” Feucht’s statement said.
“But to publicly profess deeply held Christian beliefs is to be labeled an extremist and to have free worship events classified as ‘public safety risks.'”
Private venues have since opened their doors for Feucht to host his events, including a church in Montreal where he took the stage on Friday and began singing while protesters gathered outside. Police confirmed a smoke bomb was thrown inside the venue, but no charges have been laid.
CBC viewed several videos posted of Feucht’s events where he called for a “revival.” These were mainly musical, and featured him with his guitar, singing Christian songs with a band and crowd. During the events, he also promotes his merchandise for sale, solicits donations and invites members of other religious organizations to speak.
Although anti-2SLGBTQ+ rhetoric was not heard in a selection of videos, many of his social media and blog posts rail against the 2SLGBTQ+ “agenda.”
Freedom of expression
Richard Moon, a professor at the University of Windsor whose research focuses on freedom of expression, conscience and religion, said a city could have enough grounds to not issue a permit to someone for an event at a public space if they have previously engaged in hate speech and there’s legitimate belief it might happen again — but there’s a bar to meet.
Canadian courts have narrowly defined hate speech as speech that’s sufficiently extreme to vilify members of a particular group including calling for their death, describing them as inherently violent or subhuman, Moon said.
“People will say things that we think are offensive, odious, hurtful, but they may not reach a level of what we consider and what the law considers to be unlawful,” Moon said.
“In that situation they would ordinarily have the right to engage in speech,” he said, and if that’s infringed it could amount to curtailing freedom of expression.
Speech can also only be legally defined as hateful after it happens, and through a police investigation.
Refusing a person the option to organize an event in a public space becomes “more difficult” when “you don’t know what the person’s going to say and you don’t necessarily have the right or power in advance to predict.”
“Generally speaking, we’re talking about a public space of some kind, and if an individual wants to engage in speech that is not otherwise unlawful, then they have a right to engage in that speech,” he said.
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