2 charged with intimidating health professional after protests outside home of top N.S. doctor

Jeremy Mitchell MacKenzie and Morgan May Guptill have been charged with criminal harassment, mischief, harassing phone calls and intimidation of a health professional.

Two people have been charged with criminal harassment and intimidating a health professional after holding protests outside the home of Nova Scotia’s top doctor.

Halifax Regional Police initially issued a news release late Tuesday night saying a man and a woman had been arrested in the 300 block of Pleasant Street in Dartmouth in relation to offences against a “prominent health official.”

It directed all further questions to the RCMP, as the incident happened in their territory.

On Wednesday, the RCMP said the two people were involved in protests against COVID-19 restrictions in Fall River.

Neither police release named Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, but on Sunday evening a group of protesters gathered outside his house to protest the mask requirement for children in schools.

The following day, Strang called the protest “concerning” and told Global News that he was up until 2 a.m. that night dealing with prank phone calls.

In its release Wednesday, the RCMP said officers with the Halifax district first responded to a complaint of a protest being held outside a home on Holyrood Close on Sunday.

“Police attended and blocked off the area to prevent protestors from interfering with home owners’ property,” it said. “The protest lasted a few hours and protestors left on their own.”