2 charged with harassment and causing a disturbance after protest at N.L. premier's home
Dana Metcalfe and Shane Sweeney due back in court to enter plea in November
Two people are facing charges of criminal harassment and causing a disturbance in relation to a "surprise convoy" protest outside the home of Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey this summer.
Dana Metcalfe, 47, of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, and Shane Sweeney, 34, of Carbonear had their first appearance at provincial court in St. John's on Thursday. The charges were officially filed Wednesday.
Metcalfe and Sweeney are on court conditions to stay away from the premier's home and not have any contact with him and a family member.
They are due back in court on Nov. 2 for election and plea.
St. John's lawyer Averill Baker is listed in court filings as representing Metcalfe. She did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Newfoundland and Labrador director of public prosecutions Lisa Stead told CBC News that a Crown attorney will be brought in from Nova Scotia to handle the case.
According to Stead, that's being done to avoid allegations of conflict of interest, given that one of the alleged victims is the premier.
When asked about the charges by CBC News, Furey said he would not have any formal comment on anything before the courts.
"I will say this: when people step up to serve, they don't step up to have protests in their home, to have their children frightened, to have their family frightened," the premier said after an unrelated announcement in Labrador City on Friday.
"While I will not comment on any specifics of any legal matter, I will say that I found it — as a father, as a husband, as a homeowner — troubling and concerning. I think regardless of political stripe, the people of the province deserve leaders, deserve representatives, that don't have to put up with that abuse."
The incident outside Furey's home that led to the charges occurred on July 9.
Video posted on Sweeney's Facebook feed shows a line of honking cars and smoke flares as the narrator describes a "surprise convoy" to the premier's residence. Someone off camera appears to be speaking through a megaphone.
The same video is posted on Metcalfe's Facebook and X (previously known as Twitter) accounts.
Metcalfe is a former People's Party of Canada candidate who helped organize Newfoundland participation in the so-called "Freedom Convoy" to Ottawa last year.
She described herself as "East Coast convoy leader" in a "Hug A Trucker" press conference after the invocation of the federal Emergencies Act in February 2022.
Metcalfe was also part of a 2021 protest in St. John's against vaccine mandates.
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