The organizer of a hunting and prayer event near Fort Nelson, B.C. - called the Dead Meat Men's Retreat - says he's called it off after people in the community caught wind and got upset about the potential to spread COVID-19 (thread)

Steve Holstrom calls himself the Oilpatch Pulpit. He's an evangelical preacher in northern Alberta who travels throughout western Canada for gatherings/events

On July 29 he posted a video titled "The 1%ERS" to his YouTube channel informing viewers of his plans to attend and preach at an event called "It's Time Canada" in Deadwood Alberta. Why "The 1%ers"?

As he says in the video, there was a group of outlaw bikers who used this name because they were the ones who didn't follow the law. Holmstrom uses this group as an analogy for Christians and the modern church, using the story of Gideon

"I believe in the Body of Christ today, there is the 1 per cent group. 99 per cent of the Church is kind of good, law-abiding citizens. They follow all the social laws. They put on masks... they social distance. They don't talk about things that will offend people."

But then, Holmstrom says, there's the other one per cent who are upset about things like abortion, sexual immorality destroying our nationa and the church. And they will speak out. And that's who the event in Deadwood is for (according to him, he's not an organizer)

Anyways the reason this is like the story of Gideon is in Holmstrom's telling, God told the Christians who couldn't handle rocking the boat to just go home and sit it out. He needs the one percent to spread his word.

Holmstrom tells 99% to sit Deadwood out. "If you're really fearful, if you've bought more than one bottle of hand sanitzer this month this gathering this weekend is probably not for you. I'm very likely to hug you and then you'll get offended, and who knows what could happen?"

Here's what happened

Now TO BE CLEAR, Holmstrom was not an organizer of It Is Time Canada. That event organizer did not respond to requests for interviews, but on the event page he had multiple COVID-19 safety guidlines including sanitizer and distancing rules.

But shortly after this news came out, people in Fort Nelson, B.C. noticed some of the same people - including Holmstrom - who attended It Is Time were planning their own event in the area. And they were posting things implying they are at least skeptical of COVID health cocnerns

Some of these folks reached out to me, and I reached out to Northern Health. They told me they were aware of the event and had informed the organizer of health guidelines. I reached out to him and got this response.

After this exchange, the province put in new rules giving more power to police and other authorities to check in on events to make sure they are complying with rules. ( https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-public-safety-minister-set-to-clamp-down-on-covid-19-enforcement-1.5694927)

So I reached out to Fort Nelson RCMP today and they told me they were also aware of the event, and were meeting with Northern Health (as well as the conservation officer service) to discuss it later this week. At this point they had no indication anything illegal would happen

But then it's cancelled via Facebook. Holmstrom says it's a "kick in the nuts" but "we're just getting too much negative attention." He blames media for taking his June 29 comments out of context and claims people were going to 'harm' him (RCMP say they have no such reports)

In the rest of the video Holmstrom continues to blame media. As far as I can tell only one outlet even did a story - CJDC out of Dawson Creek, which- having watched the videoes, imo doesn't take anything out of context https://www.facebook.com/CJDCTVDawsonCreek/posts/3190393847703467

Anyways, Holmstrom says he may or may not hold the event in the future, he's cancelling out of respect for "the good people of northern B.C." who are fearful while also saying it's a shame fear is shutting it down

One contact with concerns told me his response: "Cry me a river"

/thread