Rebel News, also known as Rebel Media, is an alt-right political commentary website. It has more than one million subscribers on YouTube, and promotes  an anti-Muslim ideology it calls “counter-jihad.”

Its offerings include a few favourite set pieces. One of these is a video featuring the Rebel team getting kicked out of a Tim’s for making trouble.

Tim Horton’s is a favourite target because many locations are run by or employ immigrants to Canada. Picton was the site of Rebel’s latest efforts in this genre. In a video shot both in and outside the Picton Tim’s — where Rebel came to cover an alleged case of attempted immigration fraud last week — the outlet’s Tamara Ugolini declares, “you can now get a serving of immigration fraud alongside your double double,” as though such fraud and Tim Horton’s are synonymous.

The video opens with Ms. Ugolini greeting a Tim’s staffer with, “I heard I could make $20,000 if I wanted to marry the manager’s brother here. Can I start that process?”

After a “no comment,” and some editing, two police officers appear in the frame. Presumably, the owner of the Tim Horton’s called the police. But a white OPP officer is shown dressing down South Asian Tim’s employee, insisting anyone with a video camera can enter a Tim’s and film responses to provocative questions.

“Just because your boss doesn’t like the fact that an independent journalist is in here video reporting, that’s not up to him. She has the right to do that,” the officer says. 

The employee then offers to call the owner. To which the officer replies, “No, I’m not going to talk to him. You tell him she has all the right to be here.”

As the OPP clarified this weekend, the officer was incorrect. Tim Horton’s is private property. The owner decides who is welcome or not.

The officer continues, “I’m sorry if I’m being crass with you, but you relay to Mohammad [Mr. Rauf, the owner] that I’m not even entertaining that portion of it, of this lady [Ms. Ugolini] being here. It doesn’t matter. They have all the rights in the world to do it.”

PEC Resident Hedy Korbee, a retired journalism professor from Humber  College, said she contacted the Picton OPP when she saw the video getting traction on the social media platform X. 

“I was surprised by the video of the OPP officer telling Tim Horton’s staff that an ‘independent journalist’ has a right to shoot video on private property,” Ms. Korbee said. 

“He should have known that filming on private property is a violation of Ontario’s Trespass to Private Property Act. Nobody can enter or remain on private property without the owner’s permission. The law allows for very limited exceptions for journalists covering stories with an overriding public interest, such as threats to public safety, but the Tim Horton’s case doesn’t meet the criteria for that.”

The East Region office of the OPP issued a formal correction on October 4.  “The Ontario Provincial Police is aware of a video showing an officer responding to a request from restaurant staff to remove an individual who was filming inside their business,” it states.

“In Ontario, under the Trespass to Property Act, property owners or those responsible for a property have the legal right to ask someone to leave. If the individual refuses to leave when asked, they may be trespassing. In that case, the owner or occupier can call the police to help remove the person from the property. We acknowledge that the officer’s response in the [Rebel News] video does not align with the provisions of the Trespass to Property Act. The incident is being reviewed and addressed internally to reinforce both appropriate conduct and application of the law.”

Rebel News has not issued a correction. Instead, it continues to circulate the video across social media platforms while adding further video celebrating the erroneous police action.

For more on Rebel News and their visit to Picton, please click here.

Ed Note: this story has been updated with the correct term to refer to people from the countries of the Indian subcontinent, South Asian. The Gazette regrets the error.