Saskatoon mayor introduced motion, following Feucht controversy

Controversial singer Sean Feucht is coming to Saskatoon this Thursday, and it’s all thanks to city permits.

Feucht, who’s also a Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporter and Christian pastor, is scheduled to perform in Diefenbaker Park on Aug. 21 as part of his “BURN Canada” tour.

While other Canadian cities have cancelled his shows, as of Aug. 15, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block said the concert was still happening, “even though I understand many of us can continue to have concerns.”

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Those concerns about Feucht’s Saskatoon concert are in part thanks to his comments towards the LGBTQ2S+ community, which are abundant on his social media pages.

On Aug. 8, Block was the centre of ire over Feucht’s upcoming performance, as protesters grabbed her microphone and shouted at her for several minutes outside of City Hall while she waited to talk, according to CTV News.

Margi Corbett, who was one of five speakers at the demonstration, said there’s more to what happened that day than what’s been reported.

Corbett, a retired teacher, was there to speak about the psychological damage of hate speech on queer youth.

She said Block had asked organizers prior to the demonstration if she could speak and they said no.

“Everybody knew what her position was, and our organizers decided that it was time for her to listen to the other perspective and not to necessarily give her another opportunity to say the same thing she had already said,” Corbett said, referring to a video statement released by the mayor on Aug. 6.

During the event, in which roughly 100 people showed up, Corbett said she was initially impressed by Block who was standing in the rain listening alongside everyone else.

It wasn’t until the demonstration ended, and one of the organizers went to take away the microphone they’d brought, that Block “kind of shocked everybody” by approaching the podium to speak, according to Corbett.

She clarified it wasn’t Block’s microphone that was taken away.

Corbett went to her car but said roughly 10 people stayed behind.

She was too far away to know what was said by those people, but heard afterwards, “that they were shouting at [Block].”

“We were quite shocked by how it ended. Really shocked. We’re still kind of mystified by what happened,” Corbett said, adding how she was confused why the mayor still went to speak after she’d been denied permission.

A week after the demonstration, Block took a deep breath before saying to reporters, “I mean, that was a tough afternoon, and I knew it would be.”

She said she wants to continue figuring out ways to build trusting relationships in the community, but acknowledged the difficulty of doing that, “especially when a performer like the one that is expected to be here next week is still on the books to come.”

Permit processes need reviewing, Block says

Block has previously said in a video statement that she wishes she could cancel the concert, calling some of Feucht’s comments “abhorrent.”

While it looks as if Feucht will still get to perform, the ordeal has left Block wanting to review permit processes.

She said it’s been a long time since they’ve been looked at and thinks having some conditions from the very start of the process, “can go a long way to helping people who wish to use park space in our city understand what their commitment is.”

On Aug. 13, Block put forward a notice of motion to the Governance and Priorities Committee, saying that other cities do their permitting differently from Saskatoon.

Block said she hopes that by putting parameters around the permit process, it “will better protect vulnerable people in our city.”

A “Say ‘No’ to Sean Feucht Rainbow Picnic” and sit-in protest is being planned on Aug. 21 in Diefenbaker Park, when his concert is taking place. So far, 56 people on Facebook have said they’re going. Another 390 expressed interest in attending the protest.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include quotes from Margi Corbett who attended the demonstration against Feucht’s appearance in Saskatoon.