An activist who opposes COVID restrictions is seeking crowdfunding to pay a $20,000 fine she received for violating pandemic lockdown laws. Kristen Nagle, a former nurse from London, Ontario, was found guilty of attending and organizing a rally in November 2020. The charges were made under Ontario’s Reopening Act, which is the province’s legislation for public health and safety during the pandemic.
Nagle has already been running a crowdfunding campaign, but she recently increased the goal to $50,000. In an update on her page, she expressed gratitude to supporters for raising nearly $10,000 in less than 24 hours. Nagle maintained a defiant stance, stating that she believes she is on the right side of history and that her integrity remains intact.
Following the November 2020 rally, Nagle was placed on leave from her job as a neo-natal nurse at London Health Sciences Centre. She was later fired from her position in January 2021. In January 2023, Nagle resigned her registration with the College of Nurses of Ontario.
This is not the first legal trouble Nagle has faced. She and her anti-vaccine organization, Canadian Frontline Nurses, were ordered to pay $315,000 in court costs after losing a libel lawsuit in September 2023. Additionally, Nagle received a $10,000 fine in September 2022 for participating in an Easter Sunday church service in 2021 during Ontario’s third wave of COVID cases.
Nagle stated that she is preparing for further legal proceedings in Cornwall and London later this month. In a recent federal court decision, Nagle and Canadian Frontline Nurses were denied standing in a judicial review of the government’s use of the Emergencies Act in response to a protest in Ottawa in February 2022. The court found that Nagle had acted in bad faith during the proceedings.
Nagle did not respond to requests for comment.
