The big story in Canada right now is the “Freedom Convoy” that has made its way across the country and has settled in Ottawa at Parliament Hill.
And by settled, I mean an obnoxious, privileged, unwanted neighbour has moved in next door.
When the protest started last week, it was originally supposed to be about truckers protesting a vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers – that they quarantine after crossing the border.
Seeing an opportunity, people from all walks of life expressed their support “for the truckers” as they “fight for our freedom.”
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest about the vaccine mandate for truckers quickly turned into a hijacking by those against all vaccine mandates and the loss of their freedoms.
“This is no longer about the mandate anymore,” said Jason LaFace, one of the convoy’s main organizers, in an interview with Brian Bourke of Kitchener Today. “This is about Canada. This is about our rights and how the government’s been manipulating the population and oppressing us all the time.”
If we’re being honest, it was never about the truckers.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), which represents provincial trucking associations totalling some 4,500 carriers, owner-operators and industry suppliers, has denounced the protest.
“The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) does not support and strongly disapproves of any protests on public roadways, highways and bridges,” reads a Jan. 22 statement from the CTA. “CTA believes such actions – especially those that interfere with public safety – are not how disagreements with government policies should be expressed.”
The statement goes on to read, “The Government of Canada and the United States have now made being vaccinated a requirement to cross the border. This regulation is not changing so, as an industry, we must adapt and comply with this mandate.”
According to the CTA, 90 per cent of drivers are vaccinated.
What this was about is a vocal minority of truck drivers expressing their opposition to a new mandate. In my opinion, this is no different than mandating the use of seatbelts. Sure, some may find it uncomfortable, but they save lives so we wear them.
Do I believe that this convoy started with good intentions? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. However, what vocal minorities tend to attract is other vocal minorities.
That’s what happened here.
One of the organizers of the controversial GoFundMe page set up to benefit the convoy, Tamara Lich, was “heavily involved with the yellow vest protests in 2019, a global movement that claimed to represent the economic concerns of its members but also devolved into Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-immigrant views,” according to The Canadian Press.
There has even been a “memorandum of understanding” created by a group dubbed Canada Unity. The group believes this memorandum will force Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the government to drop all vaccine mandates and resign from government. Failure to do so, they say, will result in the protest continuing.
On the ground in Ottawa, we’ve seen numerous images of pickup trucks driving with both the Canadian and Confederate flag flying on them, and protestors carrying Nazi flags.
If you think freedom is represented by either the Confederate or Nazi flag, you need a history lesson.
Some of the protestors involved have also desecrated two memorials – the Terry Fox statue and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.
In case you didn’t know, some protestors hung a sign on the Terry Fox statue stating, “Mandate Freedom” while a woman was caught on film dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
Terry Fox and the graves of our dead are two things that cannot, and should not, ever be disrespected.
Further adding insult to injury were reports that a pair of protestors were harassing the homeless, showing aggressive and even racist behaviour toward a shelter security guard, and then taking food set aside for street people.
This entire protest is a prime example of privilege on parade – the government, using science, introduced something that will benefit the health and safety of the entire nation, and this vocal minority doesn’t like it because it’s inconvenient for them.
Instead of talking about vaccine mandates, all anyone is talking about is the sheer stupidity and disrespect shown by these protestors.
As for the organizers, it appears they have done nothing discouraging this behaviour.
I know we aren’t supposed to paint everyone with the same brush when it comes to large groups, but as the saying goes, “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck.”
There is no way these protestors get everything they want. Trudeau will not resign over this, and the pandemic policies will not be reversed (these are a combination of both federal and provincial policies).
The ducks have made their point. Now it is time for them to take flight and leave Ottawa.
***
Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Comment and feedback can be sent to mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
