I wasn’t in Ottawa, but I covered the story of the Freedom Convoy passing Virden on Jan. 25 on their way to Ottawa to protest the COVID-19 mandates. The federal government's cross-border vaccine mandate came into effect just days earlier, on Jan. 15.
It surprised me. It was a shocking event, really. There were so many trucks along with lighter vehicles in this caravan past Virden.
It was an incredible thing seeing men and women setting aside their own time and taking on the great cost of doing this. Some of you were among them or supported them through donations for gas and lodgings, or by supplying a meal. We covered that too.
It was costly because a huge sum raised from ordinary Canadians’ donations through GoFundMe did not get to the convoy truckers. That was the first sign of government grappling for control.
Why did Canadians rally? They said they were sick of government mandates. Truckers who travel across the US/Canadian border were protesting Federal vaccine mandates. Regarded as essential services when the virus first took hold, truckers delivered nationally and internationally despite the possibility of catching Covid.
When cross-border mandates took hold on Jan. 15, unless vaccinated, they couldn’t truck across the border. No longer essential?
The stunning sight of a semi-tractor with a monster Canadian flag streaming out behind, rolling down the highway is … unforgettable. The sight of so many really ordinary Canadians in Ottawa at the Parliament buildings was also stunning. They weren’t rioting, they weren’t armed.
Cell phone coverage was rampant. History was being made. Canadians were standing up.
I found signs cursing the prime minister a troubling sight for a couple of reasons. It was shocking. It was disrespectful of the highest office in Canada.
I get it that Canadians were feeling helpless and angry toward the man in our nation’s highest office who had belittled Canadians as a “fringe minority”, typifying people who disagreed with mandates as uneducated, etc. However, vitriol didn’t help their cause, in my opinion.
The months of incarceration of Tamara Lich, the organizer of the convoy, was and still is shocking.
In November 2022 a Public Order Emergency Commission began. This was not a trial, but a commission examining the extreme response of Justin Trudeau to impose an emergency order.
On a Facebook video, Stand Up Canada (a public page), a video commemorates the anniversary of the convoy that arrived in Ottawa on Jan. 29.
It wasn’t a surprise to see support for Canada’s convoy arise in the USA. What was surprising was to see how this movement emboldened groups in over 20 nations around the world such as the Netherlands, England, Brazil, Australia, Italy and more. Standing with Canada’s protest. Canada got the world’s attention.
