Latest news from the Canadian truckers (1 February 2022)
The Freedom Convoy – Freedom Convoy 2022 – 70 kilometres long, arrived in Ottawa this weekend, converging on Parliament Hill. The main demand is an end to covid measures across Canada – the “vax passes” as well as masks. The secondary objective is the departure of the Trudeau government. The Canadian movement has encouraged and emboldened movements in other parts of the world, notably in Australia with the Convoy to Canberra movement [1] and in Europe [2].
Different provinces, different policies
The Emergency Management Office of Nova Scotia has issued an order prohibiting protesters from blocking the Trans-Canada Highway at the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The order also applies to people stopping or gathering along the highway that crosses northern Nova Scotia to the New Brunswick border. Fines can reach $10,000 (€7,000) for individuals and up to $100,000 (€70,000) for companies that ignore the order.
In an almost outdated gesture, the premier of Quebec, François Legault, announced on 1 February his intention to financially penalise residents of the province who do not get vaccinated for non-medical reasons, calling the fine a “health contribution”. Mr Legault said at a press conference that the unvaccinated, although they represent 10% of Quebec's population, place disproportionate stress on the French-speaking province's hospitals. [3]
Scott Moe, the premier of Saskatchewan, for his part published a letter on Saturday in which he supports the Freedom Convoy. Mr Moe, who has been vaccinated three times, began his letter by thanking truckers across the country for helping the national economy keep running during the covid pandemic. “Truckers stepped up and kept moving goods, they crossed provincial borders and the American border. (They) did this before rapid tests, before early intervention treatments and before vaccines”. [4] “Given that vaccination does not reduce transmission, the current federal policy on truckers at the border makes no sense. An unvaccinated trucker poses no greater risk of transmission than a vaccinated trucker,” he said. [5]
The traditional media singled out
The Freedom Convoy organisers held their first press conference on 30 January and barred the main media from attending. “We have left certain news agencies out of this conference, notably the Toronto Star and the CBC, which are banned. And the reason they have been banned is twofold,” said one of the organisers, Benjamin Dichter. “First, all week, the CBC, the Toronto Star – Yahoo News retweeted and reposted along with a few others and kept putting out articles saying that our GoFundMe was frozen or suspended for nefarious reasons. You know, far-right truckers, dangerous people, and it was hysterical”.
Indeed, press articles began circulating last week reporting that the Freedom Convoy 2022 GoFundMe page had been frozen and that the organisers had to specify how the 8.1 million dollars raised through more than 102,000 donations would be spent.
Dichter explained that when media such as the Toronto Sun reported that the account was frozen, he contacted Tamara Lich, another organiser, to check that everything was fine, and found that GoFundMe was cooperative: “She told me: ‘I just got off the phone with them 45 minutes ago. They're great. They're helping us. Everything is going to work out’,” he explained about their conversation. [6]
Next, the CBC, a government-funded Canadian media outlet, faced a strong backlash and ridicule over the weekend after one of its presenters suggested that Russia was behind the increasingly popular movement. [7] A Los Angeles Times video dated 31 January shows footage of crowds flying the maple leaf flag, with contradictory captions: “Some protesters carried signs and flags with swastikas, and one carried an American Confederate flag”. [8] The one they are referring to was surrounded by a crowd that kindly but firmly asked him to leave. [9] This gesture of weeding out extremist elements is obviously not making headlines.
On the ground: freezing weather but a warm atmosphere
It is difficult to estimate the number of people who took part in the demonstrations in Ottawa, because those who hold the figures are not publishing them. On 31 January, the large weekend crowds had gone. Even so, several thousand people remained around Parliament.
Nicole Murphy, a journalist for the Canadian outlet The Pulse/Connect, said live that she felt extremely safe at this particular demonstration, where she had spent the last three days. She reports that people are helping each other, bringing food and warm clothes, dancing and talking. “It felt more like a festival.” She was reporting live the information sent to her by citizens from all over Canada. She saw neither the police nor the protesters mistreat anyone at the protest sites. Elsewhere, people and police were apparently more aggressive. [10]
The mainstream media are generally quick to focus on vandals, and this demonstration is no exception, their favourite subjects being swastikas, Confederate flags and “hateful rhetoric”. Few turned their cameras on what Murphy saw: protesters arriving after acts of violence, cleaning shop windows and laying flowers on desecrated monuments. “Most people want love, peace, freedom of choice and for these mandates to end. The people who commit these acts are certainly not part of the truckers, nor of the hard core of protesters.” [11]
Care for others also seems to be in the air, with people bringing food, socks, gloves and warm clothes for the freezing cold. The Marriott hotel was very welcoming, letting people in without masks, to use the toilets and wash.
Prime Minister Trudeau out of touch with reality
Ironically, fugitive Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed truckers as heroes in March 2020 when he tweeted: “While many of us are working from home, there are others who are not able to do so – like truckers who work day and night to make sure our shelves are stocked. So when you can, please #ThankATrucker for everything they do and help them however you can.” Today he is avoiding them like the plague, hiding in an undisclosed location as the convoy approached the Canadian capital.
Trudeau has tested positive, having been infected by one of his children. He got angry, but not with them. Instead, the Canadian Prime Minister scolded the protesters: “I want to be very clear: we are not intimidated by those who hurl insults and abuse at small business workers and steal food from the homeless. There is no place in our country for threats of violence or hatred.” But there is apparently room for forced measures. As things stand, not for much longer.
By Katiouchka, BAM!'s correspondent in North America
https://wentworthreport.com/2022/01/30/australian-truck-drivers-join-the-convoy-for-freedom/
https://www.instagram.com/freedomconvoyeurope2022/
https://www.foxnews.com/world/canadian-province-announces-plan-to-impose-fine-on-unvaccinated
https://news.yahoo.com/apos-freedom-convoy-apos-bans-183212526.html
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/jhfidsu5pc-123
https://connect.collective-evolution.com/posts/live-at-parliament-in-ottawa
Photo source: Screenshot and
https://www.qwant.com/?q=Justin+Trudeau&t=images&license=share&o=0%3AD92F5EF9E11C534AFFD3F2FB5CFED537F1C67FBC
Quotations from English-language sources are translated back here from the French.
