WEYBURN – Issues of freedom, of COVID vaccines and restrictions, and a whole lot of other related and unrelated issues, came to the forefront as the huge “Freedom Convoy” converged on Ottawa to park on Parliament Hill.
As of this writing, the truckers and others were still there, pressing their grievances and demands, and the prime minister has responded by proclaiming defiantly that he will not be intimidated.
This was the same prime minister who said this was a “fringe” group of a small number of people with “unacceptable” views.
This is known as the equivalent of waving a red flag in front of a bull, as it’s clear these protesters aren’t going to be intimidated either.
This protest encapsulates the divide that has been growing in Canada, with extreme polarization of views to an extent that is quite alarming.
It’s quite clear, not only from the number of trucks in the convoy but from the huge crowds that cheered them on along the highways leading to Ottawa all across Canada, this is not a small “fringe” group.
The problem with such a large and diverse group of protesters is that it includes people with a whole range of views on what’s going on with COVID and other issues. It began mainly as a protest against the border restrictions on truckers if they are not vaccinated, but it has expanded from there as many, many people have had it with restrictions over the past two years.
There were moments that disgusted and angered many Canadians, such as the person dancing on the grave of the Unknown Soldier, and decorating the statue of Terry Fox with protest signs and an upside-down flag.
Since then, a number of the protesters took it on themselves to clean off the Fox statue and restore it to a proper appearance, but the post of this video also noted this is something you likely won’t see on the national news.
To be sure, the national news reports were not very balanced and over-represented the pundits who were loudly proclaiming what dangers this protest would bring.
What ought to be considered is a re-balancing of the rules and restrictions around COVID, along with the realization that vaccines do not prevent people from getting the virus. An unvaccinated trucker is no more likely to pass it on than a vaccinated one, thus the restrictions really make no sense and are not protecting anyone.
We also need to realize that eventually we have to learn how to live with the virus, as it isn’t going to go away. With the vast majority of people protecting themselves with the vaccine, we need to allow people to live and work, and get back to their lives. We need to go back to living at peace with one another, not be at each other’s throats.
