Countries around the world are learning to live with COVID-19. They’re dropping vaccine passports, mask mandates and other public health measures.
This is not the case in Canada. Instead, public health officials are tweaking restrictions and slowly reopening society. Meanwhile, some Canadians continue to have anxiety about the virus.
Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.
The quote goes something like this: “In Ottawa, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist.”
The trucker freedom convoy converging on Ottawa from different parts of the country is unlike anything Canada has witnessed in recent history.
In town after town, as the truckers make their way to the nation’s capital, they receive cheers and praises from the local populations. The scenes are staggering: hundreds gather, families included, in harsh winter conditions, often waiting hours for the convoy to show their support.
In normal times, this would be considered a beautiful show of Canadian solidarity, but according to prime minister Justin Trudeau, the convoy represents nothing but a “small fringe minority” holding “unacceptable views.”
When asked about the convoy on Wednesday, the prime minister observed, in classic Trudeauspeak, that the movement does “not represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other” throughout the pandemic.
That is a rather surprising statement considering truckers have been on the frontline of the pandemic, delivering food and supplies for Canadians, even through the first wave when the virus appeared mysterious and far deadlier than it turned out to be.
Of course, Trudeau has developed over the years a simple strategy: to label anyone who disagrees with him or his liberal agenda a “racist,” “intolerant,” or, in this case, a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.”
The simple fact is that the spark that lit this whole protest came from the Trudeau government imposing a vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers. This policy disregarded the fact that trucking is a lonely job, with very few opportunities for social interaction, or that the vaccine does not prevent transmission of the virus, or even that the truckers, after being on the frontline for two years, deserve our respect and appreciation.
After all, Canada remains one of the most heavily locked-down jurisdictions in the world. As restrictions are being lifted in the United Kingdom and Europe, and as they have been nearly non-existent for most of the United States for months now, the restrictions are still commonplace throughout Trudeau’s Canada.
Is the virus more deadly in the true north strong and free? Or does Canada have a poor and tired healthcare system, incapable of handling surges of seasonal respiratory viruses? Or is this actually about the government enjoying governing us through conflicting and ever-changing decrees, emergency orders and mandates? These are the discussions that many Canadians cheering on the convoy are wanting to have. These are also the things our elites are nowhere near willing to discuss.
Along the road, as the convoy movement grew, it mutated into something more than a protest about mandates that harmed truckers and the supply chains. It became an opposition to all the authoritarian measures and poorly justified restrictions which have been plaguing the lives of Canadians for nearly two years now.
Yet the legacy media, just like Justin Trudeau, are having a very difficult time understanding the sacrifices that Canadians have made over those years. For privileged politicians, public sector workers and public personalities, the lockdowns and restrictions were just an excuse to spend some more time at home, to buy a Peloton bike, or a dog, or invest in a kitchen renovation.
But so many Canadians across the country, in small towns and big cities, have made sacrifices that extend far beyond that — none more than essential workers like truckers. And with no end in sight to the pandemic, the feeling of helplessness of these Canadians has morphed into the desire for political action, in the form of a convoy heading to Ottawa.
Our leaders and our elites should try to understand what this means rather than try to dismiss it with stale insults.
Marie Oakes is an independent commentator and co-host of the No Malarkey Show. She has been covering COVID protests in Canada for over a year. She can be followed on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube @TheMarieOakes
On Day 6 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, truckers touched down in the nation’s capital, the Eastern fleet rolled through Quebec City and the legacy media’s hysteria reached new heights.
By early mid-afternoon on Friday, truckers and supporters began to gather near Parliament.
This was the scene in Ottawa.
The truckers arriving early parked their rigs on Wellington Street outside the Parliament Buildings for the night. They have said they will not move them until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lifts his vaccine mandates.
Truck horns were blaring in unison on Friday night.
The Western fleet made its way through parts of Central Ontario today. As truckers passed through North Bay, Ontario, huge crowds of supporters endured the cold to greet the convoy.
Crowds lined both sides of the street in North Bay, waving Canadian flags and singing O Canada.
One supporter even joined the convoy on horseback.
The Eastern fleet set out from Moncton, New Brunswick and were greeted by huge crowds lining overpasses.
This was the scene in the morning.
As the convoy made its way through Quebec, massive crowds didn’t miss their chance to cheer on the truckers.
This was the scene in Drummondville, Quebec as supporters greeted the convoy from an overpass.
https://twitter.com/TheMarieOakes/status/1487189746661138434
This was what it looked like in Quebec City.
Earlier in the day, crowds cheered on the truckers as they passed through Sherbrooke, Quebec.
In contrast to the scenes of patriotism and unity on the East Coast, the Nova Scotia government issued a directive banning gatherings alongside the interprovincial highway.
True North has more.
Federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole met with truckers outside of Ottawa today as he called on Trudeau to do the same.
International celebrities continued to lend support to Canadian truckers, the latest being UK actor and comedian Russel Brand.
Brand posted a lengthy video to YouTube endorsing the trucker convoy and asking why the legacy media was refusing to cover the story. The video had over 800,000 views at the time this article was published.
The legacy media continued their ongoing campaign to demonize the convoy, continuing to warn about potential violence on Saturday and that “extremist groups” were planning to hijack the event.
The headline of the top story on CBC read, “Ottawa ready to deal with violence, extremists as protest convoy arrives, says public safety minister.”
True North will be on the ground tomorrow outside Parliament to bring you wire-to-wire coverage of events.
The GoFundMe in support of the truckers at the time this article was published had reached $7,600,670.
Nova Scotia has made it illegal to gather alongside the interprovincial highway in support of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy.
The provincial government announced the directive Friday afternoon, claiming that “allowing people to gather in those areas would put themselves and others at risk.”
Although called a “Highway Blockade Ban” on the government’s press release, and is nominally directed towards “prohibiting protesters from blockading Highway 104 near the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border,” the ban also covers supporters of trucking convoys.
“The directive also applies to people who stop or gather alongside Highway 104, the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border, or at the Cobequid Pass toll area in support of the 2022 Freedom Convoy, the Atlantic Hold the Line event, or others organized to interfere with traffic.”
Another section of the ban goes so far as to prohibit “financing” of such activities. True North reached out to the Nova Scotia government to learn what exactly this meant but received no response by deadline. As of publication time, the GoFundMe for the freedom convoy had reached $7.5 million.
The ban makes no mention of COVID despite being brought in under Nova Scotia’s still-active Emergency Management Act that began in March 2020 as a response to the pandemic.
According to the government, fines for breaking the law “per incident” can reach $10,000 for individuals and $100,000 for corporations.
“I can’t believe they would do that,” Nova Scotia driver and convoy organizer Martin Brodmann told True North on Friday.
Brodmann agreed, however, that with the East Coast fleet of the Freedom Convoy having already made its way into Ontario, it was a little like shutting the barn doors after the horses got out.
Truckers from Newfoundland passed into Nova Scotia Wednesday, joining up with Maritime drivers who made their way into and across New Brunswick on Thursday.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Brodmann contrasted Nova Scotia’s decision to ban supporters with his experience in Quebec, saying that thirty police cars had just lined up to give the truckers a send-off into Ontario.
“This whole journey has been such an enjoyment,” he said, adding that the convoy was something “that had to be done.”
All fleets of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy are expected to reach Ottawa Saturday.
Nova Scotia’s “Highway Blockade Ban” will be in place until at least Feb. 6, when the province will reassess and likely extend its state of emergency.
In May 2021, the Nova Scotia government also obtained an injunction cracking down on planned anti-lockdown protests.
With each passing day, the divide between how those in downtown Ottawa view the freedom convoy and how people everywhere else in Canada – and even around the world – grows larger and larger. In this edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, True North’s Andrew Lawton talks about the convoy’s momentum, and why the mainstream media and political elites have turned to vilifying it. Also, former NHL player Theo Fleury joins the show to talk about why he thinks the convoy is a watershed moment for Canada.
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Prominent figures from around the world have voiced their support for the Truckers for Freedom Convoy heading to Ottawa to protest COVID-19 mandates and the erosion of freedoms under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Numbered among them are business leaders, sports stars, politicians, academics and entertainers. Many of them have specifically called out Trudeau for claiming the convoy is made up of a “small fringe minority” holding “unacceptable views.”
Attempts by the legacy media to paint the truckers as so-called racists and extremists have fallen on deaf ears as the convoy gains international attention.
Tens of thousands of truckers are expected to arrive in the capital this weekend where supporters will continue to demonstrate against unconscionable government overreach. So far, a GoFundMe campaign has raised over $7 million in funds which will compensate truckers and go to various veterans groups.
Elon Musk
CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk tweeted in support of the convoy on Thursday, declaring, “Canadian truckers rule.” In follow-up tweets, Musk decried government overreach and the erosion of freedoms, calling it “the path to tyranny.”
Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. also voiced his support for the convoy in a Facebook video posted on Wednesday. Trump encouraged truckers to “push back against insanity,” saying the convoy was a “genius idea.”
Joe Rogan
Podcaster Joe Rogan highlighted the convoy’s efforts on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan showed clips of the convoy composed of “fifty thousand trucks … headed to Ottawa to protest the vaccine mandates by Trudeau.”
Rob Schneider
American comedian and actor Rob Schneider joined in on voicing his support of the convoy while also ridiculing Trudeau for going into quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 despite being asymptomatic.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Renowned Canadian author and speaker Dr. Jordan B. Peterson was one of the early voices to back the freedom convoy. Peterson even accused Trudeau of lying and having a “nose as long as the trucker’s convoy” for saying the truckers hold unacceptable views.
Russell Brand
On Thursday, UK actor and comedian Russell Brand published a short clip encouraging the truckers for “standing up to freedom.” In a longer YouTube podcast, Russel also blasted the legacy media’s lack of coverage of the movement.
Dr. Debra Soh
Neuroscientist and author Dr. Debra Soh tweeted on Friday in support of the convoy, saying that Canadian truckers “will be the ones to end this sanity.” Soh also blasted the media for portraying the convoy as another Jan. 6 event.
Theo Fleury
Canadian hockey star and olympic gold medalist Theo Fleury took to Fox News to voice his support of the convoy, calling it a nationwide movement for freedom.
Mike Fisher
Canadian-born hockey star Mike Fisher posted a video on his Instagram to lend his support for truckers “fighting for the freedom of the country.
Evangeline Lilly
Canadian actress and Golden Globe Award winner Evangeline Lilly took to Instagram while at a protest in Washington DC in support of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy. Lilly spoke against forced vaccinations and the fear tactics used by politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Devon Larratt
Canadian professional armwrestling legend and former Canadian Special Forces member Devon Larratt posted a photo to his Facebook on Thursday showing off a new tattoo honouring the truckers and declaring, “I love my country…Thank you to the truckers for being leaders to a ‘small minority.’ See you this Saturday.”
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier made three demands to the federal government – chiefly to repeal the vaccine mandate on civil servants and to rehire all public employees fired because of them.
“The government should reinstate all civil servants, military personnel and other government employees who unjustly lost their jobs,” said Bernier.
The PPC leader also called on federally regulated companies in the transportation and telecom industries to rehire affected employees. Bernier added that if those workers didn’t want to return to their jobs, “they should get severance packages and unemployment benefits that terminated employees normally receive.”
Bernier’s second demand to the federal government was to repeal all travel restrictions on planes, trains and boats for unvaccinated Canadians. He slammed these restrictions as “useless,” calling them a “violation of our basic constitutional rights.”
This demand echoes a lawsuit against the federal government launched Wednesday by Brian Peckford, the last surviving signatory of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Third came Bernier’s demand that the feds stop bailing out provincial governments who “ruin their economies with lockdowns, curfews, vaccine passports and vaccine mandates.” He mused that if provinces didn’t receive the billions of federal dollars, most provinces would have been more “prudent” and “moderate” in their approach to controlling COVID.
Bernier went on to address questions about Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Erin O’Toole, who on Thursday endorsed the Truckers for Freedom Convoy in a video posted to Twitter.
O’Toole called the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers “an attack on common sense.” The endorsement ended weeks of waffling by the CPC leader, and came after several of his MPs had already publicly backed the convoy and called on the feds to drop the mandate.
O’Toole also confirmed yesterday at a press conference that we would meet with the truckers when they arrive in Ottawa.
For Bernier, O’Toole’s endorsement was too little, too late.
The PPC leader said Friday that O’Toole is “unable to answer simple questions and has essentially supported every one of Trudeau’s decisions regarding COVID.”
Bernier did congratulate CPC deputy leader Candice Bergen and finance critic Pierre Poilievre for “mustering the courage to oppose the government’s authoritarian measures after two years of silence,” concluding that it is a welcome contrast to their leader O’Toole.
He then went on to slam the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers once again, saying the policy has ‘nothing to do with science’ and that the “authoritarian measures have almost no effect on the spread of the virus while they have massive economic and health impacts on the population.”
When asked about coverage of the convoy, Bernier said that the mainstream media is trying to “discredit” the movement.
“I have done a lot of rallies in the last couple of months, and I didn’t see Radio-Canada, I didn’t see CBC, I didn’t see CTV there,” said Bernier. “I believe it’ll be the same thing this weekend…I hope that the mainstream media will be there to see the support of this rally.”
The Truckers for Freedom Convoy made its way through parts of Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario yesterday, with parts of it expected to arrive in Ottawa today. A large group of East Coast truckers is currently making its way through Quebec, and is expected to unite with the Western fleet on Saturday
The GoFundMe in support of the truckers at the time this article was published had reached $7,176,580.
The Department of Public Safety is accusing the media of omitting crucial information regarding recent RCMP arrests of protestors targeting the BC Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
The accusations involve videos uploaded to YouTube by CBC freelancer Michael Toledano depicting an RCMP raid on a cabin in northern BC.
Footage of the raid shows armed RCMP officers surrounding the cabin and cutting their way in with a chainsaw. The filmmakers alongside activists were then escorted out by police wearing full body armour and placed under arrest.
According to reports obtained by Blacklock’s, the media opted to accuse the Mounties of misconduct despite facts showing otherwise.
“The RCMP has maintained a measured approach to avoid escalation,” wrote a Department of Public Safety Memo. “On November 25, a journalist released a video showing the arrests. However the video does not show what occurred preceding the RCMP members’ breach of the structures.”
“I was arrested at gunpoint for filming RCMP tactical teams,” said Toledano. “My arrest and incarceration were punitive and a blatant attempt to repress images of police violence against Indigenous people in Canada.”
Toledano accused the RCMP of “never (reading) the injunction” before making the arrests although clips filmed by him prior to the raid were never released.
“RCMP officers read the injunction at each structure and made several calls over the course of more than an hour for occupants to exit the structure,” said the federal memo. “The only responses from inside the structures were derogatory in nature and refusals. It was not until RCMP officers entered the structures and arrested the individuals that they identified themselves as journalists.”
Toledano is among the crew hired to produce the CBC “viewpoint documentary” Yintah. As exclusively reported by True North, the CBC also partnered with radical anarchist activist and filmmaker Franklin López to create the film.
According to the CBC, López has been an anarchist activist for over 20 years and is the founder of the media company sub.Media. López’ company has produced films with titles such as “Oil Pipelines Are Easy To Shut Down” and “How to Paralyze a Country”.
His films have also been fan-favourites of extreme far-left websites that have instructed followers on how to commit criminal acts and even to construct incendiary devices such as molotov cocktails.
When True North confronted the CBC with these facts about López, the public broadcaster stated that – following an initial comment – they had nothing else to say.
On this week’s edition of Fake News Friday on The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice and True North Producer Harrison Faulkner discuss the legacy media’s attempts to discredit the Truckers for Freedom convoy by accusing the truckers of being “extremists” and “far-right.”
As celebrities such as Elon Musk, Russel Brand and Joe Rogan endorse the convoy, the legacy media is going into overdrive to discredit, demonize and tarnish the protestors. One outlet even went as far as to warn those that financially support the convoy as potentially financing “domestic terrorism.”
Candice and Harrison break down and dissect the worse examples of the legacy media’s fake news.
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Today marks 34 years since the infamous Morgentaler decision, in which the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s abortion law and unintentionally set off a lengthy era of zero abortion restrictions in Canada. As New Brunswick heads to court to rightly argue that abortion is not a Charter right, it is worth remembering what exactly that court decision did determine, and what motivated the man behind the case.
The Morgentaler case is that of Doctor Henry Morgentaler, a controversial Order of Canada recipient for his industrious efforts (to the point of jail time) to provide abortions whether they were legal or not. In 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that the specific abortion regime in Canada’s Criminal Code at that time was unconstitutional under section 7 of the Charter, as it unjustifiably violated the right to life, liberty, and the security of the person both of women seeking abortions and of the physicians performing them. All laws restricting abortion were then removed from the Criminal Code, but that was not meant as a final word on the topic. The judges in Morgentaler explicitly stated that there was a national interest in protecting the life of the fetus at some point, and looked to Parliament to work out the details of a new law.
Since then, Parliament has failed to pass a new law, leaving Canada as the only democracy in the world with no legal protection from abortion for pre-born children. Where every other country has managed to reach agreement – most prohibiting abortion after the first trimester – Canada continues to allow abortion at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason.
Morgentaler would be proud. But would he also recognize that his key goal with abortion access has not been achieved?
Morgentaler was a Holocaust survivor, and that horrific experience informed much of his passion for abortion. In 2013, the year of Morgentaler’s death, journalist Gary Evans shared some of Morgentaler’s words that reveal his motivation for promoting abortion. “If all children were desired, received with love and affection and care,” Morgentaler said, “they would become loving and caring individuals. If we had that for a number of generations, we would have a different kind of species, a different humankind.”
Morgentaler lived through the horror of the Holocaust and lost most of his family members to the death camps. He saw a connection between unwanted or abused children and violent adults who lacked compassion. He believed that future events like the Holocaust could be prevented if compassion increased and that abortion – the killing of unwanted children – was a way to increase compassion and love in the world.
I wonder what Morgentaler would say now, seeing the results of more than three decades of completely legal abortion. Are people more compassionate? Are crime rates down and loving families up? Has genocide, racism, prejudice or bigotry ended?
Morgentaler made an accurate assessment of the problem: people can treat other people horribly, and this is not the way the world should be. But he responded with a tragically misguided solution.
It would have been consistent, and just as ineffective, for Morgentaler to promote capital punishment for all crimes and live his life executing vigilante justice. Just as Batman never runs out of crimes to solve, this “different kind of species,” essentially good humankind, would never have emerged. Human nature tends toward selfishness and judgment, not just compassion and love for others. No amount of abortion will change that, just as no amount of capital punishment will end all crime.
A parent’s ability (and willingness) to kill their unwanted pre-born child does not lead to more compassion. It leads to a devaluing of born children who are then seen as a burden, a cumbersome and expensive responsibility. It may lead to fewer children, but there is no guarantee that those children will grow up compassionate and loving in a society that tells them they do not have to be.
Henry Morgentaler was right in his indictment of the hate and hurt people can inflict on one another, and his vision for a more compassionate future was a noble one. But when it came to presenting a solution, sadly he got it all wrong.
Anna Nienhuis is a policy analyst with We Need a Law, a national non-profit campaign that advocates for legal protection for pre-born children.
