Defrosting Sausages Under the Hood

'It was minus 20, but my heart was warm.'

Part 1: It Was a Prison

Photo taken by Sandra. Identities of the two good Samaritans unknown.

On New Year's Eve 2021, a 10 pm curfew was imposed in Quebec. The previous curfew had lasted four-and-a-half months.

During the first week of January 2022, Quebec barred the unvaccinated from government-run liquor stores and legal cannabis shops. During the second week, it said unvaccinated adults would face a "significant" fine. Sandra couldn't believe people weren't flooding the streets in protest.

When the trucker Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa, this professional cook in her early fifties joined it there. "It was easy to go," she says, of the 90-minute drive from her home. "I was so excited to be there. When I saw all that love, people dancing, singing, hugging I knew it was my place. Everyone was so happy. It was incredible, so hard to explain." There were no masks, she remembers, no six feet of social distancing. “And nobody was sick," she points out.

After dancing near Parliament Hill until late, Sandra returned to her parked car. "I just put my seat down and prepared my bed in the back of my car. It was minus 20 or 25. But it was OK. My heart was warm." The next morning, near Parliament, she stopped at a canopy tent, under which there were tables crowded with donations. "All kinds of things - toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, clothes, mitts, toques, everything." There was also a box of apples and another box of oranges. Frozen solid. "I'm a professional cook," she explains. "I feel a need to do something - to make juice or apple pie, or apple crisp."

She asked the woman at the tent if she could help organize things. Soon, a generator appeared, along with a couple of donated crockpots. Opening cans of soup, Sandra dumped it into the pots, and later handed it out in disposable coffee cups.

That night, when she returned home, she loaded her 100-cup coffee maker and other equipment into her car. Back in Ottawa the next day, she visited Coventry - a trucker support depot in the parking lot of the baseball stadium. There she was given additional cooking supplies, including a burner and "one big pot of cream of broccoli soup. They give me that to start, but it’s frozen."

Four blocks south of Parliament Hill, where Metcalfe Street intersects with Slater, there's a sheltered alcove in front of an office tower that houses a Starbucks on the main floor. After establishing an outdoor kitchen in that alcove, Sandra cooked there for three weeks.

More pots, tents, and a small heater soon materialized. When a trucker from Alberta, whose big rig was parked nearby, brought her a propane BBQ, matters improved considerably. Food was abundant. "Everyone gave food," she says. "Food, food, food. It's incredible how much." On that first day, she had 1,500 frozen sausages to deal with.

She says strangers kept asking, "Can I help?" That's how the sausages came to be defrosted. At her suggestion, someone's car was started and the hood lifted. Within 30 minutes, the sausages had warmed enough that they could be removed from their packaging, separated, and cooked.

That first lunchtime, Sandra remembers,

I used burners with two aluminum pans. The first ones burned, but the second ones, no. I served 1,500 sausages with buns. I cooked the buns on the side, made sure they were hot.

I have my 100 cups of coffee right there. I have one for water, and powder for hot chocolate. Everyone give me coffee for the machine, and milk. The milk was frozen.

next installment: Miracles from Nothing

Quebec residents lived under a nightly curfew from January 9th 2021 until May 28th 2021 - 138 days. In some parts of the province, including Montreal, the curfew took effect at 8:00 pm. Elsewhere it was 9:30 pm.

A second, 10 pm curfew, was imposed on New Years Eve 2021. It was lifted 2.5 weeks later, on January 17th 2022.

Police officers enforced these curfews. People received fines as high as $6,000.