Want a Hug?

Being part of the Freedom Convoy 'was just joy.'

O'Jay was behind the wheel of his truck en route to Montreal when he pulled over for a short interview three weeks after the Freedom Convoy protest had been shut down (33:40 minute mark here).

He says that from the moment he and his fiancée joined the convoy in southwestern Ontario, it was “beyond anything we ever experienced…whether back home or here in Canada. And it was filled with love, unity…it was just joy.”

He has gained a new family, he says, and is grateful for everyone he met. “I don’t think we’ve ever hugged as many people…I think our arms got tired at one point from hugging.”

In Ottawa, his parked truck needed repairs:

And when we were working on it a guy came up and he was like, you know, ‘Are you OK?’

And I’m like, ‘Yeah.’

He’s like, ‘Do you want a hug?’

At the very moment they began to embrace, he says, a group walking past joined in. It became a spontaneous group hug involving “10 or 11 guys” in a circle.

These were all strangers, he says, “Absolute strangers.”

Part 2: Stand Up for Your Rights