Hazel & Rick
They became friends during the Ottawa protest. After he was violently arrested, she gave him sanctuary.
Hazel Gashoka lives in Toronto, but her husband has a business in Ottawa, and she was there during the Freedom Convoy. Her mother was reportedly imprisoned for political dissent back in Kenya so, like many members of immigrant communities, Hazel doesn’t take freedom lightly.
On Feb. 17th, she ended a tweet with the sentence: “Thank you, Truckers,” having identified herself as “The Black woman draped in the Canadian flag and dancing with a stroller” in a video posted online.
The day after trucker Rick was interviewed by Beth Baisch, Hazel provided an update:
This is my friend Rick. I had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past 3 wks. After [the above mentioned interview], police smashed his window & forcibly removed him. He was then arrested & police would not let him get his medicines. He is okay now & is safely at my home. Rick is a hero
Four days later, in another Tweet, she added:
This is my friend Rick. We come from very different backgrounds. While we may look, speak, & even believe different things, we are united in our shared yearning 4 freedom. "I'm in Ottawa fighting [for] everyone's freedom," Rick said. Thank you 4 fighting the good fight.
Many Canadians supported the truckers during the course of the Ottawa protest. They did so afterward, as well, when the same police who’d urged the big rigs to leave, impounded them for seven days.