Higher Purpose
I encountered Freedom Convoy Christians immediately in Ottawa. Behind the wheel, and on the ground.
On the morning of our first full day in Ottawa, my friend Deb and I strolled up to Parliament Hill. We’d done a quick, partial tour the night before. Now we began chatting to people. She was soon deep in conversation with someone from St. Mary’s, a small town 40 minutes north of London, Ontario. Turns out they’d attended the same school.
This chap and his wife had been in Ottawa for a few days already. They transformed our visit on the spot by telling us about the restaurants that were serving all comers, non-vaxxed as well as vaxxed. (I talk about that here).
During those first moments of direct communication, I met a charming francophone who said he’d almost turned back on his way to Ottawa due to mechanical trouble. Sitting in his truck on the side of the road, unsure what to do, he decided to leave matters in God’s hands. When he turned the ignition a few minutes later, his vehicle unexpectedly started, and he carried on.
Before we parted, he gave me his business card, which indicated he’s an antiques and collectibles ‘picker.’ Then he pressed something else into my hand - a cast metal crucifix. I would soon discover numerous Christians in the Freedom Convoy crowd - behind the wheel and on the ground. Mennonites. Roman Catholics. Dutch Reformed. Russian Orthodox. Evangelicals.
I’ve thought about this a great deal over the past year. Several of the truckers I’ve interviewed in the interim are devout. Their faith is central to their analysis of government-imposed COVID measures. It’s central to their response to those measures. Their moral code comes from on high, which frequently puts them at odds with politicians.
Christians half expect to be scorned, maligned, and persecuted for being true to their faith. Which is exactly what happened in Ottawa. The mainstream media has spent a full year portraying a crowd that included numerous loving, pacifist Christians as dangerous individuals who deserved to be pepper sprayed and beaten by police.
The contrast between the reality and the reporting left a lasting impression on many people, including on my friend Deb. Her firsthand experience of the Freedom Convoy is that it was ‘Woodstock in Winter.’ But that’s not what she saw on the television. We knew about the daily religious service on the front lawn of Parliament. But only because we were there.
Truckers have told me that block captain (morning) meetings often began with prayer. At 7 pm each evening, one group formed a circle in the middle of an intersection that had been barricaded by the police. Rather than being rowdy, they recited the Lord’s Prayer in English and then in German.
EDIT: I added this below, as a comment, but have decided to append it here, also:
Sometimes we remember the exact moment in which we heard a song for the first time. This was being played loudly one afternoon on Wellington Street as I stood snapping photos of members of the public shaking hands with truckers & slipping them cash.
It's called 'God's Country.' For the rest of my life, hearing this song will transport me back in time to that moment.
Sometimes we remember the exact moment in which we heard a song for the first time. This was being played loudly one afternoon on Wellington Street as I stood snapping photos of members of the public shaking hands with truckers & slipping them cash. It's called 'God's Country'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEWGyyLiqY4
It might be worth mentioning that by summer 2022, when James Topp arrived in Ottawa, there would have been no opportunity to create a prayer circle on Parliament Hill. The beautiful expansive lawns were all fenced off and one needed to go through security barriers to even enter the grounds to reach these fenced off sidewalks.. JT had to be careful- more terrorists likely in the midst! Heartbreaking and disgusting!