Freedom Convoy: Historically Significant or a Nothing Burger?
The Ottawa police chief's assessment - Part 1.
What will historians say about the Freedom Convoy? Let us imagine your now-toddler grandchild grows up to study history. Their professor asks them to answer this question:
Was the Freedom Convoy historically significant or was it a nothing burger?
Now imagine the professor tells them to base their answer on a single historical document - Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly’s Closing Submission to the Emergencies Act inquiry.
This document begins with a declaration that the convoy represented “a paradigm shift in the way that public protest is organized, conducted, and funded in Canada” (all bolding here and below added by me).
It says Ottawa “was inundated, from all directions, with thousands of trucks from across the country” on the first weekend of the protest, that an “overwhelming number of trucks and protesters” descended on the city, with probably “the greatest number of participants and vehicles” arriving from Quebec “across the five interprovincial bridges.”
It explains that “small encampments…[are] not uncommon after large demonstrations.” Protesters often say they don’t intend to leave until certain action is taken, but normally they “return to their normal lives after a day or two.”
But not this time:
Due to the unprecedented scope and scale of the protest…the ‘smaller’ group that remained [after the first weekend] was far larger and more difficult to manage than anyone anticipated. That core group was also joined by waves of additional protestors…on subsequent weekends.
…“There were simply too many protesters, too many trucks and too motivated and
experienced…a core of protesters”
Chief Sloly’s document tells us there “were no riots, no losses of life and no serious injury” during this three-week protest of “unprecedented scope and scale.”
It also reports that “all three levels of government” responded by formally declaring emergencies.
It’ll be called nothing because we questioned authority. How dare we? Particularly Canadians don’t do such a thing, and with so much popular support all over the country. And so many truckers, from west to east. And, as it turns out, we weren’t alone. People all over the world have reported problems both with management and treatment. So it looks like it was really something.