Leaving Manitoba, Leaving Ottawa
Leaving Manitoba, Leaving Ottawa
'Just talking about it, I get teary eyed.'
When Stephanie Pituley joined the Freedom Convoy in Manitoba on January 25th, the sendoff was incredible. It usually takes 45 minutes to circumvent the outskirts of Winnipeg, but that afternoon it took five hours.
It was like “driving through a tunnel of people,” she says. You had to proceed slowly, “because you were scared you were going to nick someone.”
Enthusiasm for the convoy was widespread. “Everywhere we stopped, every single night, there were people that would offer up their homes, that would bring you in for the night [or for] a shower.”
When Stephanie departed Ottawa on February 19th, the mood was sombre. She says:
Our group was pretty tight, we were all fairly close…the police moved in on the Friday. We stuck around on the Friday, and the Friday evening. At that point we were all staying in hotel rooms.
And then, on the Saturday morning, we all met for kind of like a big group meeting. And there was myself and another guy on the block…we were like the block captains. We were standing talking to everybody and…I’ll never forget the words [one of the truckers] said.
He said, ‘Guys, as long as we’re still here [the police are] gonna keep beating on those people up on the Hill. When these trucks leave, they’ll stop beating on them. We have to go.’
She says everyone agreed almost instantly, and things moved quickly from there:
I think we were one of the last blocks to leave downtown Ottawa…
Just talking about it, I get teary eyed. ‘Cause it was hard.
We had to go, that’s just the way it was.’
read more about Stephanie and Kyra:
So they came to Ottawa to peacefully protest inhumane actions of the government and found friendship and solidarity all around. They left to stop inhumane treatment of their fellow protesters by that same government. Started out to help everyone, ended to help others-selfless endeavors both. "Beaten on" but not beaten.