Much Rejoicing
The Freedom Convoy horse story you haven't heard. Police mounts were deterred with coyote urine.
Part 1: Locked in My Shop, Going Crazy
Sam was enriched and strengthened by his Freedom Convoy experiences - and by his many new relationships. Fellow mechanic, Brendan, is First Nations. "One morning we were out there and he was smudging his truck," remembers Sam. "The whole experience gave me goosebumps."
On the first day of the police crackdown, enormous horses were deployed against the peaceful protesters, two of whom were trampled. This distressed Sam, who explains: "I know horses. It’s part of my world. When I met my wife, she had 41 horses. She did guided trail rides near Whistler, British Columbia." For years, their family spent May to October out west, running that business. "I wasn't comfortable with the police using horses against us."
Someone had the idea, "Why don't we just deter the horses?" After purchasing bottles of coyote urine at Canadian Tire, we"put toilet paper rolls in a Ziploc bag,” recalls Sam, “and poured in all this urine - soaked the toilet paper rolls.” On day two of the police crackdown, they "had the big SWAT truck" up on Wellington toward mid-afternoon, along with a group of about eight mounted officers.” Sam continues:
"I walked up to the front line, and I just littered the intersection with these toilet paper sheets. When the horses started coming down the road, there was a dog in front and it started freaking out. And then the horses started rearing their heads."
That was the end of them. They promptly retreated. "Yeah, see you later. You guys aren't gonna use those things against us," says Sam. "It was awesome. I honestly believe it made a huge impact. People were intimidated by the horses, and when our side watched them leave the way they did, there was much rejoicing."
*
The next morning, Sam and Brendan were summarily evicted from the Holiday Inn in downtown Ottawa. Both their trucks were in a church parking lot across the street. "I went down to the truck early, knocked the snow off," Sam remembers,
An SUV pulled into the parking lot, along with two other Ford carrier vans full of police officers. I went up to the first officer that jumped out of the passenger seat. I said, 'What are you guys up to?'
He says, 'Oh, we're just waiting for the owner of this property to show up to get you guys to move out of here.'
I said, 'I got parking paid until Monday morning. We're staying.'
And he goes, 'No, you're not. Everybody's out of here.'
I'm like, 'Here's my parking slip, man.'
Sam says he appealed to the other officers, but was told it didn't matter. "You guys are all outta here. We're sweeping the city." Calling upstairs to the suite that had been paid for by supporters and slept six, Sam advised the other occupants the cops were on their way. "Get everything packed up right now. Look out the window, they're all coming up to kick you out. Get everything together, as fast as you can." The police went "floor to floor," he says. "If you were part of the Convoy, you had to get out. If you weren't, you were to stay in your room and not leave until directed."
The hotel manager intervened on their behalf, he remembers. "He's like, 'No, no, these guys are all good. They can stay.' And the cops were, 'No, everybody's out of here.' So we grabbed everything. We threw in whatever we could, and we left. And two days later I had to drive to Manitoulin Island cuz I'd ended up with Brendan's ceremonial smudge kit and his feather."
next installment: The Drive Shaft & the Black Bomber
The coyote urine use was brilliant. And then we had a police state. Who gets to tell a hotel or a parking lot that they cannot honour their customers? A police state.
HA! Coyote urine .. very clever..