Scorning the Little People & Their Cries for Help

Canadians protested in Ottawa because their concerns weren't being heard.

As I’ve recently noted, federal government officials participate in thousands of meetings every year with corporate lobbyists. Talking to interested parties about government policy is normal. That’s how things get done in Ottawa.

Freedom Convoy truckers asked for something every corporate lobbyist asks for: a chance to make their case, a chance to be heard. But these working people were contemptuously rebuffed. The disrespect was palpable. They may as well have been insects.

That’s why it’s important to take note of the statements Freedom Convoy representatives made under oath while testifying at the Emergencies Act hearings.

Exhibit #1 is Chris Barber, from Saskatchewan. He says he’d reached the end of his tether. The videos he was releasing on social media in January 2022 were, in his words, “Angry. Very angry.” Government policies were getting worse, rather than better. “They just kept tossing more on,” he says. As the owner of a cross-border trucking business, he describes the January 15th vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers as “the last straw.”

His business was struggling due to a shortage of vaccinated drivers. He himself had gotten vaccinated so as not to lose that 16-year-old business. His daughter was being bullied and segregated in school. And no one in authority seemed to care.

Although he’d never been politically active before, Chris says he organized the Freedom Convoy to “try and get the government to start listening to us.” We were hoping, he says, “to resolve the issues with government” and then “all go home.” (See my post about Chris, Arresting the Peaceful and the Law-Abiding.)

Exhibit #2 is Steeve Charland, from Quebec. Although he was never in touch with protest organizers from elsewhere in the country, he led a 65-mile-long convoy of ordinary people, driving their own vehicles, to a Gatineau, Quebec parking lot (directly across the river from Ottawa, Ontario).

He says the grassroots weren’t being heard by elected officials. In his words, “We have election campaigns that last about a month and during that time [candidates] tell us what we want to hear.” Then, for the next four years, they pursue their own agendas, forgetting all about their promises:

We are so not heard that we have to go and demonstrate to be heard. And again, we are not yet heard…At some point you have to shout louder to be heard.

Steeve says he joined the Freedom Convoy

in order to unite the people, so that we have a voice strong enough to finally be heard, to tell our elected officials that enough is enough, that you have made enough [COVID-related] decisions without asking for our consent.

(I’ve written about Steeve here.)

Exhibit #3 is Brigitte Belton, from Ontario. She’s a cross border trucker who resides close to the US border near Windsor. The idea of a nationwide protest started with her, then gained traction after she connected with Chris in Saskatchewan. Because there’s domestic violence in her past, wearing a face mask floods her with anxiety. Taking anxiety medication makes it unsafe for her to drive, thereby destroying her ability to work.

Brigitte testified that, after two years of dealing with power-tripping border guards when crossing back into Canada, a particularly unpleasant experience nearly pushed her over the edge. A guard raised the window in his booth long enough to tell her to “put on a mask,” then slammed it down. He did so again. Having no mask to don, she was taken into custody. She expected to be arrested. She thought her truck and load were about to be seized.

A letter of complaint went nowhere. In her words, she was advised to “Suck it up, buttercup.” At first, she gave serious thought to committing suicide. Instead, she glued herself back together and made history.

next installment:

What Did You Want Me To Do? Lose Everything? 'I was asking for help. Nobody listened. Nobody helped.'