Truckers vs Tyranny

Iranian refugee knows freedom can vanish.

Salman and Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich. Arrested in Ottawa, she spent 18 days behind bars before being granted bail. She was in Toronto last Thursday (June 16) to accept the George Jonas Freedom Award. Photo taken by Salman and posted online.

Salman Sima, who resides in Toronto, spent three weeks in Ottawa supporting the Freedom Convoy. When he fled political persecution in Iran in 2011, Canada provided sanctuary, welcoming him as a refugee.

A decade later, as the Ottawa protest was ongoing, he wrote an article titled I’m An Iranian Refugee And Canada Is Going Down A Dark Path Under Trudeau.

“Why did I come to Ottawa to support the truckers?” he wrote. “Because I know the value of freedom, and I know what tyranny looks like.” He says that when Canada’s Prime Minister

called the peaceful truckers a ‘small fringe minority’ with ‘unacceptable views,’ it reminded me of 2009… [when the Iranian president] called peaceful protesters ‘a bunch of dust and trash’.

I was put in prison, solitary confinement no less, for my unacceptable views. What was my unacceptable view? Calling for freedom. Does this sound familiar?

Salman continues:

When I see countless Canadians out there in the freezing cold bringing stockpiles of food, water, and coffee to whoever is in need, day after day, it warms my heart. Watching these truckers and ordinary Canadians sacrifice and care for their fellow man, THIS is the Canada that I love.

…When I heard that in Ontario dancing and singing was banned [during COVID] and that you could not have more than 5 people for a party inside your house, it reminded me of the situation in Iran…these are the impulses of an authoritarian regime.

Salman documents the freedom marches that take place each Saturday in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter here and on Facebook here.