We Are Not OK
Immigrant trucker Luis says 'We have no free speech in Canada.' (final installment of his story)
Part 1: I Came Together with the People
In total, Luis spent six weeks away from home. Most of the final two were on Gloria's farm. Why didn't he return home sooner? In his view, there's a spiritual war underway. "When we are at war, I'm not going to let you stay alone," he explains. "You are with me, I am with you. Together."
So long as there were other trucks at Gloria's, Luis wasn't leaving. It was only after the vast majority of them had trickled away that he himself departed.
In the interim, he had checked in at a government office, where he was advised his driver's license was in good standing but that his truck required an emissions test. The test completed, he was given the green light to carry on as normal.
On the day he headed for home, Luis called his former dispatcher,
           'You still alive, Luis?'
           'Yes, I'm here.'
           'Where?'
           'Ottawa. I'm just asking, you still want me or not? I need to know now. Otherwise, I go somewhere else.'
           'No, Luis. Come, I send you a load.'
Relating that conversation, he laughs. He got paid to drive home. When asked why he thinks his bank account wasn't frozen even though other truckers parked close by suffered that fate, he says, "You see that, that's God's work."
Six months later, Luis received an unpleasant surprise. Pulled over on the highway behind a slow-moving vehicle, a transportation official entered Luis' driver's license into the computer. "He come back maybe five minutes. He said, 'We are in trouble.'''
Although he'd been told otherwise, it appears Luis’ driver's license had indeed been suspended at the time of the protest. After this was discovered on the side of the highway, he himself was forbidden to move his truck to a safe location. Someone else would have to do so. Then, before he could renew his license, he needed a medical exam.
Big picture, Luis is well aware that he has been fortunate. "For me, it's OK," he says. He's proud of the role he played in the Freedom Convoy. Every few months he gets together with a handful of others with whom he spent those weeks on Wellington.
"We have to teach the government that we have a voice," he says,
I hope Canadian people, they will wake up. But they are still drinking beer, they don't want to know the problem. They think we are OK in Canada.
We are not OK. We have no free speech in Canada. The government have free speech, but not you and me.
