O Canada, What Kind of Hellhole are We Turning Into?
Fired by his bank, defamed by the media, persecuted by the state.
Part 1: Who is Steeve Charland? Part 2: Who are Les Farfadaas? Part 3: Rideau & Sussex: The Balloon Deflates Part 4: O Canada, What Kind of Hellhole are We Turning Into?
Here’s one last post about Steeve Charland, who has already spent 23 days in jail, even though he has yet to be tried on mischief charges connected to the Freedom Convoy.
Steeve testified at the Emergencies Act hearings last week. On the Saturday before the truckers arrived in Ottawa, he says Les Farfadaas - the group for which he is the official spokesperson - decided not to get involved.
At some point during the week that followed, as trucks from Western Canada made their way across the country, they switched gears and began inviting people to form a convoy to Ottawa. It would start in LaChute, 90 minutes east of the capital.
The public response was overwhelming. Steeve claims this convoy, which formed up on January 29th, was 107 kilometeres (66 miles) long. He describes it as “truly a convoy of citizens” who were driving “all kinds of vehicles. Cars, Winnebagos, trucks, pickups, whatever.” He says he got a call from someone else in Quebec that day who claimed to be en route to Ottawa as part of a different convoy, consisting of 1,500-vehicles.
Steeve headed to Gatineau, Quebec on the other side of the river from Ottawa, Les Farfadaas having arranged in advance to sublet a large parking lot at $1000 per day for an indefinite period of time. This arrangement was apparently with a tenant who manages the parking lot, rather than with the property owner.
The following day, Steeve says he negotiated with municipal officials and police representatives on behalf of a group of people who wished to cross the river in their vehicles and join the Ottawa protest. The police insisted they use a different bridge, but eventually both law enforcement personnel and Steeve (on foot) helped escort these vehicles. After they arrived at Rideau Street, he says “it was one truck behind the other. We went as far as we could…after that everyone was left to themselves.”
During the time Les Farfadaas rented the parking lot, Steeve says he had numerous cordial conversations with the police, who checked in daily. About a week into the protest, he also talked to a number of Quebec truckers parked in downtown Ottawa:
Me, I was chatting with the leaders of the groups. We went to ask them what we could do to help them. In terms of funding, food, gasoline.
In addition to the parking lot’s outdoor kitchen that fed all comers, Les Farfadaas set up another food station in downtown Ottawa:
we asked if there were people in the movement who were ready to volunteer at a kiosk on Wellington Street…There are a lot of people close to us who said ‘we’ll take care of it,’ then the rest of us, we didn't have to do anything. It happened all by itself…people who lent a hand to…offer soup, coffee, and everything they could for the truckers, for the demonstrators who came to spend a day or two, and for the homeless.
Steeve says Les Farfadaas distributed more than $24,000 in donations directly to Quebec truckers. Meanwhile, problems were brewing at the parking lot:
we had a complaint from the municipality, we had a visit from the firefighters who came to do two inspections...it felt like more and more pressure to get rid of us…All that we were asked to do concerning public safety and fire was followed to the letter. Then one day came the injunction, with the aim of dislodging us.
On February 15th, a day after Canada’s Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act, a court evicted Les Farfadaas on behalf of the property owner. Steeve says they decamped
to a church parking lot, which had been offered to us by the person who takes care of the church, until the next morning because he too was asked to move us. We moved again.
Despite being a 30-year customer of Banque Nationale, Steeve testified he began experiencing banking problems early in February. Without warning, the amount he was permitted to withdraw was reduced. Suddenly he couldn’t access funds immediately when depositing cheques. Some weeks later, the bank sent him a letter saying it would be closing his account:
You know what it's like to live in 2022 without a bank account, it's almost impossible. It was very difficult…they gave me no reason…they simply said our business relationship was over.
A longtime social activist, Steve says he has “always campaigned in a peaceful way and I have always influenced the people around me to remain peaceful.” In his words, Ottawa was a chance to “tell our elected officials that enough is enough.”
He believes government responses to the pandemic were more harmful than the virus, and reminded the hearing of the earliest days of the pandemic, when we were instructed to remain in our homes to prevent virus spread, yet flights from abroad were still landing at Canadian airports.
He has not yet had his day in court. He has been convicted of no crime. Nevertheless, he has been fired by his bank. Summarily punished. A corporation decided to play judge, jury, and executioner.
Steeve wasn’t arrested at the protest in Ottawa. The police went looking for him a week later. Criminally charged, he must now find the money to defend himself in court. The state is making life miserable for one of its critics. This is persecution - the endless resources of the state pitted against a lone individual.
Steeve testified that hostile, one-sided, inaccurate media coverage has created a situation in which he is recognized everywhere in Quebec. In his words, “I’m not always safe and I never travel alone.”
O Canada, what kind of hellhole are we turning into?
Part 1: Who is Steeve Charland? Part 2: Who are Les Farfadaas? Part 3: Rideau & Sussex: The Balloon Deflates Part 4: O Canada, What Kind of Hellhole are We Turning Into?
