When Canada Was Cruel, Ugly, Segregated

We became an appalling nation, then the truckers broke the spell.

Media sentiment, mostly late 2021 to early 2022. Compilation by an unknown person. Found on Twitter. Click image to enlarge.

For the first two years after COVID-19 appeared, the Canadian public was overwhelmingly cooperative. By and large, we complied with historically unprecedented government-imposed restrictions. We did as we were told.

By early 2022, any COVID-related medical emergency that might once have existed was well in the rear view. But instead of resuming normal life, governments - egged on by the media - kept tightening the screws.

The January 15th cross-border trucker mandate was part of a fresh wave of punitive policies. When Quebec barred the non-vaccinated from liquor and cannabis stores during the first week of January, political leaders called for the same in Ontario. On January 11th, Quebec said the unvaxxed were about to be charged a new health tax. On January 24th, Quebec CTV reported: “As of this morning, Walmart, Costco and Canadian Tire shoppers must flash a vaccine passport to pass through the entrance.” The trajectory was decidedly in the wrong direction.

In British Columbia, church attendance was still limited to 50% of seating capacity unless every single person provided proof of vaccination. Think about that for a moment. Places of worship, which are supposed to be about community support. Being compelled by the government to inspect papers and stigmatize non-conformists. Think about those excluded from weddings and funerals.

Unvaxxed high school graduates weren’t welcome at most colleges or universities. They were told they didn’t qualify for student housing. Across the country, teenagers were barred from sports teams and dance lessons. They were prevented from joining their friends for study sessions in local coffee shops and fast food restaurants. Unvaccinated parents weren’t permitted to set foot in sports arenas, never mind accompany their kids’ into the locker room to lace up their skates.

Pilots, nurses, doctors, and armed forces personnel were being dismissed from their careers and workplaces. These highly skilled, highly experienced and productive citizens were further punished by the denial of unemployment insurance. Unvaxxed individuals couldn’t board a plane or a train in order to visit elderly relatives on the other side of the country. Nor could they leave the country to visit family abroad.

Canada had become an ugly, cruel, segregated, appalling nation.

Until the truckers broke the spell. This is why grateful members of the public showered the truckers with all manner of assistance - money, food, fuel.

The freedom train that rolled through Canada in early 2022 had two distinct parts. The truckers and the public response to the truckers. Tomorrow I’m going to tell you an incredible story about an Ontario family who dropped everything, who put their own lives on hold and drove seven hours to Ottawa.

These remarkable people then spent the next three weeks ministering to the truckers, cooking three hot meals a day outdoors in the extreme cold. As the snow swirled around them.

Part 1 of that story: I Need to Be There