A man from Tisdale said he wants to set the record straight and is refuting claims that the situation on Parliament Hill is anything but peaceful.
Cole Griffin and his wife drove to Ottawa in their personal vehicle to attend Saturday’s Freedom Convoy rally. He described the atmosphere over the weekend as super friendly, with people attending from all walks of life.
“They’re all smiling and happy and they are singing and dancing. There’s zero hostility that we see and it’s actually uplifting,” he said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once again condemned the protest, and explained he is not intimidated by people involved in the protest and has no plans to meet with any organizers.
Trudeau cited concerns related to protestors hurling insults, abusing small business workers, dishonouring the memory of veterans and stealing food from the homeless. Over the weekend it was reported the Terry Fox monument had been vandalized, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial desecrated. A Facebook post from local area trucker John Hamm makes mentions of the latter vandalism, but he explained that “us truckers are heading down to the war memorial to lay flowers because the lefties are causing issues to it.”
A picture posted by Jordan Hamm. (Facebook)The Tisdale couples’ hotel room is actually about 10 blocks away from the downtown area, and Griffin said he had only seen a flag and some signs draped over the Terry Fox statue, but added they were quickly taken down.
“There’s garbage bags every couple blocks and you see people randomly picking up garbage. No one’s down there to cause any trouble I don’t think,” he said.
Initially Griffin planned to leave Ottawa on Monday but the couple has decided to extend their stay by at least one extra day in order to hear some of the speeches.
“It would be nice to hear and actually see some of the government come out and speak but I don’t think that’ll ever happen,” he said.
Police haven’t reported any physical violence at the ongoing Ottawa rally, but critics warn that conflating the absence of bloodshed with “peaceful” protest downplays the dangers of the weekend demonstrations.
Catherine McKenney, the councillor for Ottawa’s downtown, said the protests have been very disruptive for local residents, adding many have also found them disturbing.
“They’re also seeing the images that we’re all seeing, of very right-wing extremist messages: the flags that display the swastika, confederate flags, images of a prime minister being lynched,” McKenney said. “I’m not sure that I would continue to call this peaceful.”
McKenney, who is non-binary, said they aren’t sure they would be safe venturing downtown.
“There’s no doubt that there is a large element in this convoy, that is part of a movement, that is extreme and that is xenophobic. We knew that coming into the weekend, but it’s really very difficult to see that play out in our neighbourhoods.”
Fareed Khan, founder of Canadians United Against Hate, described the protests as a threat to political stability and “peace-loving” Canadians.
“People do have a right to peacefully protest. I’ve been involved in organizing a number of these sorts of things,” said Khan.
“But you know what we didn’t do? We didn’t disrupt an entire city … we didn’t call for the unseating of the government. We didn’t intimidate and threaten people who didn’t agree with us.”
Khan said the demonstrations don’t have to come to blows to jeopardize public safety. He said some protesters have refused to wear masks in indoor venues, and suggested the mass gathering could become a COVID-19 “superspreader event” that would have deadly consequences far beyond those who attended it.
Khan accused protesters of targeting marginalized groups with racist and antisemitic symbols, intimidation and harassment.
On his way to Parliament, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins lashed out at Trudeau for not meeting with protestors.
Calkins said he supports people’s rights to peaceful protest and claimed Trudeau is just stirring up bad feelings
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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell
— with files from the Canadian Press
