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How I Faced Off Against the Freedom Convoy—and Won Over Its Supporters

Some even apologized and broke down in tears

He reminded me of a cousin. Or an old friend back home. Early thirties, construction boots, plaid flannel jacket, scraggly beard. He reminded me of myself in a way. In a different world, we could have been friends. But at that moment, we were standing firmly on opposite sides of a line. One side could not understand why we didn’t relate to their anxieties and anger about forced COVID-19 measures, mask and vaccine mandates, and the mishandling of the pandemic. They felt that their concerns were ridiculed and shunned. Eventually, some people became radicalized by a far right that gave voice to the frustrations they were feeling. How did we not understand?

While our views may have been framed differently, on both sides of the line, we shared the same frustrations about the failures in leadership shown by different levels of government. The crisis in long-term care, the chronic underfunding of health care, the lack of support for low-income workers—all systemic gaps laid bare by the pandemic. While a common frustration was shared, specifically that those in charge weren’t working in our best interests, we did not find common ground. We did not find a space to foster collaboration and growth. What was missing was the capacity to build working-class solidarity, to break through the political noise that seeks to divide us and keep us down. We lacked the capacity to form a common understanding that would be resilient to the forces trying to pull us apart. Instead, divisions were fomented and fortified, and we were driven further from one another.

On our side of the line, we couldn’t understand either. How could they be so full of hate? Why didn’t they understand that they were terrorizing our communities? That they were making people feel unsafe? That they were part of a white supremacist and fascist movement of hate? That they had actual Nazis on their side!? How did they not understand?

The main thing we wanted them to understand was that people had had enough of being terrorized. We were done. The occupation had to end.

The so-called Freedom Convoy rolled into Ottawa on Friday, January 28, 2022. When you live in Ottawa, it’s not uncommon to have a lot of groups come through to hold actions at Parliament Hill. In fact, we had seen a precursor to the convoy in 2019 with United We Roll, a smaller convoy-type mobilization with a pro-oil populist message.

Whether or not United We Roll was actually ever about being pro-oil, it morphed into something else. The Freedom Convoy certainly was not about oil, but it was not about vaccines or masks or freedom either. Mainstream conservative politicians and the right-wing political establishment have also contributed to the rise of the far right by welcoming this new political energy and, in so doing, normalizing extremism. This has resulted in the rancour that has spilled out into our political discourse and at our family and social gatherings.

I agree with the sentiment that there are political and corporate elites who don’t represent the working class or have our best interests at heart. Many of us across political ideologies and from different backgrounds feel that. The problem is that instead of having a place within the progressive movement where that sentiment can be nurtured to propose solutions that put people first, working-class people are being pushed further into anti-social thinking by those very same corporate and political elites that are motivated only by profit.

In February 2022, our focus was solely on navigating our way out of this crisis and keeping our communities safe. Our city was besieged by a convoy that had expressed and shown itself to be violent. Businesses and homes flying pride flags were vandalized. Businesses owned by people of colour were targeted. Women were harassed walking down the street, and there was attempted arson and sabotage of low-income apartment buildings. To make matters worse, we also had to deal with the fact that downtown-core residents were abandoned by those in authority.

When the convoy arrived in town, it seemed from all appearances that the City of Ottawa rolled out a welcome mat. The contrast with police behaviour at other events is pretty jarring. In 2020, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters occupied one street corner in Ottawa. That occupation lasted thirty-six hours. The Ottawa police told the protesters they would respect their right to protest—and then they proceeded to raid the small encampment and arrest everyone in the middle of the night.

Comparatively, when the convoy rolled in, the Ottawa police helped guide the protesters to Parliament Hill by directing traffic. Officers posed for selfies and spoke favourably about the convoy on livestreams. The City of Ottawa even went so far as to set up porta-potties for participants. I’m a labour leader and an activist. I go to a lot of picket........

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