Who ARE the Freedom Convoy Truckers, really?

Kent Street, Ottawa - 2nd February 2022

Trudeau’s scuttled off and hidden from them; GoFundMe has closed down their donation page, which had reached 10 million Canadian dollars; media all over the world is branding them potentially violent, anti-vax, white supremacists.

But who are these truckers, really? These people who have put their lives and livelihoods on hold to drive in an estimated 50,000 vehicles across Canada, and who are now parked in Ottawa and planning to stay there until the Government removes its vaccine and mask mandates.

Well, David Maybury, a data scientist in Canada’s federal civil service, who lives in downtown Ottawa – trucker protest central – opened his front door and went to find out and detailed his ‘night with the untouchables’ in his blog.

Here are some excerpts:

"I have read a lot about what my new neighbours are supposedly like, mostly from reporters and columnists who write from distant vantage points somewhere in the media heartland of Canada. Apparently the people who inhabit the patch of asphalt next to my bedroom are white supremacists, racists, hatemongers, pseudo-Trumpian grifters, and even QAnon-style nutters.

At night I see small groups huddled in quiet conversations in their new found companionship. There is no honking at night. What I haven’t noticed, not even once, are reporters from any of Canada’s news agencies walking among the trucks to find out who these people are. So last night, I decided to do just that – I introduced myself to my new neighbours.

Nearby, I spotted a heavy duty pickup truck, and seeing the silhouette of a person in the driver’s seat, I waved. A young man, probably in his mid 20s, rolled down the window, said hello and I introduced myself. His girlfriend was reclined against the passenger side door with a pillow to proper her up as she watched a movie on her phone. I could easily tell it’s been an uncomfortable few nights. I ask what they hoped to achieve, and what they wanted. They said that they didn’t want a country that forced people to get medical treatments such as vaccines. There was no hint of conspiracy theories in their conversation with me, not a hint of racist overtones or hateful demagoguery.

The next man I ran into was standing in front of the big trucks at the head of the intersection…He organized the garbage collection among the cabs, put together snow removal crews to shovel the sidewalks and clear the snow that accumulates on the road. He even has a salting crew for the sidewalks. He proudly bellowed in an irrepressible laugh “We’re taking care of the roads and sidewalks better than the city.”

My next encounter was with a man [who] owned his own rig, but he only drove truck occasionally, his main job being a self-employed heavy duty mechanic. He closed his shop to drive to Ottawa, because he said, “I don’t want my new granddaughter to live in a country that would strip the livelihood from someone for not getting vaccinated.”

An Indigenous man who was fiercely proud to be part of the convoy showed me his medicine wheel and he pointed to its colours, red, black, white, and yellow. He said there is a message of healing in there for all the human races, that we can come together because we are all human. He said, “If you ever find yourself on Manitoulin Island, come to my reserve, I would love to show you my community.” I realized that I was witnessing something profound; I don’t know how to fully express it.

The overwhelming concern they have is that the vaccine mandates are creating an untouchable class of Canadians.…they see their government willing to push a class of people outside the boundaries of society, deny them a livelihood, and deny them full membership in the most welcoming country in the world; and they said enough. Last night I learned my new neighbours are not a monstrous faceless occupying mob. They are our moral conscience reminding us – with every blow of their horns – what we should have never forgotten: We are not a country that makes an untouchable class out of our citizens."

Read David’s full blog here.

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Highlights from the 3rd Feb press conference (10 mins):

Feb 8th press conference with Dr Paul Alexander & Dr Roger Hodkinson (17 mins):