A huge convoy of Canadian truck drivers are heading towards their destination, Parliment Hill, Ottawa, in a protest sparked by government measures stopping unjabbed truckers from crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
The truckers say the protest is not about the vaccines but is all about the freedom and rights of Canadians.
When they arrive there in the capital on Saturday, the Freedom Convoy will demand that the Federal Government drop all mandates against Canadian citizens immediately.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Conservative politicians and other opposed to the vaccine mandates have thrown their support behind the growing group of vehicles as they worked their way through Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Tuesday.
There are estimates the Canadian convoy could comprise 50,000 trucks from the West, East, and now even from the United States, while according to the Toronto Sun the ‘Freedom’ truckers may be forming the world’s longest ever convoy
CTV news reports: The convoy has gained notoriety in the wake of the federal government’s vaccine mandate for truckers but an organizer of the pit stop to greet the travellers acknowledged the concern goes beyond just that one issue.
“We’re fighting for our human rights that our forefathers fought for and we want to make sure that we still have our freedoms and rights,” said Trevor Gatchell, who helped organize the pit stop at the Flying J where he expected the convoy to stop. “They’re not anti-vax, they’re not pro-vax it’s just about freedom of choice, freedom of rights that we’ve had.”
The convoy is on its way to Ottawa to oppose the mandate—a protest both the Canadian Trucking Alliance and Manitoba Trucking Association have distanced themselves from, calling the demonstrations ineffective and unsafe. The two groups have also said most truckers are vaccinated.
Some are also questioning some of the comparisons being made between the pandemic and the Holocaust by attendees at the rally. A blue pickup truck with a decal featuring a yellow star and the word freedom over top of it was observed at the rally Tuesday and at a similar rally in Winnipeg on Monday.
Belle Jarniewski, executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, said in occupied countries Jews were forced to identify themselves by wearing a yellow star.
“Of course that made persecution, arrest much easier,” said Jarniewski, whose parents survived the Holocaust. “In a way to separate them and persecute them from the rest of society. That is not what is happening today with COVID restrictions.”
“It’s shameful. It is a distortion of history to compare the health restrictions that are in place at the moment to protect us, to keep us safe and alive for that matter to the labelling of Jews that resulted in the murder of six million men, women and children.”
