Freedom Convoy in Canada: Crowds of protesters reach Ottawa

Hello, everyone, from Canada, hello from Ottawa, hello from Parliament Hill. The Canadian government is sitting here, and thousands of people have come to peaceful protests against restrictions. Against mandatory vaccinations, against the fact that you have to wear masks, against the fact that you have to show vaccination passports to go anywhere, and so on and so forth and so forth.

Canadians are very patient and law-abiding, but still many are tired of the government not keeping its promises and of the country's very strict covid restrictions. After two years of restrictions, everyone is fed up.

Tens of thousands of trucks united in the Freedom Convoy and marched from every city in Canada to Ottawa. The truckers came to Parliament on Saturday, January 29. The coordination of the participants mainly took place with the help of a Facebook group with more than 800,000 people registered.

People were for freedom and declaring peaceful protests. But, alas, the Facebook group was blocked on Saturday morning and, as far as I know, Canadians are now switching to Telegram en masse. I also have my own channel on Canada, by the way.

We decided to film the historic event and drove to downtown Ottawa on January 29, even taking our youngest son Lucas — he's 6 years old. As we drove to Parliament, there were many people with flags along the bridges and the highway. There weren't many police on the road.

Importantly, Canadians are not against vaccination. 90% of all truckers are vaccinated. Canada is considered one of the leaders in vaccination. But the pandemic has lasted long enough, and the medical system has not changed during this time. Regular surgeries are delayed under the pretext of the virus, you have to wait a long time just to get to a doctor, there is a shortage of medical staff.

The closer we got to the center, the more people got, and the traffic slowed down. I noticed that there were mostly regular cars and pickup trucks on the road; we missed the tractors.

The guys we knew were waiting for the truckers on the bridge and were able to film the procession. There was also an accident, one pickup truck ran into another at full speed. Probably, he was looking at the onlookers on the bridge. Or he didn't like the protesters, I don't know.

As soon as we entered Downtown Ottawa, we were stuck in traffic. There were more passers-by with flags and placards. We managed to park, and then we went on to Parliament because crowds of people rushed there. In addition to the spectators, the number of police increased. Only they were wearing masks.

I've been teased for my phrase that Canada is an island of tranquility. I still think it is. We haven't had any paddy wagons, beatings, or detentions of protesters. At least, I didn't catch that. I am proud that I live in Canada and that it is a peaceful country.

I think that in Russia they would have long ago dispersed everyone, and the organizers would have been imprisoned. In Canada, it hasn't come to that yet, and Trudeau put himself into voluntary quarantine, claiming that he had contact with someone who was sick. Something about the vaccines didn't help him.

The Canadians were very discreet. They even threw trash in the trash cans. It's nice to know that people are united, that we have some kind of freedom and no police state, that Canadians are mostly well-mannered and cultured. Here we were accidentally hit by a flag in the crowd, and immediately there was a "sorry," and not just from someone who was clumsy, but from me as well.

I must admit that there were conflicts. A rather large number of protesters went into the Rideau mall to warm up. They refused on principle to wear masks, so the administration was forced to close it. Business owners who decided not to open on the weekend were also affected. I sympathize with the residents of downtown areas — they listened to the sounds of the traks.

I don't know where this is going. My personal version is that nothing much will change. Except that it will be easier for foreign health care workers to move to Canada. But this is going on as it is, without rallies and strikes. Canadians are tired of being cooped up, and rallies can be seen as a change of scenery. You may have heard that there is little entertainment in small towns and Canadians want to go to the malls to see the people and the storefronts to unwind a bit. When the demonstrators get cold or when they run out of money, they just go home.

Alex Pavlenko, founder of Immigrant.Today