They come in peace, but they are fed up. This was the message from dozens of supporters who stood for hours in -33 temperatures at a truck stop in Kinburn, Ontario.
They were waiting for the arrival of truckers taking part in the pan-Canada truck convoy. There ended up being multiple smaller convoys, rerouted by police, away from their intended destinations as trucks approached Ottawa on Friday evening. Trucker Martin Fetz, from Quyon, joined the convoy for the . . .
very last leg of the journey. He was headed for the truck stop in Arnprior.
However, his arrival was blocked by law enforcement, and a brusque police officer directed him to head down a dark country road. “They’re telling us to park out here, in the middle of nowhere?” asked Fetz, as he and other confused truckers looked around the desolate, frozen landscape.
Alternate plans had to be made. Organizers were directing drivers toward locations that could accommodate them. Many were sent to the Airport. Fetz opted to head to D & J Transportation in Kinburn.
As Fetz began the journey there with other diverted trucks, Hwy 417 was lined with supporters waving Canadian flags in the blistering cold. There were protesters next to bonfires set back from the road, and in large cheering groups at every intersection. “Look at how many people are out here in this weather,” remarked Fetz.
Arriving at Kinburn, D & J Transportation was closed for business. Nevertheless, several dozen supporters were milling around the desolate parking lot, which was filling up with trucks. People were clustered near a large bonfire with several tables with food, drinks, and other necessities.
The atmosphere was friendly, but the mood was resolute. Fetz voiced a concern that was echoed by many in attendance: “Justin Trudeau has recently and repeatedly used divisive language, calling unvaccinated people ‘racist’ and ‘misogynistic’ which is completely out of character for how we behave in this country. To see this from our highest level of government is abhorrent and we are sickened by his choice of words.”
When asked what he and the other protesters were seeking to accomplish through their presence at the capital, there was consensus when Fetz responded “This government is normalizing and standardizing the QR vaccine passport system. Right now it’s only affecting the unvaccinated so it’s not a big deal, right? They’re only restricting a ‘fringe group,’” Fetz said, referencing Trudeau’s insult from earlier the same evening.
“The government says ‘oh, don’t worry, we’re just putting these QR checks at certain places — to restrict the unvaccinated. It won’t affect 90% of people.”
Fetz continued: “But when you realize everyone is carrying around a QR code that checks to see if you’re complying with the government, this starts to look a lot like the Chinese social credit system.”
“Conform and do what you’re told, and if you don’t, we will make life very inconvenient and expensive for you. It’s coercion now, but authoritarianism will follow, and it’ll be too late to turn back.”
Fetz was measured as he continued, “if they make us scan QR codes wherever we go, they will know where every citizen is, every time that person enters a store. The government will have a lot of power. They’re not going to give up that control — they’re just getting started. Those QR codes will not be going away even if the pandemic ends, and it won’t be long before you have an implant instead of a phone. For your convenience and safety, of course,” he said, sardonically.
Despite the large bonfire, people were starting to freeze. One of the supporters, Angela, offered her van to help warm other protesters. “I’m triple vaccinated,” she said. “But I got Covid a few weeks ago, anyway,” she laughed. When asked why she was at the rally, Angela responded “Canadians wouldn’t support segregation based on race, or religion, or gender — but segregating people based on vaccination status doesn’t have the same optics. The Liberal government is trying to divide people, and that doesn’t sit well with me at all,” she said.
“This government has embraced a direction that scares me.” She pondered for a moment and concluded “Canadians are good about looking after each other. We’ve got very high vaccination rates as a result. I guess if you’re going to test authoritarian measures out in a country, it might as well be in a place where you know the citizens have historically trusted their government, and we’re likely to tolerate mandates, if instructed they’re necessary, to protect each other. We’re compliant. But this is now two years of it, we’ve had enough. The QR mandates are a slippery slope, the segregation is alarming, Trudeau is using divisive language — we can’t just sit back and let this continue. This is serious.”
As she spoke, her phone sent a stream of updates on the Zello application indicating the location of trucks, and commenting on crowd behavior. “If things aren’t peaceful, it undermines our message and what we stand for,” she explained. “The organizers are watching to make sure people aren’t making trouble, we don’t want any association with violence or disrespect.”
Fred Koch, a farmer from Campbell’s Bay, was there with food for the truckers. There was passion in his voice as he described his reason for supporting the protest: “We are protesting the fact that our government is dividing us, creating a group of people that it is OK to coerce.” He echoed the concern over QR codes. “Get used to being tracked, get used to being inoculated, get used to being fined, and get used to having a government impose conditions that people must meet in order to participate in society,” he said.
“There is a lot of disinformation out there, the media is portraying us as a bunch of snowflakes spreading COVID misinformation, or they focus on a few outliers, or point at some of the flags, and they do this in order to discredit and minimize us,” Koch continued.
“The media never shows the entire convoy, because truckers were delayed by several hours, and then diverted into several smaller convoys. So the media shows 17 trucks, because they’re all split up, the crowds of supporters go home because it’s -33, and then the media shows pictures of empty streets and says “look how small this protest is. It’s incredibly frustrating and people aren’t being shown the truth about what’s happening.”
Leaving the truck stop around midnight, Fetz stopped along Hwy 417 just before Renfrew. “They’re still coming,” he remarked, parking so he could watch hundreds of trucks pass by. “I see how much this matters, and how many of us are speaking out.”
“The federal government is going to prevent trucks from coming into the city, so we will have to go in on foot. It just makes the protest look small, and they can make us feel like we’re alone and no one is fighting this,” he lamented.
“The truckers don’t get to see how many supporters are out here. They delay the convoy until supporters are gone, so they never see each other. It’s designed, it’s intentional. We are not alone, but we’re being made to feel that way.”
