The trucker protest has spread like wild fire. As it drags on, more Canadian cities were targeted by protestors, demanding an end to vaccine mandates.
But I feel like it's so much more than that. I feel like our democracy is slipping away, slipping through our fingers, right under our noses. This is the perfect time for extremists to strike. And they know it. And I know it must seem to some that I am running around saying that the sky is falling.
It may sound like that, but I remain steadfastly hopeful.
I've said it before, this is a dismantling, a pulling apart of systems that aren't working. Let me be clear in saying, I respect a person's right to protest but not at the disparity of others.
The world is watching (and from news reports, the world is contributing to) the efforts of this protest.
It has exposed something many folks have been saying all along, that there is a deep-rooted intolerance in our country. The polarization only emphasizes how intolerant we ALL are. Everyone is talking but few are listening.
In Canada, we are the "True north, strong a free", but are ALL of us free?
People are fighting for freedom on both sides of this argument.
The protestors believe freedom is being taken away by vaccine mandates, and it has been exposed that nationalist groups have collaborated and taken this protest on as their own.
Marginalized and racialized Canadians (BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+, other-abled, women) have fought for the right to vote, the right to choose what to do with our own bodies, the right to equal access to capital when starting a business, equal pay, the right to live in our own bodies and be accepted however we decide to present ourselves, the right to live without fear of assault, verbal abuse and unwanted attention. And the fight continues for these and many other issues and yet we didn't plot to overthrow the capital of our nation. Because we know that change happens in the minds of others, not by forcing our hand. We raise awareness, we educate, yes, we get angry and forceful but we instinctively know that changing people's minds isn't about using force.
I've mentioned it before, at least here in Ontario, we've had a very public and large KKK representation right up until the '70s. Protests today are not being met with the same force and intolerance as the protests for rights for marginalized and racialized groups. We are literally living on STOLEN land and yet some continue to want more, to take more.
I feel like the protestors are holding our country by the neck and pushing our faces in it and yelling at us. Is this the way to educate and change perceptions?
Freedom in a country isn't achieved until we are ALL free.
Is there a way that we can ALL be free?