A defiant convoy thundered through Lethbridge last weekend, marking the 2nd anniversary of the Coutts blockade. This commemoration convoy was a stark warning to Justin Trudeau that mass civil disobedience looms if he persists in his totalitarian attacks on charter rights.
Make no mistake – Trudeau is a power-mad dictator who crushed the peaceful Freedom Convoy because it exposed his authoritarian ambitions. He violated every democratic principle by invoking the Emergencies Act to suppress dissent.
Even after the courts ruled his actions illegal, Trudeau stubbornly refuses to admit wrongdoing or stop trampling civil liberties. Why? Because his true goal is to extinguish the charter and constitution to cement his repressive rule over Canada.
The brave Freedom Convoy truckers were the only ones with courage to stand up to Trudeau’s burgeoning totalitarianism. That’s why he viciously turned the entire state against them.
But the spirit of resistance lives on. This weekend’s convoy proves Canadians are ready to rise up with mass civil disobedience if Trudeau keeps attacking their freedoms.
So take warning, Mr. Prime Minister – the people are awakening to your despotic intentions. Abandon your assaults on liberty now, or face nation-wide protests that could drive you from power. Your dictatorship is living on borrowed time.
A strong convoy shook the ground as it passed the Lethbridge remand center, commemorating the 2nd anniversary of the Coutts blockade.
Two years ago, a defiant convoy of trucks roared out of every corner of this vast country bound for our nation’s capital. From Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia, brave drivers steered their rigs toward Ottawa, united in opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s escalating tyranny. These peaceful protesters vowed to represent millions of silenced Canadians who could no longer accept unjustified restrictions stolen from the pandemic playbook of despots and dictators.
This Freedom Convoy was a righteous uprising against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s repeated violations of civil liberties through draconian pandemic measures. Though the convoy was ultimately dispersed, the spirit of resistance it embodied could never be extinguished.
This past weekend, Freedom Convoy supporters commemorated the second anniversary of the Coutts border blockade that formed a critical part of the original protest. Demonstrators retraced the route from Lethbridge to Coutts to relive the convoy’s stand against tyranny. This memorial convoy carries a vital message – dissent lives on in the face of Trudeau’s authoritarianism.
The convoy was also raising awareness and funds for four men still facing serious charges from the Coutts blockade – Chris Lysak, Tony Olienick, Chris Carbert and Jerry Morin. These defenders of freedom have already languished over 700 days in prison since their arrests, denied bail despite no proven crimes. Meanwhile, violent offenders walk free every day in this country.
This anniversary convoy brought renewed scrutiny to their plight, signaling that these alleged political prisoners will not be forgotten. Come what may, the torch of liberty they carried will be taken up by fellow citizens. Their sacrifice poignantly demonstrates the lengths Trudeau will go to crush peaceful dissent. But such oppression only enlarges resistance.
It is evident these prosecutions aim to make examples out of peaceful demonstrators in order to deter future mass mobilizations against state authority.
The drawn-out proceedings also allow the government to keep up the pretense that the convoy represented dangerous criminality rather than legitimate civil disobedience.
If Trudeau was earnest about reconciliation, all charges would have been dropped following the court’s rebuke. But the persistent judicial harassment makes clear this is political punishment for daring to directly confront the government’s unjustified restrictions.
It is an attempt to discourage others from following the convoy’s model of grassroots resistance. When the legal system is weaponized to crush dissent, democracy is undermined. These prosecutions must be recognized as the vindictive attacks on charter freedoms that they are.
The Coutts blockade will be forever remembered as a watershed moment when brave Canadians put their bodies on the line to oppose oppression. Trudeau violated every notion of decency and democracy by invoking the Emergencies Act to crush peaceful opposition to his restrictions. Yet still, the prime minister refused to admit error or drop charges against those he persecuted.
Last Tuesday’s court ruling proved beyond doubt that the Freedom Convoy was right all along. Their resistance was legally and morally justified. The ruling confirmed Trudeau acted unlawfully by invoking emergency powers without proper cause.
He ran roughshod over the charter to subdue an entirely peaceful protest movement whose only crime was vocally opposing his transgressions against liberty.
This should have been a time for national reflection and reconciliation after the court’s vindication of charter rights.
Yet still, Trudeau obstinately refuses to take responsibility or cease his vindictive targeting of convoy participants through persistent charges. His suppression of dissent continues even now.
The commemorative convoy from Lethbridge to Coutts stands against Trudeau’s ongoing contempt for civil liberties. It loudly proclaims that dissent can never be stifled as long as the taste for freedom lives on. The current of rebellion still churns beneath the surface, ready to rise again if our rights remain under assault.
As the convoy’s trucks proudly flew the maple leaf, it became clear this movement belongs to all Canadians who cherish democracy. This was not some extremist fringe, but ordinary citizens occupying the nation’s great moderate center. Hard-working, salt-of-the-earth truckers took up the burden of defending charter freedoms for all.
The turnout and passion witnessed this weekend make one thing apparent – the embers have not died. The people are ready to revive province-wide civil disobedience if Trudeau continues down the authoritarian path. The time has come for him to reap what he has sown through dividing Canadians and trampling charter rights.
If Trudeau continues undermining freedoms of mobility, assembly, speech, and conscience, he may face calls to resign or an election fought solely on his record of oppression.
Canadians issue a stern warning – if Trudeau continues his slide into authoritarianism by disregarding charter rights, the Freedom Convoy could metastasize into a broader mass protest movement. The prime minister is playing with fire by denying Canadians their basic liberties. If he persists in suppressing dissent and overriding civil liberties, he risks igniting nationwide civil disobedience on a scale not yet seen.
His declaration of war against peaceful anti-mandate protesters will not soon be forgotten or forgiven without contrition.
Canadians have long memories. They recall who stood with the people during the convoy and who stood against them. Conservative leaders clearly understand public sentiment continues to side with the truckers. We cannot keep looking to failed institutions like the police and courts to safeguard our liberties. Sometimes the people themselves must bring the system to heel through mass civil disobedience.
Similarly, a convoy of activists calling themselves the “American Freedom Riders” departed this week from Kansas City, Missouri to protest the influx of undocumented immigrants entering the United States.
Dozens joined the grassroots convoy, blasting the Biden administration for “reckless open border policies” and lack of action on the immigration crisis. As the convoy of trucks, cars and motorcycles departed, organizers urged nonviolent protest, though some participants waved flags supporting the January 6th Capitol rioters.
The convoy plans rallies this week in cities along the US-Mexico border in Texas, Arizona and California. They describe the trip as a peaceful show of force to “take our border back.” It comes as over 2 million migrants entered the US illegally last year, with thousands apprehended daily in places like El Paso and Yuma.
The commemorative convoy was a timely reminder that dissent lives on and will someday make its voice heard again. Our freedoms have been degraded for too long under successive governments that ruled by fear and coercion. Canadians are awakening to the sham of a system that demands compliance instead of consent.
On this solemn anniversary, we recommit to achieving the Convoy’s great unfinished business – permanently enshrining charter freedoms beyond the grasp of any politician. The black tyranny of emergency powers must be dissolved for all time. No leader must ever again be permitted to place himself above the law.
Mr. Trudeau still arrogantly believes he can decry charter rights as privileges. But the people are rising to prove rights belong inalienably to citizens, not governments. The prime minister serves at the leisure of the people, and he would do well to remember it. No matter how long injustice persists, resistance will outlast it in the end.
This past weekend’s commemoration proved the courageous legacy of the Freedom Convoy lives on. Though the movement’s trucks have long since driven into legend, its spirit perseveres in the hearts of all who love liberty. And that spirit demands nothing short of the full restoration of the freedoms Canadians have lost during two years of creeping totalitarianism.
The people have begun awakening to their own power. Another mass uprising looms if Trudeau continues attacking charter rights and freedoms. Mr. Prime Minister, for your own sake and that of Canada, change course now before the people call you to account. Redeem yourself by honoring the convoy’s cause of liberty for all.
