By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Last Saturday, as protestors taking part in the nationwide Freedom Convoy arrived on the front steps of the Parliament building in Ottawa, several hundred people gathered at Wellington Park in Simcoe. These protests, which were echoed across the country, are in opposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdown restrictions.
SIMCOE—Ashley Williams, who helped organize the event, spoke to the gathered crowd.
Simcoe convoy support organizer Ashley Wills spoke to the crowd attending the Simcoe protest: “Who’s proud to be part of the small fringe minority?” Wills asked the cheering crowd, referencing comments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Tess Inksetter of Port Dover, Quinton Griffin of Port Dover, and Rachel Drake of Simcoe also helped organize the group, which started as a Facebook group earlier in the week called Norfolk Convoy Support 2022 and gained thousands of members in days.
Haldimand’s Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Matt Strauss was not moved by the large number of residents in his region who backed the convoy online: “In general, I do not concern myself with the number of follows that a social media group gets.”
“I am hearing from people who are anti-government, there’s no question. We’re two years into this virus. The virus has not gone away,” said Barrett. “No question there is frustration out there. Who do they call? They call me.”
He continued, “As an MPP, over many years I’ve been involved in an awful lot of demonstrations. There’s a demonstration almost every day in front of Queen’s Park. This one’s different; it’s across Canada. Like many people, I’ve been watching it on the mainstream media, and what I see are really good people assembling on the overpasses to cheer on the convoy.”
SIMCOE—Freedom convoy supporters hold up a Canadian flag during last weekend’s event.
Prime Minister Trudeau, who tested positive for COVID earlier this week, commented on the weekend’s events on Monday, where he both acknowledged the right to protest, while refusing to budge on his stance: “I want to be clear, we are not intimidated by those who hurl insults and abuse at small business workers and steal food from the homeless. We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. We won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonour the memory of our veterans.”
Trudeau was referring to several events that took place over the weekend in the nation’s capital, from a local soup kitchen announcing they’d been overrun by protestors seeking a meal, to the vandalism of a statue of Terry Fox, to flags bearing swastikas being displayed in the streets. Beyond the extreme examples listed, the protest was largely peaceful otherwise as of publication. Other members of the protest shared videos and photos online cleaning up vandalised memorials and leaving flowers.
Premier Ford urged Ontarians to remember that the province is in the process of reopening: “All Ontarians are united in their desire to put this pandemic behind us and return to the life we knew before COVID-19,” he said in a statement.
Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis was on-hand in Ottawa this weekend. She shared her thoughts on the experience with The Press: “What I’ve seen on the ground has been an overwhelmingly peaceful response to the division and hatred coming from our prime minster. Many are concerned with what they consider an overstep in government with regard to the mandates. One of the hallmarks of our democracy is that people have the right to freely voice their opinion through peaceful protest and to have their voice heard by the government. I will always support people’s right to peacefully protest their government.”
“To see the people on the overpasses with the Canadian flags, what’s not to support,” added Barrett. “People are getting out and expressing their support for a variety of reasons; certainly truck drivers are key players in keeping our economy moving.”
Barrett spoke about representing an area where the tractor-trailer industry has been very significant for many years: “I think of the quarry in Hagersville, the steel industry, our oil refinery, and of course agriculture. None of that works without the people that drive tractor trailers.”
SIMCOE—Shown (l-r) are convoy support organizers Rachael Drake and Tess Inksetter at Wellington Park in Simcoe. “I think the vax pass is wrong and I’m vaccinated,” said Inksetter. “I just want the mandate to end.”
He called the convoy a “very optimistic, safely run, well-organized event. I only hope there are no extremists on the left or the right that will try and hijack this.”
In his role as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Barrett has been present at some high-level conversations surrounding concerns about Canada’s supply chain.
“The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Manufacturer’s Coalition have called for the border restrictions to be paused or delayed to ensure there was not pressure on the supply chain or to make matters worse as far as the supply chain,” he explained. “Their advice is to avoid Federal policies like this around the border that make the supply chain worse.”
Barrett made it clear that while he supports the protestors’ rights, he still touts vaccination as the best way to end the pandemic.
“Many people are entrenched in their fear of being vaccinated or their opposition to it. They’re operating within their own circle of information. The issue, from the Provincial government, is that this pandemic isn’t over with yet,” he said. “From what we see from hospital data, we feel the worst is behind us, however there are still people in the hospital and in intensive care and there are still people that are dying…. With any vaccination, it lowers mortality and morbidity.”
Here at home, it’s clear that this issue is creating a divide in the population that may not be so easily mended, with people on both sides entrenched in their beliefs and frustrations mounting everywhere.
