A Walk through Toronto
Though I prefer peace and quiet over protesting, I have been curious lately to see how these things go. I have little trust in mainstream media. So when I happened to pass through Toronto on February 5th, I decided to take a route which took me through downtown.
The first thing I noticed is that it was almost eerily quiet driving into the city on the QEW mid-morning. At that time, the roads were quite empty. I listened to AM 680 news on the way in. The radio was repeatedly warning medical professionals not to wear scrubs lest they be accosted, and advising people to avoid certain areas of Toronto. Though it was -10 C and sunny, the weather report was cautioning people to stay inside. There was a lot of repeated concern about the protest, and how it could be dangerous and cause many problems. It sounded ominous. Once again, I find the Canadian media specializes in cultivating fear.
The next thing I noticed, coming into the core around 11:00 AM, was the sheer volume of police everywhere. Streets were blocked for many blocks around Queen’s Park, in every direction. There were police cars, police SUVs, police vans, police paddy-wagons, and police buses everywhere. There were too many officers to count, on every street corner. It was pretty clear that they were not going to allow any vehicles anywhere near Queen’s park, and that they were going to force any crowds to walk a significant distance to get there. Between the radio announcements and the optics, I wondered whether I was entering some kind of war zone.
It was still pretty quiet, but I did not feel like walking that far and was a little uneasy with the police presence. I aimlessly drove around the massive perimeter, and ended up lost down some small one-way residential streets. I am not sure what happened, it seems they forgot a minor intersection that I randomly turned left at, but suddenly I was only a few blocks from Queen’s Park. I had not crossed any blockades. Strange. It was easy to find a parking spot at that point. If I had not accidentally ended up this close, I would probably have continued on my way home. Limited time.
Next came an awkward issue. I was not dressed for the weather, but I do stow a warm jacket and mittens in my car for emergencies. It is a hunting jacket, and it is that real-tree camouflage pattern that only certain people wear in public. Most of them might not think about this, but the people that wear those are signaling that they are the ones that shoot and eat forest friends like Bambi. Compounding the issue is that I am a relatively large white man with a beard.
Walking through Toronto in a hunting jacket was interesting. Most people on the street throughout the core of Toronto were wearing medical masks, quite a few even N95 masks. I was not wearing a mask. I may be reading into things, but when they saw a large bearded unmasked man walking towards them with camouflage on towards a protest, I am pretty sure I saw sheer terror in their eyes. A few seemed to intentionally stumble through a snowbank to cross the street. Perhaps that was where they needed to go.
I did not come here to intimidate anyone, this was a fact-finding mission. I was starting to feel awkward. I decided to try to allay their fears by smiling and saying “good morning” to everyone I saw. I don’t think it helped. It is pretty routine to say good morning to everyone you see up north, and to wave at complete strangers passing by, but I have learned that it may not be well received in Toronto on a protest day. People just looked at me strangely, often with anger, though some actually smiled back and chatted. I waved and said good morning to a Police officer. He jerked away, then smiled, laughed, and waved back.
Maybe I am reading too much into the climate of fear. It is very possible, and even sobering to think that many of those people walking towards me and avoiding me were very possibly doctors or nurses. It would make sense given the area that they would work in the hospitals. There were hospital buildings all around me in that part of Toronto. It seemed like there was one on every corner. Did I just walk past a respiratory therapist? I am not a COVID denier, and I do realize that things probably look different to some of them. Especially if they also listen to the radio or watch TV. I am thankful for their service, and I as much as I think this movement is expressing important issues, I do think their voices do need to be listened to as well. That does not mean, however, that I think restrictions have done much to help them.
Lesson number one: Toronto is frightened. They are still scared of COVID, and now they are also scared of truckers and rural folk. That level of fear could cause them to think very differently than me. It would probably cause them to support the very police brutality they recently protested. The great divide of this age is urban versus rural. But only if you live in a rural area. That began to set in for me about five years ago. It does give some pause for thought about the best way to go about these things. My suggestion is that if you are going to protest, you would do well to do so in ways that have some chance of winning a growing audience.
I was not even sure where this protest was actually going to be, but Queen’s park was the target. As I got closer, there seemed to be more and more people with Canada flags heading that way, so I figured I was on the right track. Follow the flags. Inspired by another blog post I read, I started making mental notes of the percentage of vulgar messaging. The protest was just starting, and there were at most a thousand people around noon. The percentage of f-Trudeau flags was probably below 5%. A few signs saying things about freedom. A few anti-vaccine mandate. Very few guys who looked similar to me. A few signs and protestors that seemed to have a feminist ideology. Some people that clearly stumbled off of the Green Party bus. Only a couple of conspiracy-theorist signs with way too many words on them to read.
The vast majority of people were merely waving plain-old Canadian flags. And the vast majority of those did not appear to be in distress either. Their flags were right-side-up, and they seemed quite happy. A marked contrast to people walking in the other direction. I suspect, however, that a significant proportion of them were actually from Toronto as well. Many of them seemed to be making a point of being friendly to police officers, and respectfully thanking them for their service, and chatting with them. Even though the police just forced them to walk a long ways.
The police officers seemed to be politely engaging the chatter, but many also seemed a little tense. Maybe they were just chilly. I suppose standing around for hours on a cold day, while waiting for hordes of rednecks who are intent on beating up nurses to descend on you would probably get into your head.
A very small number of counter-protestors were making their views known. Their signs, messaging, and language was hateful and vulgar. They were aggressive, and authoritatively, trying to order protestors out of “their city.” An elderly gentleman tried to reason with them, but they did have any respect for him. Hunched over his walker, he was clearly pushing through pain and weakness. The only way he got this far was by walking many blocks. Closed streets, no public transit coming through. I admired his persistence, and admired the family that protectively surrounded him as they resolutely moved on towards the silent shell of provincial parliament in front of them.
Will anyone listen to this gentleman? From what I can see, at least his family will. That is a good start. Remember the first things.
I doubt our provincial government would listen to that gentleman. I am admittedly very cynical about government at this point. I have doubts that anyone in the Conservative government cares about much more than that seat they rarely sit in. Some will swing a little with the winds of change, but it means little. They are politicians.
I picture in my mind what it would be like if the trucks and tractors could get into here, and park bumper-to-bumper around this oval and lock the government out of their halls and chambers? What would happen if MPs could not get into Queen's Park?
Nothing would change. Unless perhaps they parked long enough. We are, after all, already in a state of emergency. Governed by fiat, and by the whims of corporate interests, a “science” table, and other interest groups. In my view, that trajectory began decades ago. It is clear to me that government are neither beholden to God’s Word, nor even at this point to most of the people they are supposed to serve. It is becoming clearer and clearer that they have repeatedly lied about these protests, vaccine passports, and COVID itself. As of last night, they are stealing from protestors in Ottawa. The "law" is lawless. They are beholden to something else.
I still believe in going the extra mile, and doing my best to respect authority. Many people are struggling to turn the other cheek indefinitely. They are running out of cheeks to turn, and they truly believe the government is out to get them. Walk a mile in their shoes.
The “protest” crowd was quite diverse. I put “protest” in quotes at this point, because at the time of day I was there, it seemed more like "Canada-Day-in-the-winter." I quickly walked around the perimeter of the protest, observing the appearance and demeanor of the protestors. There was some patriotic rap music blaring, and some people making vaguely inspirational speeches about changing the world. A lot of people standing around and chatting. Kids were playing in the snow and waving Canada flags. Clearly there were people from many backgrounds. It was quite diverse. There was literally nothing frightening about it. I will be honest, I felt safer around the protestors than some of the police.
I circled the parliament once, and headed back to my car. Many more people were streaming towards the protest, but I was not really that excited to stick around, and not that excited about the idea of being stuck in traffic for too long. It was afternoon now. Interesting, but time to go home. I am aware that the longer a protest goes, the less likely it is to be civil. I don’t have much appetite for that side of things. I walked away a little disappointed that such a happy gathering seemed smaller than expected.
I had left, however, early in the afternoon before the protest really got going. I hear from well-trusted friends that it went fine, it got very large, and it remained very civil. Even the media had to admit that. I drove across downtown Toronto to the east to see how many blocks the police had blocked off. Many blocks. More than when I arrived. On the Don Valley parkway north, there was a convoy of many trucks and many, many cars with Canadian flags for many kilometers on the southbound. Many around me in the northbound lane were wearing masks in their cars. The police had blocked off the southbound and were letting the convoy through very slowly. There were many trucks with many flags, proudly waving in the wind. I'll admit, seeing this convoy stretching on and on really did warm my heart right then.
I realized we were not alone. These people were standing for my son, who will never be vaccinated again after a reaction no doctor will acknowledge. Not as long as he is under my care. Over my dead body. For the first time in my life, I am thankful while being stuck in northbound Toronto traffic. A few air horns honked and even some smart cars tooted.
I honk my horn and wave back. In a moment of rare patriotism, a Canada flag pokes out of my sunroof and begins to wave. The convoy gets noisy. Perhaps one little flag on the wrong side, heading the wrong way, has inspired them.
The guy in the car beside me gives me the middle-finger. It is hard to imagine what motivates such hatred. Maybe his mother or a relative died of COVID? Perhaps he himself was hit hard? Perhaps fear is his saviour? Whatever the case, may God have mercy on his soul. I will pray for him, and the other lost souls of Toronto.
As I drive out of town, it sets in that the establishment seems to be doing everything they possibly can to throw a wet blanket on this protest, and to make it as maligned and as miserable as possible. Yet the happy hordes were still coming. Going eastbound on the 401 there was another long stretch of convoy. Heading south on the 400, there was another stretch were quite a few cars with Canada flags. Almost the length of Barrie on the 400 was one long convoy of trucks and cars heading south. There must have been many thousands upon many thousands of people waving Canadian flags today, just in the direction I travelled through. What about Kitchener, Brantford, Hamilton, or Grimsby? I suspect many were coming in from those directions as well.
I was struck by how many businesses are represented in the convoys. Trucking companies, towing companies, work pick-up trucks, work vans, and even SUVs plastered with the images of real estate agents or other less blue-collar endeavors. All in convoy, flying Canadian flags. If the mainstream narrative were true, it would seem to be suicidal to represent one’s business so publicly in this movement. I suspect that that these business owners along with the truckers have weighed their options, and had enough. Likely for some of them, regardless of vaccination status, there is a sense that this movement is do-or-die. This is about much more than vaccination. Most of these protestors are simply standing for freedom.
Lesson number two: the media and government are bearing false witness. They are misrepresenting this movement, though I suppose I should do more investigating. The government pontificates about the "alt-right" but from what I saw they were barely a percent of this crowd. I suppose in the eyes of many, I should have included myself and my hunting jacket among their number. The radio is babbling about a protest of hundreds of radicals in Toronto even as my eyes are seeing thousands upon thousands of ordinary people. It was clear many more thousands were held up by police tactics. There were more that would have liked to make it into the core but perhaps never will. I heard later that they ended up marching up and down Bloor St., held in limbo between Queen’s Park and where the trucks were able to come nearest.
There is something symbolic about a government that will go to such lengths to keep its peaceful protestors and appellants as far as possible from its silent centre. They will consider this a victory. They cannot see that they are losing. It is time to get on the right side of history.
Perhaps a visit to Ottawa should be in the near future, and a few more conversations with a few more protestors. In my view, the media, and government continue to stir up the bulk of fear and division. These protestors are clearly making a point that they are not racists. They do not hate police. They are not breaking windows or destroying cities. They are unfailingly polite. There are greetings, hugs, and smiles which cross every ethnic and cultural boundary. Very few seem to be extremists and conspiracy theorists. They are mainly waving flags and being nice. It is the most "Canadian" protest possible. These are not white supremacists or monsters. Many of them are not even white. These are ordinary Canadians, of many backgrounds, ages, and from many walks of life. They are protesting remarkably peacefully, and politely.
Was that paragraph repetitive? It needs to be. Truth is at stake. The truth will set you free.
I suppose some of the "freedom" protestors, somewhere, are arguably engaging in civil disobedience or being vulgar. I wonder if many of them are still more upright than the politicians or mainstream media. I find them more honest. They seem less lawless than government. The government lies, steals from them, and is currently trying to put children on an altar of "science and progress."
I refuse to strain for protestor's gnats while swallowing government camels. I do my best to obey and honor authorities, but will not do so at the expense of worship, family, charity, and justice.
I think the protestor's largest offense to the fear-mongers and their appeasers is that they are fearless and happy. Despite the insults that have been heaped upon them. Despite that they have been lied about, and stolen from, and threatened. They are free. They are kind. They are determined. They are happy.
It also strikes me today that part of the problem in our society is that many have tried to make politicians, doctors, nurses, or even truckers their saviors. Much of society has expected them to save us from death or sickness. That must be a heavy burden to bear. It is a burden that Christ alone could bear, on the cross at calvary. We need to pray that more people are delivered from bondage to fear, to lies, and to unrealistic expectations and regulations. This kind of protest may well be used to move the needle in that direction. May God have mercy on our nation.
