Individual rights are central to our democracy.
That’s why we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Article 2 of which states: “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association.”
But these rights and freedoms are not absolute or open ended, as Article 1 makes clear: “[The Charter] guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”
An obvious “reasonable limit” is the do-no-harm caveat. We are free to exercise our rights and freedoms provided we do not harm others in the process. It means, as is often said, that we are not free to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theatre; we are not free to incite hatred toward other individuals or groups (hence our anti-hate laws, inadequate though they may be); yes, we are free, even in a pandemic, to refuse to be vaccinated, but we are not free to put the health or lives of others at risk by our refusal – hence the restrictions or mandates that are at the heart of the “Freedom Convoy” protest continuing today in Ottawa.
I would argue that freedom of “peaceful assembly” does not extend to a right to try to ignite a crowd of truckers and other protesters on Parliament Hill into an insurgency to overthrow the democratically elected government, as Donald Trump and his enablers tried to do at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
In Ottawa, the police, being acutely aware of that attempted coup, were well prepared. They got a huge assist from the weather. It was bitterly cold, even by Ottawa standards. Street were blocked off or hopelessly clogged, making it impossible to drive to anywhere within vicinity of Parliament Buildings. Still, the crowds came, just as they had come by the thousands, parents and young children, to line the routes and pack the highway overpasses, to cheer and wave flags, as the convoy had wound its way through Southern Ontario to the capital, timed to arrive there before MPs returned today from their Christmas-New Year’s break.
The convoy had begun with a group of transborder truckers protesting a requirement imposed by both governments that drivers be vaccinated against COVID-19 before crossing the Canada-United States border. The protest quickly morphed into a much broader campaign against mandates of all kinds, and it caught fire with a Canadian public tired of COVID, frustrated by the inability to overcome the virus, and thoroughly fed up with being told what to do and not to do by politicians, public health officials, doctors, scientists, traditional media and supposed “experts” of all kinds
For two years, people had done what they were told to do. They stayed home. They wore masks. They made do without restaurants, bars, theatres and gyms. They avoided friends and stayed away from weddings and funerals. They cancelled vacations and family gatherings. They got vaccinated when and where they were told to do so. They listened to the prime minister’s weekly assurance that the government had their backs; if they would be patient, wait a little longer, get their boosters and follow the rules, they would get their lives back. Two years of this, their lives still on hold, and no end in sight.
Fatigue, frustration and resentment at being bossed around fueled the protest. By the time the convoy assembled in Ottawa – not the 50,000 participants predicted by the organizers or the 10,000 the police were prepared for, but enough to send a clear message about mandates – it had attracted elements with no interest in democracy or peaceful protest. There were racists, anti-semites, Muslim-haters and others whom Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly called “lone wolf individuals” and “parallel groups” who could try to ignite violence.
The sergeant-at-arms of the Commons, concerned that protesters were collecting the home addresses of MPs in Ottawa, sent out a security alert, urging members to lock their doors and take their families to a safe place until the convoy left town. And Donald Trump himself added to the tension when he called at a weekend rally in Texas for his followers to support “those great Canadian truckers” in their fight for freedom and liberty.
The Freedom Convoy has not generated many light moments, unless you happen to enjoy watching Conservative leader Erin O’Toole tap dance around issues. This time the issue was vaccines mandates. Before the convoy arrived in the capital, he announced it would not be appropriate for him, as leader of the opposition, to meet with the organizers of the protest. A day or two later, after some of his senior caucus members had endorsed the protest, he reversed himself, saying it would be okay as long as the meeting did not take place on Parliament Hill. The difference being?
To my mind, there was one light, if bizarre, moment when the convoy’s principal organizer, a group called Canada Unity, issued a public invitation to the Canadian people to join forces with the governor general and the Senate to take over the government and abolish vaccine mandates. Yes, I can picture it now – our nice Rt. Hon. Mary Simon leading a corps of honourable senators, brandishing copies of the Magna Carta, as they march on Rideau Cottage to tell Justin Trudeau the jig is up. Only in Canada!
Cambridge resident Geoffrey Stevens is a former Ottawa columnist and managing editor of the Globe and Mail. He is the co-author of Flora! A Woman in a Man’s World. He welcomes comments at geoffstevens40@gmail.com