Demonstrations Used to Shape Public Health Policy

Should a small minority of people be able to

shape

public health policy using intimidation and illegal demonstrations?

In cities around the world, we see groups of people banding together trying to change public health regulations concerning COVID-19 restrictions and vaccinations.

Even here in peaceful, boring Ottawa, we were invaded by hundreds of truckers. These truckers are not members of any professional trucker associations. They parked their trucks to cause the most disruption to the daily lives of the people of Ottawa. Blocking access to residences and businesses. They blew air horns 24 hours a day, left trucks running spewing toxic smoke, hassled residents ho were out walking their dog because they wore a face mask, invading stores not wearing masks causing stores and restaurants to close. Their employees lost income because of these demonstrators.

After 21 days, I knew the federal Government would act soon. Legislation was needed that would allow Municipal, Provincial and Federal police and agencies to work together. The day after parliament passed the Emergency Act, police from across Canada started arriving to rid the city of the illegal occupiers.

There were so many mixed messages from the demonstrators. Reading news reports and seeing video made them look like thugs and hooligans. It really upset me that these truckers were taking over my town.

So I thought I'd better go down to see if I could get a better understanding of why these people were here. I found a street party atmosphere, music and dancing with speeches, plenty of signs and the smell of diesel fuel.

The number of people here was small compared to other demonstrations where 25-30,000 people gather peacefully on Parliament Hill to give politicians their message and show their numbers. You can see from the panorama there were not many people on the corner of Wellington and Metcalfe Streets in front of the Parliament buildings, the center of the action.
I believe in the rights of people to peacefully demonstrate against government policies and legislation, These demonstrators need to remember this government was elected by the people of Canada and this vote needs to be respected. The majority of the people in Canada rightly or wrongly believe in the COVID-19 science and vaccinations. We are all sick and tired of the restrictions but if you don't like the government's legislation vote them out using the ballot box not fighting in the streets.

USA-Canada / Canada-Ontario

Lat: 45° 25' 23.79" N
Long: 76° 42' 52.917" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Nikon z6ii, TTArtisan 11 mm ED full frame fisheye lens, nodal ninja 3 meter pole with a Neewer pano head, Affinity Photo, PTGui Pro, Google Earth,

The previous 2 major demonstrations on Parliament Hill are featured on the WWP. (Best of 2021 and History revisited) Both represented a real problem were peaceful, respectful and communicated their message to the Federal, Provincial and Municipal Governments and to the people of Canada.

The so-called Truckers Freedom Rally was a convenient way for right wing extremists, conspiracy theorists, racists and populists to spew their hate and white supremacist views. Swastikas and Confederate Flags were conspicuous. It has been proven that most of the money raised came from another country. So there seems to be much more going on here than some truckers protesting a vaccine mandate. The Freedom Rally participants were 99% white males. No mention of helping free any other groups of Canadians like, the Rights of Indigenous People, the LGBTQ community, Canadians of colour, how about the rights of the majority of Canadians that do not believe in your views.

Humans began giving up our individual freedoms years ago when we started living in communities and building societies.

These are my thoughts I tried to be objective but t is hard to support people that disregard the safety, rights and freedoms of others.

Peace for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people