How I Faced Off Against the Freedom Convoy—and Won Over Its Supporters | The Walrus
H E REMINDED ME OF a cousin. Or an old friend back home. Early thirties, construction boots, plaid flannel jacket, scraggly beard. He reminded me of myself in a way. In a different world, we could have been friends. But at that moment, we were standing firmly on opposite sides of a line. One side could not understand why we didn’t relate to their anxieties and anger about forced COVID-19 measures, mask and vaccine mandates, and the mishandling of the pandemic. They felt that their concerns were ridiculed and shunned. Eventually, some people became radicalized by a far right that gave voice to the frustrations they were feeling. How did we not understand? Decode the stories behind the headlines with The Walrus newsletter. Sign up for The Walrus newsletter and get trusted Canadian journalism straight in your inbox. While our views may have been framed differently, on both sides of the line, we shared the same frustrations about the failures in leadership shown by different levels of gove