Troster: Trucker convoy — Ottawa's Centretown has been abandoned to the mob
The problem with telling people to avoid downtown Ottawa is that many of us live here — nearly 50,000, in fact. To the city of Ottawa and all levels of government: we beg you to facilitate the hasty exit of extremists from our streets and our neighbourhoods.
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My daughter’s school is closed today. But it’s not because of a snow day or a COVID exposure. It’s because at any given moment, the streets surrounding her school could be filled with speeding trucks, incessant honking and symbols of white nationalism. To say this is unsettling would be an understatement.
Those of us who live in downtown Ottawa have spent the last few days largely hunkering down at home, trying to drown out the sounds of air horns while shaking with disbelief at the images that emerged from this weekend’s anti-vaccine truck convoy. The common sentiment? That we have been abandoned by all levels of government with no end in sight.
It started for me on Friday, when a friend who works on Elgin Street texted me a photo of a truck driving by, waving a Confederate flag. I posted the photo on Twitter, warning that this was a harbinger of the racism we were about to see for the rest of the weekend. Sadly, I was correct.
Over the last three days, reporters have documented the presence of swastikas, neo-Nazi symbols and other expressions of hatred on Parliament Hill. As the photo I posted went viral, Twitter mentions were flooded with the most vile, anti-semitic, racist and misogynist messages imaginable. And this paled compared to the experiences of Centretown residents attempting to walk around in their own neighbourhoods.
Friends of mine who wore masks and walked through the truck blockade were yelled at and spat at. A downtown household with a rainbow flag in the window reported being screamed at, culminating in someone defecating on their front step. Employees at the Shepherds of Good Hope say they were harassed by convoy members demanding free meals that were supposed to go to people experiencing homelessness
Teenage coffee shop employees say maskless customers uttered death threats, while refusing to comply with public health guidelines. And residents in the north part of Centretown are at their breaking point after 48 hours of honking, idling, fireworks and air horns. My friend’s seven-year-old has been unable to sleep and my own daughter has been riddled with anxiety.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network has been documenting the fact that the organizers of the convoy have deep roots in extremist movements. This includes Yellow Vests, Soldiers of Odin, and Pat King, who has made public statements denying the Holocaust and told a Facebook live stream last February that “The only way this is going to be solved is with bullets.”
I have attended dozens of peaceful protests in Ottawa involving many thousands more people than have converged in our city this weekend. I have never seen Nazi symbols on display, or a protest strategy that seems intent on harassing residents for days on end, with no clear end point.
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While I understand that the Ottawa Police are seeking to de-escalate conflict and avoid violence, I have never seen this level of grace given to activists demonstrating on behalf of racial justice or Indigenous human rights. It gives the impression that our city has rolled out the welcome mat to extremism, leaving those of us who live downtown to suffer the fallout.
The economic and social impact of allowing this to continue is hard to even quantify. Many downtown businesses chose to close this weekend, including the entire Rideau Centre. Several vaccine clinics were shut down, and the Centretown Community Health Centre closed its doors Monday. At least one downtown school was closed, as were several daycares. By allowing this to happen, our city is making a clear choice to continue tolerating the convoy, while downtown residents go without wages and vital services.
On Friday, I Tweeted that the problem with telling people to avoid downtown Ottawa is that many of us live here — nearly 50,000, in fact. To the convoy members, we say: Go home. You have made your point, as nonsensical as it may be. And to the city of Ottawa and all levels of government: we beg you to facilitate the hasty exit of extremists from our streets and our neighbourhoods. It’s time to let us get some sleep.
Ariel Troster is Centretown resident, a community advocate and a candidate for Ottawa City Council in Somerset Ward.
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