It’s a compelling photo. A testament of the times, very sad times.
An Edmonton reporter is peeling the very visible CTV decals off his white truck.
Here in Canada, media have fielded some of the aggression that has been bubbling to the surface during the pandemic, which reached a boiling point as protesters, some very aggressive, make their displeasure with pandemic-related regulations known in some pockets of protests.
We had none of that here in Barrie. Many in the crowd of motorists that rallied at the Sadlon Arena during Saturday’s snowstorm declined to be interviewed by BarrieToday, but were respectful and remained in their vehicles for the most part.
Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood told the Barrie Police Services Board last week that the three previous gatherings to protest public health regulations imposed during the pandemic had been peaceful as well.
During earlier pre-convoy-movement protests last year, Barrie seemed a bit of a lightning rod for protesters coming from across Ontario, which did raise some concerns for police. Some participants carried very distinctive hate messaging. And media colleagues reported that they, too, had been subjected to some aggressive behaviour.
Thankfully, that was absent in this past weekend’s protest in Barrie, which seemed to be a very local affair.
The hate and the aggression displayed at other Canadian protests, particularly in Ottawa, came as a surprise to many. Sure, there are elements of all sorts of factions, extreme and otherwise, alive in this country. And hate speech has been a growing concern.
An MSNBC reporter broadcasting to an American audience this weekend, surrounded by ranters as he is “harassed and screamed at” reporting from Ottawa, also seemed taken aback when he said: “We apologize this is not the kinder and gentler Canada you may be used to seeing.”
In another video posted online, a CBC news crew is booed and heckled after finishing a live report in Ottawa.
Beyond the aggression and demonstration of what the American reporter found to be very un-Canadian behaviour is some very confusing messaging.
There’s the bail hearing of one of the convoy organizers over the weekend in which her husband asks about asserting First Amendment rights.
"What do you mean, first amendment? What's that?" Judge Julie Bourgeois is reported to have replied.
How does an Albertan cite American law in Canada?
Then there’s a photo BarrieToday published of an Ottawa protester holding up a sign that reads: “Live Free or Die,” which has long been the official motto for New Hampshire, an American state. He's flanked by Canadian flags, an American flag distinctively behind him with a Quebec flag in the distance.
Back in Barrie, last year we had an entrepreneur assert what she said were her common-law rights as she read from a script when officials visited her restaurant, open during a period when restaurants were ordered closed.
It turned out she was relying on neither Canadian law nor American law, but what a Canadian judge had earlier dubbed 'pseudo-law'.
The concern, at this point, is not just where is all this heading, but also where is all this coming from. Logic appears to have escaped some very loud people and it is, at the very least, unnerving.
That some of this dissension is focused on the media in Canada is just as confusing as some of the messaging. Mainstream media — historically considered a pillar of democracy — isn’t the same as social media, which may well be a source for some of the messaging which confuses American law with Canadian law and, sometimes, no law at all.
Marg. Bruineman is a staff reporter at BarrieToday.
