Non-sovereign nation
Start at the top: Canada is not free and does not control its own sovereignty as a fully independent country. Much of this is by choice as an offspring of the British Empire.
Canada's foreign policy is very much in line with U.S. foreign policy, or more broadly it is fully in line with the Anglo-American Five Eyes foreign policy. Canada is part of NATO, an originating member, and also is part of NORAD, a U.S.-controlled radar/spy system set up in Canada's north. Militarily Canada works with and advocates alongside the U.S. against Russia, against China, Syria, and Iran, and against the truly independent nations of Latin America like Cuba and Nicaragua, and leads the pack - now defunct fortunately - of the Lima group against Venezuela as well as being a full participant in the subjugation of Haiti.
In spite of its official lies about democracy, peace, and freedom, Canada still sells materials and equipment to the likes of Saudi Arabia. Much more damaging for peace in the Middle East is its full on support of Israel diplomatically, militarily, and for 'security' reasons, all the while ignoring the apartheid system and its ongoing ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian people, ethnic cleansing and apartheid being subjects Canada has first-hand experience with.
Canada's economy is about seventy-percent dependent on the U.S. economy, with the North American Free Trade Act effectively opening the borders to the free flow of money for the elite investor class, to the degree that corporations can sue the government for perceived losses while the government cannot sue the corporations for most externalities (e.g. environmental damage, job losses). The recent imbroglio concerning Hua Wei and Meng Wanzhou demonstrated Canada's complicity in U.S. dual political/economic war with China, showing Canada to be no more than a servant of U.S. wishes.
Canadians often perceive themselves as different in the cultural sphere as well. Sadly, apart from some maple syrup, a few moose, and maybe a good hockey team, Canada's culture is very similar to that of the U.S., in particular when it comes to consumer life, racism, and a general ignorance of the broader world.
In effect, at best Canada is a follower of the U.S.; more correctly it can be called a satrapy, and even more basically although not legally, the fifty-first state of the union. However for the latter it matters little as the Anglo-American empire, the Five Eyes, is pretty much all-encompassing. Canada is not a free nation.
Truckers' Convoy
Most of the western media world has heard about Canada's trucker convoy, the "Freedom Convoy" that settled into Ottawa and disrupted the lives of the locals for the better part of two weeks (as of this writing). Ostensibly about objecting to mask mandates and Covid passports used to help control the spread of Covid and its variants, it holds underlying messages that have more to do with racism than any medical issue.
Historically Canada has quickly and militaristically stopped any protest that interferes with the status quo of the nation. Most significantly, these actions are applied to indigenous protests concerning land rights, water rights, and on to full sovereign rights of people living on unceded territory and people living within Canada's apartheid system of reservations. Current expose's of the murder of thousands of indigenous school children under a system that existed up until the end of the twentieth century (bringing 'civilization' to the 'savages') highlights how brutal Canadian history has been to the indigenous cultures.
Racism is clearly evident in the convoy. First of all are the demographics within the convoy. It is essentially white drivers who are bumping elbows with or high-fiving white policemen. As noted in a recent news item, "Over 20 percent of the drivers across Canada and almost 50 per cent of the drivers in BC are South Asian, but we don't see those demographics represented in the convoy, so we also don't see their concerns represented." [1] Their main concerns are wages and safety.
The comparison to be made is that the truckers are white and no real threat to the status quo: the mandates and masks will be gone eventually anyway and life will resume pretty much as it has. For indigenous protests, if they succeeded with their protests, life would not go on the same and the status quo would have to change in order to accommodate the necessary changes to laws and practices that keep the apartheid system in place - creating many changes on the ground vis-Ã -vis land rights, resource distribution, and environmental controls.
Another clear sign of racism are the Confederate flags flown, displayed, but more importantly accepted by the truckers parked in Ottawa. If ever there was a symbol of pure racism, along with the Nazi swastika, it is the Confederate flag, a symbol of all that has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with a white racist society. It has been argued that the flags were a very small minority, but the very tolerance of the flags within the group means they are giving their tacit approval to the racist ideas behind it, both acts exemplifying the white racist privilege of the protest.
A final factor for now concerns the originators of the convoy. There is much to be said about them, but most importantly none of them are truckers, all of them are some kind of political pundit or wannabe from Western Canada. Much of its financial support comes from U.S. sources. [2] Enough said; the convoy is not so much about "freedom" but about some low-level politicians wanting to make a statement, a statement that in the end will have overstayed its welcome in Ottawa and in the minds of most Canadians.
Freedom
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