Truth or no consequences?

Some stories about the Freedom Convoy may not be accurate, but that's not stopping people from sharing them.

Two weeks ago, we reported on a story that at the time was getting very little news coverage: the Freedom Convoy. Since then, the buzz has really accelerated.

A vaccine mandate protest by Canadian truck drivers grew for days, with trucks large and small clogging the streets of Ottawa and people and 18-wheelers blocking traffic on the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit. The bridge is a lifeline between the two countries, as more than 25% of all merchandise between the United States and Canada travels across it; more than 10,000 commercial vehicles cross the bridge on a given weekday. With the bridge closed for days, that meant a lot of goods were not getting to their intended destinations. The Ambassador Bridge officially reopened earlier this week, although the protest continues in Ottawa.

Thoughts have been mixed on the Freedom Convoy, from Rand Paul hoping it would lead to vaccine mandate protests in other areas (so far similar protests have begun as far away as New Zealand) to the mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, saying that the truckers were "blocking off and choking the economies of both the United States and Canada.”

The most electric comments about the convoy came from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “There is no place in our country for threats, violence or hatred,” Trudeau said in late January. He seemed especially concerned about nasty symbols that were said to have been on display during the protests. "Freedom of expression, assembly and association are cornerstones of democracy, but Nazi symbolism, racist imagery and desecration of war memorials are not."

According to one report, Nazi symbolism was seen on protest signs, apparently to equate Covid-19 mandates to Nazi persecution of the Jews. Another article included a photo of a protestor holding a Confederate flag with a truck in the middle of it.

To be sure, one Nazi flag being waved is one too many; one act of desecrating a statue is already too much. Almost all reports indicate that the majority of those involved in the protest are respectful and that the troublemakers and extremists are few and far between. As a Yahoo! correspondent noted, “Thousands have descended on Parliament Hill to protest public health measures. A small minority are shamefully using Nazi symbols, the Confederate flag and misappropriating the Star of David to advance their political objectives.”

But some recent headlines are telling a different story:

“The Canadian trucker convoy is an unpopular uprising” - Vox

“How Canada’s Freedom Convoy was overtaken by a radical fringe” - The Conversation

“The Ottawa Protest is rooted in extremism, a national security expert says” - NPR

Perhaps the most damning of pieces was published on, of all sites, Teenvogue.com, under the headline, “Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ Trucker Protests Aren’t About Freedom.” The subhead reads: “This op-ed argues that the Ottawa ‘Freedom Convoy’ is really about white supremacy and white nationalism.” (Never mind that people of color are said to make up a significant number of protestors and supporters, and that an Instagram account named People of Color for Freedom Convoy (poc4freedomconvoy) is dedicated to eliminating “government overreach and dishonest media reporting” and currently boasts 65,000 followers.)

There will always be those who see an opportunity to jump on a cause and twist it into their own celebration of extremism. We see it on all sides of the political spectrum. And the press has an obligation to call out the extremists who attempt to dominate a situation.

It becomes dangerous when the extremists are portrayed as the majority rather than as the minority. Countless articles claim that the Freedom Convoy is inundated with symbols of hate and acts of violence. In truth, you really have to search for photos of Confederate flags at the protest, and it appears that most articles feature the same one or two flags. The Ottawa police are apparently investigating claims of hate crimes; there’s no word if the person or people waving the Confederate flags are among those being investigated.

The Jerusalem Post reported that while a conservative member of parliament was being interviewed by a Canadian news channel, someone in the background was waving a Canadian flag covered in swastikas. This article shows an image of the flag; most of what’s scrawled on it is hard to decipher, although there is definitely a hand-drawn swastika in the top right corner. The use of the swastika in this way seems simpleminded and unsympathetic at best. Comparing vaccine mandates across Canada to what the Jews suffered under the Nazis is ludicrous; nevertheless, this looks to be more like someone attempting to show a connection with, rather than a denouncement of, Jews. If more of these makeshift flags have been waved around Ottawa during the protest, there doesn’t appear to be much evidence online.

Again, calling out extreme behavior that detracts from the main purpose of an event is important; turning the narrative around to make it seem that everyone involved is an extremist - that’s just irresponsible. Doing so creates a domino effect that eventually takes down some well-meaning people who then have to issue an apology for something they never thought they’d have to be sorry for.

In early February, GoFundMe announced it was seizing money raised to support the Freedom Convoy. (The organization later decided to refund donors their money.) "We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity," the BBC quoted a GoFundMe spokesperson as saying. The article also went on to explain the “violence and other unlawful activity” that had thus far taken place. “Of the thousands who joined the truckers' protest, three people have so far been arrested: one for carrying a weapon, one charged with mischief under $5,000, and another with uttering threats on social media.”

Another crowdsourcing company, GiveSendGo, then said it would begin accepting donations for the protest. A cyberattack on GiveSendGo resulted in a leak of the names of donors and how much they had given to the Freedom Convoy effort. To make matters worse, some members of the media began to release the information to the general public. Fears of backlash from employers, customers and complete strangers led some donors to regret supporting the Freedom Convoy.

“The hacked list of donors to the Freedom Convoy is now being used to seek retribution against donors with threats of violence, job loss and more,” The Toronto Sun reported. “Stella Luna Gelato, perhaps the best gelato shop in Ottawa, was forced to close – at least temporarily – over threats from people upset at the owner’s donation. Owner Tammy Giuliani said she donated because the convoy and its call to end COVID restrictions seemed like a beacon of hope for her and other small business owners.”

Stella Luna Gelato’s owner now sees things differently since some angry citizens threatened to throw bricks through her shop windows. “Never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate what has transpired over the past couple of weeks,” Giuliani said about the Freedom Convoy. “None of us anticipated what it turned into and we certainly don’t condone it.” Giuliani did not specify what the protest had “turned into” and why she and her employees “don’t condone it.”

Donors being doxed found an ally in Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who chastised reporters for identifying and in some cases harassing those who monetarily supported the Freedom Convoy. "I fail to see why any journalist felt the need to report on a shop owner making such a[n] insignificant donation rather than to get them harassed. It’s unconscionable and journalists need to do better,” Omar tweeted.

The members of the Freedom Convoy appear to be undeterred by all that has happened since the protest first started. While there are some “fringe groups” that have glommed onto the activity, the original organizers insist their demands remain what they always have been: that the Canadian government remove all Covid-19 vaccine mandates and do away with ArriveCAN, a digital Covid tracking app that must be used to leave and enter Canada.

Is that really all there is? Critical readers will have to keep diligently scouring various news sources to hold accountable the organizers, participants and supporters of the Freedom Convoy, just as we need to keep a sharp eye out for reports that stretch, distort or completely disregard the truth about what’s going on in Canada.