Thousands of supporters brave the freezing weather to cheer the "Freedom Convoy" of roughly 30,000 to 50,000 truckers who are heading to Ottawa, Canada from British Columbia in protest of the vaccine mandate.
Faithwire reported that more than 1,000 people greeted the "Freedom Convoy" as they passed Headingly, Manitoba on their way to the nation's capital. The very long convoy--cited by the Toronto Sun to be longer than that recorded by the Guinness World Record of 4.5 miles for Egypt in 2020--is said to be causing "severe traffic problems." However, people don't seem to mind since they support the "Freedom Convoy."
The Freedom Convoy, as reported previously, is a group of truckers who oppose Canada's January 15 vaccination deadline for drivers including those that work for federal regulated industries such as the Canadian Trucking Alliance. 15% of the Canadian Trucking Alliance's members have been unvaccinated or roughly 16,000 truckers that, though small, may still "be sidelined due to the new restriction."
In the online fundraiser created by Freedom Convoy Organizer Tamara Lich last January 14, the Freedom Convoy explained that their goal is to oppose the "political over reach" that has gravely affected everyone including truckers whose livelihood and industry has been destroyed.
"We are taking our fight to the doorsteps of our Federal Government and demanding that they cease all mandates against its people," the Freedom Convoy said.
Crowd cheering on the freedom trucker convoy in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada as it makes it's way to Ottawa to protest mandates and restrictions in the country. pic.twitter.com/jHvoOluY17
"” Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) January 25, 2022
One of the truckers, Robert Jorgenson, pointed out that their fight is, more than anything, a fight for freedom in Canada.
"This isn't even about a vaccine anymore. It's not. It's not about a vaccine mandate on truckers. I have been free my whole life, and, somehow, now, I'm not. This is Canada," Jorgenson said.
Though the "massive" convoy has passed various states and has gone viral in social media, The Blaze raised that the Freedom Convoy is not getting the attention it deserves in media and with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Blaze cited remarks from The Hill's "Rising" Host Kim Iverson who talked about the matter.
"What's interesting about this convoy (in Canada) is it's getting hardly any coverage at all inside of Canada, or really anywhere. It's a near media blackout, which oddly seems to be the same thing happening in Europe and even here in the United States, in regards to all of the other protests," Iverson underscored.
"There's been some interesting and even eyebrow-raising opposition to the convoy. There's the obvious and blatant media blackout. Some could say the reason the media isn't covering it is because it's small and fringe, but social media users are showing crowds gathered on the streets in nearly every town the truckers roll through, and on many of the overpasses in the towns that the truckers pass," she added.
Iverson went on to disclose that the Freedom Convoy isn't any petty undertaking as shown by the amount of funds it has raised online, which coincidentally has been put on hold by GoFundMe allegedly because the intentions for setting up the account was unclear. This is despite the Freedom Convoy's fundraiser page publicly expressing the reasons of the said undertaking. Iverson also noted how any one opposing mandates have been easily called as "terrorists."
"Also, the convoy has raised over 5 million dollars through GoFundMe, and I'd say this is not small or fringe...definitely not as small or fringe as the government wants it to be," Iverson stressed.
"So now people on social media are equating the group to terrorists, which seems to be where we're at these days. Anyone protesting anything at all, be it police brutality, masking kids, election outcomes, or vaccine mandates, is now a radical terrorist in some form," she said.
