Many protesters who participated in the Freedom Convoy and Rolling Thunder protests in Ottawa earlier this year returned to the city coordinating Canada Day events.
Various events are set to take place in the city center today, starting at 9am with an “old fashioned family picnic” in Strathcona Park, featuring a speech by James Topp.
Topp, a veteran marching across Canada to protest remaining COVID-19 vaccine mandates, ended his journey with his supporters Thursday at the National War Memorial.
He was joined for part of his final leg by Conservative Party of Canada leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre.
After Thursday night’s speeches at the war memorial, Ottawa police said they have made four arrests, including one for assaulting police officers, and are continuing to investigate.
Veteran James Topp, in an orange vest, is surrounded by supporters as he arrives at Hog’s Back Park in Ottawa on June 30, 2022. Topp is marching across the country to protest the remaining COVID-19 vaccine mandates. (Jean Delil/CBC)
March, dance party planned
After Friday’s picnic, organizers will hold a “freedom concert” featuring artists made famous during the Freedom Convoy by performing on a stage set up outside Parliament Hill on Wellington Street.
Protesters also plan to march to Parliament Hill and hold a dance party there.
As was the case during April’s Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally, many of the Canada Day events are coordinated by Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F), a group formed by central figures involved in the weekly Freedom Convoy winter protests.
Andrew McGilvray, a veteran and member of the V4F steering committee, said that although thousands of people were expected, it was difficult to estimate how many would actually attend.
“We’re hoping to get a lot of different groups of workers who have been affected by the mandate,” he said.
“Whether it’s paramedics, whether it’s postal workers or carpenters or, you know, teachers and all the different professions or workers that — across the country — have been negatively impacted by the mandate.”
Police say officers will allow legal protests but will shut down illegal activities, such as setting up structures or loudspeakers without permission or making threats to occupy.
“[We’ve] planned, we are prepared and we have the resources,” Steve Bell, Ottawa’s interim police chief, said earlier this week.
A man is pinned to the ground by police outside the National War Memorial. Ottawa police said they arrested four people after the speeches Thursday night. (CBC)
“We are not coming to occupy your city”
It is unclear whether the protesters have applied for or received permits for their planned events. MacGilvray said his group had been in contact with police and was aware they were “under a lot of pressure”.
He said V4F moved some events from in front of the Supreme Court of Canada to Strathcona Park to ease downtown traffic.
“We will be peaceful. We will be legal. And if [police] they want to try to break us up because of the peaceful protest on Parliament Hill, then there is nothing we can do. We’ll just have to deal with it at the time,” McGilvray said.
“But from us it will be nothing but peace. And we will be legal. And our organization has a code of conduct and we will not break the law in any form.”
While V4F coordinates many of the Canada Day events, other groups that continue to have grievances with the government are also involved – and they have organized themselves as the Canadian Citizens Coalition.
“We are Canadians too. We will celebrate Canada on this day. We have the right to be able to do that, and we have the right to be able to do it wherever we want to,” McGilvray said.
“We are not coming to occupy your city. You just live in our nation’s capital.”
Many of the participants in the Canada Day events have ties to the Freedom Convoy that descended on downtown Ottawa earlier this year. (Ivanoch Demers/Radio-Canada)
Other events planned include an appearance by Josh Barber, known to fans as “Mr. Freedom” for his Braveheart-inspired outfit. Barber’s social media following grew after the Freedom Convoy ended, and he participated in several neighborhood protests around Ontario in the months since.
V4F members also include Tom Marrazzo, who was invited to come and help run the Freedom Convoy.
The man who invited him, James Bauder, faces charges in Ottawa and continues to protest in British Columbia. Bauder is responsible for creating the Canada Unity group and website that helped develop the initial plan for a convoy to come to Ottawa and jam downtown with vehicles.
Daniel Bulford, another key organizer who helped coordinate the Freedom Convoy, also joined Top for the final leg of his journey.
Bulford is a former RCMP officer who was part of the prime minister’s bodyguard before leaving office after refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. He was the head of convoy security and boasted of having strong connections with the police services.
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