The major media successfully distorted the nature of the Canadian trucker convoy that assembled in protest of vaccine mandates. From the onset, it focused on the presence of far-right, white supremacists in the “leadership,” highlighting neo-Nazi images to vilify the entire movement. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was criticized for his mischaracterizing the convoy and its supporters, he responded: “Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas. They can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag.” As Jonathan Kay reported:
Even before the first trucks arrived in Ottawa, one of Trudeau’s MPs was publicly comparing the protest to Charlottesville or the January 6 insurrection. One former CBC host denounced the protesters as a “feral mob.” An Ottawa artist produced a painting that compared the protesters’ trucks to the Chinese tanks at Tiananmen Square. Toronto Star writer Bruce Arthur described the protesters as “a homegrown hate farm.”
In a populace that for the last few years has been primed to consider white working class men with non-woke politics as white supremacist supporters, this became an easy sell. As a result, 57% believed, “The convoy in Ottawa is not about vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions. It is an opportunity for right wing supremacist groups to rally and voice their frustrations about society.”
In addition, the media promoted a danger of violence so that the Ottawa demonstration might become another January 6th. They pointed to the capture of 13 long guns in a group that was traveling to the Alberta-US border. As for Ottawa, a New York Times headline read, “Ottawa’s Giddy, Terrifying Siege.” However, what was terrifying seemed to be the incessant honking of truck horns and the occasional trucker yelling at people wearing their masks outdoors in the surrounding residential areas.
Despite not one significant instance of violent or destructive behavior, the media was able to convince Canadians of the dangers posed. Indeed, a majority polled believed that the truckers “posed a threat to democracy.” This allowed Trudeau to impose unprecedented policies, most prominently freezing individual bank accounts, including those of people who donated to truckers’ Go Fund Me accounts. Indeed, despite claims that the movement was heavily U.S. funded — believed by 72% of university graduates — the released names indicated that the vast majority of funds were donated by Canadians.
These media efforts resulted in over 60 percent of Canadians rejecting the truckers’ demands with only about 35% supporting them. This difference was so large because of the views of those over 55 years old and university graduates. It was also driven by these groups’ belief that economic losses outweighed the right to protest. For example, only one-quarter of these two groups supported protest rights over economic loss in contrast to a strong majority of 18- to 34-year-olds supported protest rights over economic loss.
Moreover, there were substantial sympathies for the truckers. In one survey, 44% stated, “I am vaccinated against COVID-19, but I do sympathize with the concerns and frustrations being voiced by people involved in the trucker protest in Ottawa.” In another survey, 46% said the truckers’ “frustration is legitimate and worthy of our sympathy.” The proportion of 18- to 34-year-olds who adopted this point of view was 61%, while 58% of those from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba supported the statement.
It is also clear that if not for the demonization of the truckers, the support would have been more substantial. One survey found that 24% agree (6% strongly/18% somewhat) that “they’d consider joining the truck protest if a small fringe group had not raised Nazi flags and shown their intolerance and racism,” rising to 39% among those aged 18-34 years old.
This gets us to the question of how significant were white supremacist embedded in the truckers’ convoy. Kay documented the limited reach of the small number of rightwing extremist participants. He wrote:
It is absolutely true that several of the original protest organizers were certified right-wing radicals who made all kinds of nutty claims and demands even if rank-and-file protesters seemed to have only a hazy idea about who those leaders were and what they believed. One Ottawa headline read, “The MOU [manifesto produced by convoy organizers] says everything you need to know about the truckers protest.”
It is also true that during the very early days of the protest, a few protesters showed up with Confederate flags before being asked to leave by other protesters. One or two even bought out swastikas as part of terribly misguided attempts to equate Trudeau with fascistic ideology. But these loons weren’t welcome, and were also chased away, putting a lie to the idea that the whole thing was any kind of white-power jamboree.
However, even if it were true that these extremists did have a significant leadership role, it would be wrong to condemn the truckers convoy participants who were overwhelmingly rank-and-file truckers and not motivated by extremist views. After all, this is exactly what the U.S. right-wing has tried to do to delegitimize the participants in the BLM led demonstrations: highlighting the BLM charter that stated its goal to eliminate capitalism and the nuclear family. Unfortunately, the demonizing of the white working class seems to be baked into the current woke consciousness, enabling these social justice advocates to ignore not only uncomfortable policy positions but also to remain silent in the face of precedent-setting civil liberty abuses.
Robert Cherry is recently retired Brooklyn College economics professor and completing a book on race-related policies.