Like several other posts in the GRIT Series, I started this one during the Canadian trucker protest at the beginning of 2022, but felt too discombobulated at the time to complete and publish it. I seem to be completing everything at a snail’s pace these days and I got stuck on this one for way too long. Such are the energies. Here are my thoughts after the fact….

At the beginning of 2022, the Canadian trucker convoy and protest hit close to home for me—in ways that it did not appear to for many Canadians:

First, as I divulged in my You’ve Got GRIT post, they are publicly demonstrating on my behalf, against government mandates and for their and my right to choose. I believe everyone is born with the inalienable right to decide what happens to our bodies, including what we put into it or choose not to put into it—that is “bodily autonomy,” based on “bodily integrity.”

Second, I tend to equate the truck driver persona with my Papa—my grandfather who passed away in 2016. He was a transport truck driver for many years, travelling the length and breadth of North America. My Papa definitely had GRIT: courage, resolve, and strength of character. I can’t help but wonder what he would have thought of the trucker convoy and protests. Out of nostalgia, I re-read the post I dedicated to my Papa, A Life Well Lived, with the ‘top 10 lessons I learned from my Papa,’ which I shared at his funeral. It occurred to me how well these life lessons spoke to everyone involved in the crisis in my country’s capital city of Ottawa.

Initially, the impetus for the trucker convoy alluded me—I assumed they had collectively finally lost patience with lingering restrictions and decided to act. Mainstream media chose to focus on the drama of the protest far more than the reasoning for it. Eventually, I realized that the Canadian federal government imposed the vaccine mandate for the trucking industry on January 15, 2022, decreeing that unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering Canada from the United States must “meet requirements for pre-entry, arrival and Day 8 testing, as well as quarantine requirements.” 

One only need consider that truck drivers deliver goods, sometimes perishable goods, on tight timelines based on contractual obligations, to recognize that it is not reasonable to ask them to quarantine for 8 days after every trip. Therefore, realistically, any unvaccinated truck drivers would lose their ability to do their jobs, which is of course to deliver goods ‘vital’ to the Canadian and American economies.

The timing of this new mandate perplexed me—why impose it now, right at the time when several provinces had already announced plans to lift restrictions, the crisis appeared to be resolving across Canada, and more and more countries had already completely lifted covid restrictions, including vaccine passports? Not to mention that it has become clearer daily that the covid shot is completely ineffective at preventing transmission, particularly of the new variants. 

To me, and apparently to the truckers, this new mandate did not make sense—and that’s the aspect of Covid measures that I have found extremely difficult. Far too often, the answers to ‘why’ have not made sense to me. I’m no ‘yes man’—I’ve always needed to know the ‘why’ in…well…everything. I need to understand the logic and reasoning behind anything I’m asked to do before I find myself capable of doing it. And, when I receive an answer, I prefer to verify it for myself. And when I can’t verify it—when it seems illogical to me, or I find conflicting information, I put on the brakes.

Requirements for truckers entering Canada in effect as of January 15, 2022
From: Public Health Agency of Canada

As announced in November and as we’ve communicated with the industry recently, starting January 15, unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers entering Canada will need to meet requirements for pre-entry, arrival and Day 8 testing, as well as quarantine requirements.

The final decision regarding entry and quarantine is made by a government representative at the port of entry, based on the information presented to them at the time.

Any individual who is symptomatic upon arrival to Canada will be directed to a Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) official and will be directed to isolate for 10 days from the time they enter Canada.

Interestingly, when the men and women who transport goods across North America on our behalf couldn’t understand the ‘why,’ they did the opposite—they hit the gas pedal, joining together to form a line of transport trucks that got longer and longer, heading across Canada. Initially, the energy of the line felt alive with positivity, building momentum as it approached Ontario and they fulfilled their motto to ‘keep on truckin.’ I likened this flowing energy to the Water Tiger energy I described in my post, Happy Lunar New Year 2022! The Year of Supple Strength. 2022 is the year of the ‘Water Tiger’; water tiger energy flows with grace and power along the path of least resistance. This energy feels very different from the 2021 ‘Metal Ox’ energy; metal ox energy felt like shouldering the yoke of a heavy burden, straining against the weight of it, unable to move forward.

The convoy’s arrival in Ottawa felt victorious and encouraged millions of people to join in what looked like a Canada Day celebration. Canadian news media and our leaders spun the event negatively while the rest of the world appeared to me to see the truckers as a beacon of light and hope. But then the weekend ended and the truckers stayed…while their Prime Minister left. Officials refused to meet with them. The truckers engaged their emergency brakes and stated that they would not leave until they were heard and the mandates were lifted. 

The positive energy associated with the forward momentum of the moving convoy ground to a halt. The ‘water tiger’ energy stagnated back into the ‘metal ox’ energy, fuelled by government leaders seemingly determined to escalate the situation through force of will. The bridge at the border crossing was cleared, yet the Prime Minister continued to push the Emergency Measures Act, like a bull in a china shop. I personally could not get past this statement by the Ontario Premier in a press conference: “While these emergency orders will be temporary, we have every intention of bringing legislation forward that will make these measures permanent in law.” If this statement does not give you serious cause for concern, you are completely asleep at the wheel.

At the time, I messaged a friend the following:

And here’s what really concerns me with this situation: The only way the government can justify a state of emergency is if there is a situation that justifies the need to strip citizens of their freedoms, if there is a state of chaos and anarchy. The representatives for the truckers have stated repeatedly that they will not isight violence—they will not create that disorder—so far, their protest in Ottawa has been peaceful and orderly. 

So, the only way to create the chaos that justifies ‘bringing legislation forward that will make these measures permanent’ is for the government to insight it themselves. What if they’re all pawns?—the truckers, the protesters, and the law enforcement officers—all pawns in the scheme to justify permanently limiting our constitutional rights and increasing their power?

inalienable

adjective:

1. Unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor.

synonyms:

inviolable, absolute, sacrosanct, unchallengeable, unassailable, untransferable, nontransferable, nonnegotiable, inherent, imprescriptible, indefeasible

Freedom is a right that we have taken for granted and are now in danger of losing as a result. Causing inconvenience is the point; pushing back is the point. How else will we be heard? And it is all very uncomfortable—it takes GRIT. But, then I realised, this is where the rubber hits the road—this is where we do the real work. We do not ascend in consciousness when we feel comfortable, we ascend through sitting within and truly feeling the difficult, uncomfortable feelings—the negative emotions, the grief, and the trauma. Bringing it all to the surface, shining a light to reveal the shadow, and allowing it all to move through us. The key is not to get stuck in it—the key is to keep on truckin’. 

The truckers are fulfilling their purpose and I am fulfilling mine. In the end, we don’t do it because it’s easy or lucrative. We do it because we feel passionately driven to do it regardless of the risks or rewards. Because in those moments—the ones that require GRIT—I feel grounded. I feel centred. I feel a sense of mastery. And that is true freedom.