The horrific and tragic events unfolding in Ukraine have jolted the world. These events have brought the people of the world together in a single, unified voice saying, stop this war.
These events have also deepened my gratitude and my sense of good fortune to live in a country as free and peaceful as Canada. Freedom is in the air we breathe, it’s in the sun on our faces, it’s in the way we say hi neighbour and how we live our lives. We have true freedom of expression to respectfully say whatever we want to say on any topic.
We saw in Russia that hundreds of people walking down a street in peaceful protest against the war in Ukraine were hauled away by the police, that’s not freedom. All they were doing was walking down the street, not threatening, not blockading.
Right now in Ukraine and many countries around the world people living there don’t have these same freedoms we have here in Canada. They live in fear, under tyrannical leadership that makes living every day an ordeal that we cannot imagine. I’m certain people living in those places would be happy if all they had to worry about was having to wear a mask to go into Walmart.
Then I turn my thoughts to the protesters here who blockade, disrupt and threaten people and who decry the lack of freedom here in our country. If those protests seemed silly and pathetic to the vast majority of Canadians then, they look even more ridiculous now with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s time for all of us including the media to move on, to not shine any further light on Freedom Convoy protests here.
Canada is indeed the true north strong and free. It’s time to put away our petty gripes and made-up complaints. Building and strengthening Canada should be our singular goal.
Rick Baker
View Royal
