The ‘Freedom’ convoy: Canada’s far right revolt

[bsnub]

Looks like Skiddy's ilk are up in arms again. Anti-vaxx and whinging about wearing masks. Canada's very own trumpanzees.

Some trucker convoy organizers have history of white nationalism, racism

As the first vehicles from the trucker convoy started appearing on Ottawa streets, some Twitter users shared a particular photo: a pickup truck with a confederate flag flying from the bed.
Now, as the convoy descends on Ottawa with the stated aim of opposing all COVID-19 mandates, anti-hate experts allege those with white nationalist and Islamophobic views don’t just represent the fringes of the movement but are among the organizers of the convoy.

“We’re saying that this is a far-right convoy because — from day one — the organizers themselves are part of the far-right movement,” said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

“They have previously been involved in far-right movements and have made Islamophobic comments in the past.”

It can be difficult to determine who is a key organizer of the convoy, but there are some names that emerge time and time again — whether as authors of the $7.4million GoFundMe campaign, as points of contact on the website that boasts a petition with 240,000 signatures, or on social media posts providing widely-shared directions to anyone hoping to join.

Global News contacted all the organizers mentioned in this story, but none responded by the time of publication. Jason LaFace, an Ontario organizer, did pick up the call, but upon the reporter identifying themselves, immediately laughed, said “no thank you,” and hung up the phone.

What does the convoy want?

The convoy initially kicked off with a focus on opposing vaccine mandates — especially the one aimed at truckers. The government announced in November 2021 that all Canadian truckers seeking to cross the border from the United States would need to be vaccinated in order to avoid a 14-day quarantine. That mandate went into effect on Jan. 15.

The U.S. also instituted its own ban on unvaccinated truck drivers a week after Canada implemented its policy.

In the days since the trucks hit the road, the stated goal of the movement has become muddied.

One trucker who is headed to the protest, Brigitte Belton, told Global News in a Friday interview that her goal is “to get freedom back,” and that she is “not here for politics.”

Commenting on other participants whose goals may be more extreme, she said “whatever their agendas are, that’s not what we’re here for. So they need to be quiet. They need to go home.”

A group affiliated with the convoy, Canada Unity, has produced a “memorandum of understanding” that it plans to present to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and the Senate, and which it believes would force the government to rescind COVID-19 public health measures, or force the government to resign en masse.

“The GG wouldn’t dismiss a Cabinet that hasn’t lost the confidence of the Commons … moreover, the GG has no authority to independently rescind laws or regulations,” said parliamentary expert Philippe Lagassé.

Who is organizing the convoy?

The convoy has a number of participants with different goals and isn’t cohesive, but some popular webpages help paint a picture of the people behind the convoy.

There is a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $7 million for the trucker convoy. That fundraiser has two names on it: Tamara Lich, and B.J. Dichter.

Speaking to a cheering crowd at a People’s Party of Canada convention in 2019, B.J. Dichter warned listeners about the dangers of “political Islamists,” and said the Liberal Party is “infested with Islamists.”

He added that, by meeting “with extremists,” Conservative and “establishment” politicians “put at risk moderate and secular Muslims, who want nothing more but to integrate into Canada, to become Canadian, and to leave the garbage of their birth country behind them.”

“Despite what our corporate media and political leaders want to admit, Islamist entryism and the adaptation of political Islam is rotting away at our society like syphilis,” he added, according to a story written for the Toronto Star by Alex Boutilier, who is now employed by Global News.

Another dominant voice within the convoy community is a man named Patrick King. King is listed as a contact for North Alberta on Canada Unity’s website, which hosts the memorandum of understanding that boasts more than 240,000 signatures.

King’s name was repeatedly mentioned on the convoy’s walkie-talkie app, Zello, on Friday — but he has ended up in the public eye for different reasons in the past, according to footage posted online.

In a video posted on Twitter in 2019, King suggests that unless Canadians “get up off your as—s and demand change,” they might want to change their names to “Ishmael” or “drop a bunch of change down the stairs” and “call yourself chong ching ching chang.”

In other video footage, King can be seen repeating racist conspiracy theories. In one clip posted to Twitter by another user, King says “there’s an endgame, it’s called depopulation of the Caucasian race, or the Anglo-Saxon. And that’s what the goal is, is to depopulate the Anglo-Saxon race because they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines,” he said.

“It’s a depopulation of race, okay, that’s what they want to do.”

He then talks about men with the first names “Ahmed” and “Mahmoud” who he claims are trying to “not only infiltrate by flooding with refugees, we’re going to infiltrate the education systems to manipulate it” so there is “less procreation” which leads to “less white people — or you know, Anglo-Saxon. Let’s say Anglo-Saxon, because when I say white, all the ANTIFA guys call up the race card.”

In a Facebook Live posted directly to his page, King says that COVID-19 is “not a naturally occurring virus.”

“It’s not a naturally occurring virus, it’s a man-made bioweapon that was put out to make people sick, to push the narrative for all these jabs, is what it was,” he said.

“Because the jab is the, they want to be able to track you, follow you, know your every movement you do.”

King did not answer two phone calls or respond to emails from Global News.

Jason LaFace — who at times uses the name “LaFaci” — is listed as the North and East Ontario organizer for the convoy on the Canada Unity website, and has been cited in other media as the main organizer for Ontario. In photos posted to his Facebook page, which were screenshotted by Global News, he shared an image titled “Canadian politicians who are not born in Canada” and included his own caption: “traitors to our country.”

According to a screenshot obtained by Global News, LaFace posted a selfie where he wore a hat with what appears to be the initials S.O.O., which is believed to stand for Soldiers of Odin — an anti-immigrant group first established in Finland.

The emergence of the far-right Soldiers of Odin group in Canada raised concerns about the potential for “anti-immigrant vigilantism,” according to a de-classified intelligence report obtained by Global News in 2017.

“One of the admins on their website is actually somebody who’s like the vice president of the Soldiers of Odin, a skinhead group in Sudbury, Ont.,” said Dr. Carmen Celestini, a post-doctoral fellow with the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University.

“His name is Jason LaFace. He also uses other names, but he is a vice president of this group, which organize events that will try to stop immigration, people who are BIPOC or people who are in LGBTQ communities.”

“Last summer,” she added, LaFace posted a message on Facebook indicating that he planned to “paint over a mural in Sudbury for (Black Lives Matter).”

LaFace later apologized, saying he “should have researched a bit more what was going on in terms of the mission and why it was sanctioned by the city.”

“I apologize for my behaviour to the entire city,” he said, according to the Sudbury Star.

However, LaFace showed a slight change of heart in a recent Facebook Live.

“This whole moment in history right now has changed my life for better, for the rest of my life,” LaFace said.

“I’m not a bitter little a–hole like I used to be, where I was pretty ignorant to some people online.”

However, in that same video, LaFace also issued a message about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“There’s things that are working in the background right now, that I found out this morning, Justin Trudeau is going buh-bye. It’s true, he is,” he said.

“It’s done, so now we just have to deploy our plan … he’s gone when we’re done.”

When Global News attempted to contact LaFace for a comment, he said “no thank you” and hung up.

Muddying the convoy's cause

As the ideologies allegedly supported by a number of the convoy’s organizers make headlines, some truckers are getting frustrated.

“We’re here to get freedom back. That’s what we’re here to get, out here for. Whatever their agendas are, that’s not what we’re here for,” said Belton, referring to the more extreme voices tied to the movement.

Belton is a trucker who has been regularly making TikTok videos about the convoy and plans to attend Saturday’s protest. She is also listed as a Sarnia contact on the Canada Unity webpage.

“They need to go home. We don’t need them. We don’t need their numbers. Yeah, we’ve got huge numbers with just people that want to go back to a normal life and that’s what we want,” she said.

Lich, an organizer of the truck convoy, said in a video posted to the convoy’s Facebook page that those promoting violence or hate do not reflect the position of the protesters.

“As you know, we are on our way to Ottawa to hold a peaceful protest. I just want to put it out there that nobody in this convoy will be inciting violence or uttering threats. That is not what we’re here to do,” Lich said in the video.

“If you see anybody trying to associate themselves with us that is acting in that way, you need to get their truck number and their licence plate and report it to the police.”

For some, the individual views of organizers aren’t as important as what they’re doing for the cause.

When Belton was asked specifically about organizers and told some of what Global News had uncovered about LaFace and King, she said the information about the purported views is “irrelevant” for her.

“I’m coming here for freedom,” she said.

“All I know is that they’re good people to me and they are helping me.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8543281/c...ganizers-hate/

[misskit]

GoFundMe will refund donations to Canadian trucker protest

Fundraising website GoFundMe has removed a fundraiser for Canada's "Freedom Convoy" protest against the country's COVID-19 policies and said in a statement released Friday that it will withhold any donations made to support the protesting truckers and their allies.

GoFundMe originally said it would allow individual users to apply for refunds and would "work with organizers to send all remaining funds to credible and established charities verified by GoFundMe," but the company soon abandoned this approach.

Early Saturday morning, GoFundMe posted a Tweet announcing they "will be refunding all donations to the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser. This refund will happen automatically — you do not need to submit a request. Donors can expect to see refunds within 7-10 business days."

Around one million Canadian dollars have already been released to the organizers of the protests, which have blocked streets in Ottawa and kept residents awake with loud honking. About ten million Canadian dollars ($7.9 million American) will be refunded, BBC reported.

Per BBC, three protesters have been arrested so far — "one for carrying a weapon, one charged with mischief under $5,000, and another with uttering threats on social media." GoFundMe said in the Friday statement that it banned fundraising for the protest after learning "from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity."

Elsewhere in Canada, the Freedom Convoy is gaining ground.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday he will announce early next week "a firm date to end" the province's vaccine passport policy, The Globe and Mail reported. One opinion writer for CBC accused Kenney of "caving in to the truckers and their illegal blockade" of an Alberta-Montana border crossing.

GoFundMe will refund donations to Canadian trucker protest

[pickel]

The FluTruxKlan.

There is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada. The USA requires it to cross the border. This is just Trumpism.

If they were Natives or environmentalists they would have been cleared out by now.

[bsnub]

The FluTruxKlan.

[sabang]

Why is it these days that when anything is landed with the moniker "Freedom", it's invariably just bullshit.

[pickel]

Why is it these days that when anything is landed with the moniker "Freedom", it's invariably just bullshit.

Same as "Patriot".

[Backspin]

It's a trucker protest. It's not fucking far right. There has been reports of black propaganda being employed in the protest which is being used to claim they are far right. These are retail center right wingers. I hate trump and I am not a retail right winger


Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit.

A truck driver is one of , if not the biggest employer of men in the US and Canada. There are TONS of truckers of color.

[Backspin]

The FluTruxKlan.

There is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada. The USA requires it to cross the border. This is just Trumpism.

If they were Natives or environmentalists they would have been cleared out by now.

They called some towing companies and some of them joined the protest.

Natives and environmentalists are fringe minorities. The most numerous job on the continent is a truck driver.

Truck driving may be America's most popular job

[bsnub]

It's a trucker protest. It's not fucking far right.

Why do you have to constantly be an idiot? You clearly didn't read the article. Why would you come into a thread and start spouting nonsense without reading the OP? It clearly points out that some leaders of the protests are far right racists.

[Backspin]

Australian Truckers Take Cue From Canada’s Freedom Convoy, Drive to Capital To Protest Pointless COVID Mandates - Stillness in the Storm

[pickel]

It's a trucker protest. It's not fucking far right. There has been reports of black propaganda being employed in the protest which is being used to claim they are far right. These are retail center right wingers. I hate trump and I am not a retail right winger


Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit.

A truck driver is one of , if not the biggest employer of men in the US and Canada. There are TONS of truckers of color.

You say it's a trucker protest. Well, guess what dummie, there is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada. Ninety percent of truckers are vaccinated and the major trucking organizations are against these protests.

These are the Canadian version of Trumpers, who've hijacked an imaginary cause, and through social media algorithms targeted at the less intelligent, have got a bunch of halfwits to naively join in.

[Backspin]

Why do you have to constantly be an idiot? You clearly didn't read the article. Why would you come into a thread and start spouting nonsense without reading the OP? It clearly points out that some leaders of the protests are far right racists.

Canadian Anti-Hate Network. Just fuck off. Please fuck off.

If that outfit took a look at your posting history , they would label you an extremist

[Backspin]

You say it's a trucker protest. Well, guess what dummie, there is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada. Ninety percent of truckers are vaccinated and the major trucking organizations are against these protests.

These are the Canadian version of Trumpers, who've hijacked an imaginary cause, and through social media algorithms targeted at the less intelligent, have got a bunch of halfwits to naively join in.

The drivers oppose a recent vaccine mandate requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements.

[pickel]

The drivers oppose a recent vaccine mandate requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements.

Proving your idiocy once again. How can an unvaccinated Canadian trucker even enter Canada from the US, when the US doesn't allow them entry in the first place?

[Backspin]

Proving your idiocy once again. How can an unvaccinated Canadian trucker even enter Canada from the US, when the US doesn't allow them entry in the first place?

That's copy and pasted out of one of the big papers word for word. It's not as cut and dry as you think

[Backspin]

The FluTruxKlan.

There is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada. The USA requires it to cross the border. This is just Trumpism.

If they were Natives or environmentalists they would have been cleared out by now.

Look at this far right speak from Pickel in another thread

Pretty hard to fake. More than likely an extended family member working in government, with "diversity" being so rampant in Trudeau land.

[bsnub]

Canadian Anti-Hate Network. Just fuck off. Please fuck off.

You idiot, the article was written by a reporter for Global news. Can you dispute any part of it at all? It would seem not. It points to several names being leaders of the protests and all racists far right figures.

You are really digging a hole for yourself here.

[pickel]

Look at this far right speak from Pickel in another thread

I voted for Jagmeet Singh's party you idiot. Hating Trudeau and his policies does not make you far right.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

The drivers oppose a recent vaccine mandate requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements.

Imagine that! a country requiring those from another country entering it's boarders to be vaccinated.
I certainly hope it does not spread to other countries.

[harrybarracuda]

Why do you have to constantly be an idiot?

I don't think he has to make an effort. It seems likely genetic.

[qwerty]

So, they are complaining against vaccines and the 'extinction of the white race'.

Ironically, the death rate of unvacced conservatives is skyrocketing. Somebody must have pointed out to Trump that he is losing more than a thousand potential voters a day, when you look at the relative death rates of mostly unvaccinated conservatives and mostly vaccinated liberals, because he is now urging his followers to 'get the jab'!

[bsnub]

So, they are complaining against vaccines and the 'extinction of the white race'.

Yes, the two viewpoints tend to be shared.

Somebody must have pointed out to Trump that he is losing more than a thousand potential voters a day

Natural selection at work.

[Backspin]

Imagine that! a country requiring those from another country entering it's boarders to be vaccinated.
I certainly hope it does not spread to other countries.

Nope.. It's more stringent for Canadian truckers coming back to Canada than it is for them to go to the US in the first place

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Nope.. It's more stringent for Canadian truckers coming back to Canada than it is for them to go to the US in the first place

Each country has it's own rules and regulations concerning covid, I will take you at your word that Canada's requirements are more "stringent than the US's.
I know that Thailand has it's own regulations concerning Thais that are returning from other countries regardless of how easy it was for them to go to that country.
In the same way Canada has it's own regulations for citizens that have been to another country regardless of how easy it was for them to go to that country.
If such citizens do not desire to be vaccinated I am sure that there is a mechanism where upon their return they would quarantine for a length of time , no different than Thais returning to Thailand that are not fully vaccinated.
-An additional point. Perhaps Canada's covid policy s more stringent for those returning from the US because the covid rate in the US is a lot higher, conversely the US has lower requirement for those coming from Canada, because the covid rate in Canada is lower.
By the way, have you ever been at a love's ,a TA or a Pilot truck stop in the US? Not the most hygienic lifestyle, let me tell you ,

What do you call lot lizard with her own matters?
An Owner operator. LOL

Lot lizards are truck stop prostitutes, every big truck stop has them . I am told

[david44]

FluTruxKlan sport the moron

Case A
Average person
I listen to and appreciate advice from Truck Drivers about

Best Engine, shortcuts, overnight park ups digs
Best Truck Stops, Air brakes Hair breaks piss takes
Tip Top beers/gals/gambling near Freeways, Tow Jobs Toe Jobs Blow Jobs
Tires, GPS , Parcel Packing, Fudgepacking, SludgePacking and Snow Chains

Case 2
Moron

I listen to and appreciate advice from Truck Drivers about

Public Health, vaccination , appropriate prophylaxis and treatments

Best Engine, shortcuts, overnight park ups digs
Best Truck Stops, Air brakes Hair breaks piss takes
Tip Top beers/gals/gambling near Freeways, Tow Jobs Toe Jobs Blow Jobs
Tires, GPS , Parcel Packing, Fudgepacking, SludgePacking and Snow Chains