Downtown Ottawa resident goes out to meet Truckers, is surprised at the patriotism he finds

Ottawa data scientist David Maybury decided to actually go look for his own information on the Freedom Convoy. He was very surprised at what he found. Photo: The Reformed Physicist

David Maybury, data scientist with Canada’s federal government, has written and posted an insightful article which is being shared by and to Ottawa residents and other. The piece was sent to Road Warrior News by a professional in Ottawa’s Taxi industry.

Titled, “My Night with the Untouchables,” Maybury chronicles his evening spent walking around the city, talking to Truckers who are protesting. The resulting conversations took him completely by surprise.

“I live in downtown Ottawa, right in the middle of the trucker convoy protest. They are literally camped out below my bedroom window. My new neighbours moved in on Friday and they seem determined to stay. I have read a lot about what my new neighbours are supposedly like, mostly from reporters and columnists who write from distant vantage points somewhere in the media heartland of Canada. Apparently, the people who inhabit the patch of asphalt next to my bedroom are white supremacists, racists, hatemongers, pseudo-Trumpian grifters, and even QAnon-style nutters. I have a perfect view down Kent Street – the absolute ground zero of the convoy.

“In the morning, I see some protesters emerge from their trucks to stretch their legs, but mostly throughout the day they remain in their cabs honking their horns. At night I see small groups huddled in quiet conversations in their new found companionship. There is no honking at night. What I haven’t noticed, not even once, are reporters from any of Canada’s news agencies walking among the trucks to find out who these people are. So last night, I decided to do just that – I introduced myself to my new neighbours,” Maybury writes on his personal website, The Reformed Physicist.

So begins Maybury’s eye-opening experience. The first Trucker he speaks to was with his girlfriend; both were from Sudbury, and travelled all the way to Ottawa because “they said that they didn’t want a country that forced people to get medical treatments such as vaccines. There was no hint of conspiracy theories in their conversation with me, not a hint of racist overtones or hateful demagoguery. I didn’t ask them if they had taken the vaccine, but they were adamant that they were not anti-vaxers,” Maybury relates.

The next Trucker was from Cochran, Ontario. “He organized the garbage collection among the cabs, put together snow removal crews to shovel the sidewalks and clear the snow that accumulates on the road. He even has a salting crew for the sidewalks,” Maybury details. “He proudly bellowed in an irrepressible laugh ‘We’re taking care of the roads and sidewalks better than the city.’ I waved goodbye and continued to the next block.”

And so on down the line – in the end, Maybury realized, he had spoken to a Trucker from every province except PEI.

“They all have a deep love for this country. They believe in it. They believe in Canadians. These are the people that Canada relies on to build its infrastructure, deliver its goods, and fill the ranks of its military in times of war. The overwhelming concern they have is that the vaccine mandates are creating an untouchable class of Canadians…they see their government willing to push a class of people outside the boundaries of society, deny them a livelihood, and deny them full membership in the most welcoming country in the world; and they said ‘enough,’” Maybury writes in his summary.

The entire piece is well worth reading. It seems the Freedom Convoy’s message is being heard, if not by Justin Trudeau, at least by some other Ottawa residents.