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Ottawa’s Canada Day celebrations and protests · Kvetch & Release

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  We just had Canada Day, you know, celebrations across the country, fireworks,
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  a lot of people came out, went to the Canaday Parade here in
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  Windsor. It was a time of celebration, but it also feels like this
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  is a summer of protest. There's protests on going everywhere right now. In
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  Toronto, we're looking at the encampment which is expected to be getting cleared around
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  six o'clock tonight when that injunction comes into force. But there was also protests
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  ongoing in Ottawa. Joining me right now to discuss the the beat that she
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  that she you know, keeps her eye on, that she covers on a
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  regular basis, the protest beat in the country. Lawyer and journalist Kareema Sad
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  joins me right now. Hey, how you doing, Hi, I'm good
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  things. How are you doing really well? Thanks? Canada Day it was
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  eventful. I was in Ottawa to celebrate and there was a little demonstration on
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  Parliament Hill. Two demonstrations, in fact, one with a group of Convoy
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  supporters who have been there since the Freedom Convoy was cleared out, so they're
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  at some eight hundred plus days of protest now wow. And another group called
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  take Back Canada, which was rallying around the idea of what they call corporate
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  mass immigration, and apart from Toronto, they also had a presence. Apart
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  from Ottawa, they had a presence in Toronto. So that's something that's kind
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  of emerging on the scene. You know what, Let's go there right now.
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  Because I saw a gentleman in Windsor putting up some printed out paperwork for
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  the Take Back Canada group. I went up and asked him, like,
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  Hey, what's this about? Why are you doing it? And his response,
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  I think it'll resonate with you because it's very similar to the conversations that
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  we've been having before. He didn't know much about it, He just came
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  across it on social media. He doesn't know who's organizing it, but he
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  said, you know what, I'm going to print out this thing and go
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  put them up around downtown Windsor. And now you and I are chatting about
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  it right now. Kareema, what's your thoughts about that? How these movements
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  seem to be they're spreading so organically but also disjointedly. Yeah, social media
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  is a big part of that, and it's you know, to find people
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  who have grievances about various issues is not hard to do. Everyone seems upset
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  about everything, and if protest organizers are able to tap into that discontent and
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  you know, activate people, encourage people to show up in real life,
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  that's how things move from being on the internet to real And so there is
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  an element of something organic to it in that it appeals to people on whatever
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  level that makes them receptive. But there's also something quite contrived and organized,
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  and depending on who is actually behind it, which isn't always known, there
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  is a lot of room for astroturfing, which for those not familiar with the
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  term, means that there is money pumped into establishing a particular narrative. Yeah,
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  it does seem like a lot of it is AstroTurf, But then I
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  get picked up by people to run with it, and sometimes things go in
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  their own, separate, unexpected ways. So what was the atmosphere like on
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  the streets then in Ottawa with these can you call them dueling protests or were
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  they just a parallel in track? I don't know that they are necessarily dueling.
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  I think there's probably some overlap and interest, although not a perfect overlap,
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  and they coexisted in part because both groups were relatively small, so there
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  was no real competition for attention or resources. And to your point just now,
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  the vast majority of protesters who I engage with on the street are there
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  because they genuinely believe in something, and they may not always be able to
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  articulate what that something is, but they're there because they think that this is
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  a way to make change. And you know, in fact, protests can
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  be a very effective tool for change. However, there is that disconnect between
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  what people know and you know, what they think they are looking to accomplish,
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  and what's actually the issues at stake. Well, affecting tangible change is
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  something that of course doesn't come overnight. People have been criticizing, you know,
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  armchair activists and keyboard warriors I suppose, for just changing their profile photos
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  or liking posts here or there. But these people are going out, as
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  you've said, they're not They're maybe not articulating themselves in the most clear ways
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  or nuanced ways, but you can't say that they're just sitting around at home.
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  That's absolutely right, and it takes quite a bit to get people out
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  and on the streets. And I will say part of why I think this
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  happens is there is a search for community, and the pandemic had a lot
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  to do with disrupting maybe traditional or existing network social networks. It caused or
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  fomented a lot of division within families and friend groups, and so people who
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  feel that they are either ostracized or just not able to connect with people in
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  the same way, you know, find different groups. And I think that's
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  a driver in this and that's true across protest circuits, not limited to one
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  specific cause or even side of the spectrum. And there were some political politicians
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  that were out. I see that you ran into former PPC leader Maxine Bernier.
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  Yes, yes, he was out and about shaking hands answering questions.
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  Makes me, you know, think that he's getting in here for a campaign
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  even though we don't have an election slated anytime soon. Maybe he knows something
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  we don't. But yeah, it's the politicians interacting with protesters is another interesting
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  facet across across the political sectrum. And it's not uncommon for me to see
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  politicians right right there with with protesters, holding the signs, the megaphones,
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  et CETERA. Last question for you, I guess is I mean I can't
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  ask you where do things go from here? That's not your job. You
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  go down and you report on these things and expose it to all of us,
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  and quite frankly, you capture, as you said here, nobody else
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  captures such action on Parliament Hill when when you see all of this, obviously
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  it looks like there is a little bit of a left right divide between some
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  of the diferent groups that are there. Has anything become tense at all on
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  the streets or is it still just you know, people getting out. I
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  do think that there is tension when there are protests and counter protests happening simultaneously,
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  and that's where I've witnessed the most intense behavior, where there is an
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  ideological divide and people are confronting it, and so we get these like Twitter
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  raparte exchanges, but in real life and sometimes that escalates, So you know,
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  where does this go? I do think we have a problem with political
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  division and divide here in Canada. I think that our politicians aren't doing much
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  to bridge that, and the worst case scenario is that we continue to have
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  citizens facing off against other citizens and it's a distraction from the institutional issues we're
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  all So my hope is that And maybe I'm a bit naive and optimistic here,
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  but my hope is that the people can direct their passion and energy not
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  towards tearing one another down, but building things up. You know, the
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  idea that these Twitter beefs are happening on the streets is increasingly concerning because you
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  can see how escalatory that's If anyone goes to your page on Twitter. You
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  put up videos often of interactions that go I always wonder, is this going
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  to go really bad? When this gets to the end of the video.
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  What is the thing that makes it stop? But I'm glad that that's not
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  what we typically always see. Kurima, Well, I'm at the encampment right
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  now at UFT, so there are some fresh, some fresh exchanges for you
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  to check out after the show. What do you think happens at six o'clock.
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  I've seen a lot of movement with the tenth so I think that the
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  majority, if not all, protesters will vacate, and if there are any
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  holdouts, I would be surprised if police moved in while there are still supporters
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  and protesters on the ground, So we might be looking at an early morning
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  enforcement or something late at night. Yeah, they like to do it when
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  there's not as many eyes around as possible. Well, Kareema, we're gonna
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  definitely be talking to you again at some point in the future. It's always
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  a pleasure. Thank you for your time, Thanks so much for having me.
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  Take care you too. Kareema sid is a journalist a lawyer covers the
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  protest mania beat as she puts it on Twitter. You can follow her at
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  Kareema Rules.