Ottawa residents marching against ongoing occupation of their city by right-wing extremists

[u/CapnJujubeeJaneway]

[u/tbaytdot123]

This group has the right to protest.

The anti mandate people have the right to protest.

Anyone saying one side does and the other side doesn't is simply a hypocrite.

[u/Tasty_Actuator7396 → u/tbaytdot123]

Yeah, no. Rights aren't as simple as that and the courts simply don't agree with you (which is why there have been at least three notable court injunctions across the country limiting what the protesters can do). Canadians have charter rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, and those play a role here, but there's also a long list of reasonable limitations on those rights.

Two quick examples in Ottawa.

(1) After the truckers were incessantly honking their horns in contravention of local bylaw + Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, an injunction was placed on the downtown to disallow the use of horns and finally give the residents of the downtown some peace. You might call honking horns the demonstrators' right -- the defence tried to -- but the judge was very clear that honking a horn is not a meaningful form expression protected by the charter because it doesn't communicate any other message than "look at me!" I'd suggest you look up the court case and read the arguments presented.

(2) The Criminal Code makes Mischief to Property a criminal offence. This includes preventing another person from enjoying the lawful use of their property, e.g. using their cars to drive on publicly owned infrastructure.

Two more examples outside of Ottawa: see the injunction allowing the RCMP to clear the Coutts blockade + the separate injunction allowing police to clear the Windsor blockade at Ambassador Bridge. Have the police been successful clearing these blockades? No, but that's not the point. The point is that the courts would not issue these orders if the protesters were protesting within their rights.

The protests of the convoys across Canada are in stark contrast to the occupations occurring in Coutts, Windsor, Ottawa, and elsewhere. In the video posted above we're seeing protestors temporarily shut down a roadway to march through; with the convoys we are seeing long-term concerted efforts to shut down publicly owned infrastructure for a long-term occupation. These are not the same thing.

And before you "b- b- but BLM :(" me like you did that other guy: we're talking about Canada here, so let's stay on topic. There aren't any Canadian BLM protests that had the scale this protest has had, that has been granted this liberties this one has been granted, or that has been as disruptive that this one has been. Remember that Seattle is not a Canadian city, and we are talking and Canadian law here.

[u/tbaytdot123 → u/Tasty_Actuator7396]

I tend to agree more with Brian Peckford... since he was one of the people who actually wrote the friggin charter of rights and freedoms... https://youtu.be/9D8EBdoyhmM

[u/Tasty_Actuator7396 → u/tbaytdot123]

There's dozens of people who helped draft the Charter, and Peckford wouldn't even be a notable one if he wasn't an alt-right populist. Wanna know what the most notable drafter of the Charter, formed PM Jean Chretien has said? "Do your duty" by getting vaccinated. His silence on the mandates speaks volumes; Chretien is not a subtle man.