The question of freedom has taunted me for a while, specifically over the past couple of years, and these days, it seems, the images that crop up in my mind tell the story of factions of people moving into the mountains away from oppression, much like in the movie “Defiance”. In this 2008 film, based on a true story, in order to escape persecution, two Polish brothers, Asael and Alexandar Bielski, saved and recruited Jews during the second world war, fled to the forest and began a community; living off the land and whatever resources mother nature could provide.

Physically, they were imprisoned by the limitations of the forest, which, as it turns out, were harsh, cold and unyielding, but, in their hearts they were free. During the first winter they were subject to starvation, sickness and near mutiny, as well as an attack by the Germans, but through mounting obstacles, the Bielski brothers managed to build a community with a hospital, a nursery, a school and keep over 1200 Jews alive for two years as they waited out the war.

Persecution of the Jews, during the late 1930’s began by limiting Jewish economic activity, then came the burning of Synagogues, mass arrests and then the registration of Jewish property in preparation for confiscation. It began slowly and many Jewish people accepted each new order, and each new rule as just something else they had to deal with in order to maintain their role in the coming new order, until, eventually, they were chased out of their homes, marked, banned, imprisoned and massacred, by the millions.

On January 8, 2022, a law was passed through the Commons in Ottawa, which labeled certain scripture in the Holy bible as “Myth”, and therefore, if preached from a pulpit or spoken of in the home, could yield up to 5 years in prison. This would be the most unprecedented act of blatant tampering ever seen within the walls of our parliament, whether you think it’s wrong or right, imagine defacing the Quran or the Buddhist Tipitaka? There would be throngs of relentless push back and then, upon the arresting of protesters, the public shaming of our Police and authorities would force the hand of parliament and there would be a policy back tread of epic proportions! But to deface the Christian bible is socially acceptable, even though it laid the very foundation of the free country we all get to live and prosper in!

This is just one example of the shit show that’s going on in our country today; at all levels of Government and most specifically, the Federal level. While we are distracted by a “pandemic”, the federal government is quietly carving out a reinvented Canada. There are pending censorship bills that were killed before summer recess but, rest assured, they will be surfacing again and they will add large penalties and, in some cases, jail time to whatever the Government will consider as “hate” speech. If face masks have not done the job of muzzling a nation, these censorship bills will.

Those who sit back and accept each and every new protocol, every new mandate and every new law which undermines our democratic freedom to take responsibility for our own actions, will consider these as “just one more pill” to swallow, as we discover our roles in this new coming order, but there are those, the 20%, who will continually repel. The coercion tactics being freely used by our governments will only amplify a truly free persons resolution and they will become louder, bolder, stronger and more constitute in their campaign to stand their ground as free people, and the jails will fill up with Pastors, Patriots and truck drivers, willing to lay it all on the line for the sake of maintaining a just, free and fair society. Many of these people are immigrants who fled from oppression in their homelands in order to find promise and opportunity here. They have nothing and everything to lose.

The mandates are collapsing around the world. The UK has just announced that ALL public health orders are now being scrapped; the masks, the vaccine passports, school and business closures, everything, yet, here we are doubled down on stricter, tighter restrictions in a country that has comparative population ratios of 1-4 within our most congested urban centers: Toronto vs. London, UK. So, why the authoritarian push? Is it because we, here in Canada, are more progressive in our policies to protect the public, or is it because our leaders have developed a taste for control that they do not want to relinquish? And perhaps, also, the majority of our population is more inclined to obey, because they have been conditioned to do so?

On January 23, a collective convoy of big rigs from all corners of the country, began a tour across the country in protest of the vaccine mandates for both truckers, as well as, for the general population as a whole. The object is to make their way to Ottawa and shut the city down until outdated and crippling Covid restrictions are lifted. I supported these hero’s with my pen on their petition as well as support for their Go Fund me page, and, because they are a critical component of our supply chain, I believe, it is everyone’s responsibility to support their cause, because their cause is our cause. Or are we prepared for empty shelves in our supermarkets? If we lose 20% of our truck drivers, we will most certainly lose 20% of our supply source.

On January 20, the BC government announced that Gyms and health clubs were allowed to open up again and this came, I believe, as a result in part of “Operation Greenlight”; an organization of united business owners who were willing to lay it all on the line and, in defiance of public orders, open up their clubs anyway. They forced the Governments hand by holding them accountable to their mandates. They requested proof of data that health clubs were, in fact, super-spreaders and the BC authorities could not provide any. All they had were “trends”, they said. Since when are “trends” a basis for “law?

These are the actions that will make the difference between whether we will allow this blatant over extension of power by our Governments to continue: the curfews, taxes on the unvaccinated, health passports, censorship bills, the dramatic handcuffing and arresting of pastors, the sanctioned burning of churches, the tampering and defacing of holy scripture, the unjust termination of public health workers, if we do not push back now, united, then I am afraid we have already lost the war.

It is WE, the people, who supposedly elect our Governments and extend their mandate to lead, WE have the power to unseat them, but it comes at a cost. They have pushed us around now for two years, under the strong arm of “Pandemic” protocols, but, now it’s time for us all to get back to our lives and to a world we almost recognize. All of us, not just 80% of us.

Today’s featured picture was taken at Rathtrevor beach, August 20, last summer. This was not meant to be a posed picture, I prefer to take snaps of my family in their natural state, but it is a boys most natural default to glare into the camera like a warrior; chin up, chest out, arm muscles flexed, as if poised for battle. I believe a boy grows up like this and then, at some point, something happens to him along his journey. Life beats him down a little, and a little more each year until eventually he takes his place in the world; disappointed sometimes with where he has ended up, and his posture changes. He cowers, bent over a little; almost as if he is in submission to those who are his authorities. Which, often times, feels like “everyone”.

But then, one day, somebody comes along and tells the boy: “it’s not you that is the problem, it’s the world that has become contorted and bent out of shape. The world has beaten you into submission because, it wants you to become less dependent on yourself, and more so on them, so that they can harvest you and control you and use you as a resource for the “greater good” of human-kind”

At first the man doesn’t see it; he can’t believe all these years he has been groomed to become a cog in the wheel, but, then, eventually, he sees a bigger part of the picture, his eyes open and now he can stand back and observe the world from a new vantage point. At first he is angry, disillusioned, but then he is constitute. He begins to stand a little taller, his shoulders back, chest out, chin up and he feels stronger, bolder and more in control. He becomes, once again, the warrior he once was. He goes off to fight his battle, alongside all of the others who too, might have lost their way, but now with a cause in front of them, a purpose in their heart, they gather and together take back rightful ownership of their home and of their country.

And so it begins, out of a handful of business owners, truck drivers, pastors and patriots an ignited revolution of citizens, willing to throw it all on the line for just a small chance to win back the heart of a nation…

And they do it selflessly, so our children can enjoy the freedoms our generation, perhaps, have taken for so much granted.