OrilliaMatters reporter Tyler Evans has made the journey to Ottawa to report on the protest blockade, inspired by the 'Freedom Convoy,' which is in its third weekend. He will be reporting from the nation's capital throughout the weekend.
A Bradford family travelled to Ottawa this weekend to support protesters who have descended on the capital to demand an end to pandemic restrictions.
Cassidy Hilliard and her six-year-old daughter, Summer, baked more than 200 chocolate chip cookies and created hand-made cards in a show of support for the 'Freedom Convoy' demonstrators.
“We’ve explained to our daughter what is happening,” Hilliard told OrilliaMatters. “We aren’t putting anything in her head or anything like that. We are explaining what they are doing down there and why they are doing it, as much as you can to a six-year-old."
Hilliard says, in her mind, supporting the convoy means supporting the future of her children and all children across Canada.
“I noticed this whole thing was impacting my kids when they began asking why they have to wear their masks,” she said. “For a six-year-old to have that on them is sad, really.”
Hilliard says her 16-year-old daughter has had three friends commit suicide since the beginning of the pandemic.
“It’s gotten to the point now where it’s just ridiculous; we are tired of it,” she said. “I’m fully vaccinated, my 16-year-old daughter is vaccinated, and that’s because we felt we had to.”
“I’m not an anti-vaxxer,” she continued. “I just think people should have the freedom to make their own choice and right now I don’t think the government is giving us the choice.”
Hundreds of demonstrators have been camped out near Parliament Hill for nearly three weeks, clogging local roads with transport trucks and calling for an end to COVID-19 restrictions, including vaccine mandates.
On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency—calling the protest a “siege” and promising “severe” penalties for those involved—while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged truckers to go home or face “consequences.”
"Everything is on the table because this unlawful activity has to end, and it will end," Trudeau said. "We hope these people will decide to go home. Otherwise, there will be an increasingly robust police intervention."
Hilliard says she and her husband are monitoring the situation in Ottawa as they know it could become a volatile situation.
“We don’t follow mainstream media anymore, we are done with that,” she said. “We are listening to the people who are actually here.”
She says taking her six-year-old to the protest is teaching her that if she believes in something, then she needs to stand up and voice her opinion.
“I believe that is what the truckers are doing,” she said. “They are doing it for the children, they are doing it for my family, and they are doing it for all of Canada.”
One of those truckers, Conrad Doiron of New Brunswick, was thrilled to be offered homemade cookies.
"When a little girl like this hands me a cookie, it just makes me wanna cry," Doiron said. "It is so touching. It was very heartfelt. It makes me still believe in humanity."
