Truckers' protest has co-opted the Canadian flag

I had cause today to stray uncomfortably close to the vaccine mandate protest in downtown Toronto. I was picking up some vegan sushi from Tenon to take to my daughter - I wonder how many of the protestors were snacking on vegan sushi, I'm guessing not that many.

Even on the periphery, it was loud and vaguely threatening, mainly horns blowing at random and shouts - just a bunch of angry guys letting off steam really, and taking the opportunity to break a law or two. Fair enough, I guess, however much I may disagree with them.

What struck me most, though, was that pretty much every last one of them was draped in the Canadian flag, and many were brandishing placards and vehicles emblazoned  with snippets from the Canadian national anthem.

So, these were the "passionate, patriotic and peaceful Canadians" of Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen? Well, I guess they must be patriotic if they are wearing the Canadian flag, right? As a Globe and Mail letter-writer points out, "If I wrap a Canadian flag around myself in the name of freedom, I can get away with a lot of things".

It seems to me that the Canadian flag has been co-opted (hi-jacked?) by the hard right, in much the same way as the Union Jack was co-opted by the neo-Nazi National Front in Britain some decades ago. For many years, no self-respecting Brit would dare to flaunt the flag for fear of being associated with the more unsavoury elements of the ultra-right wing (maybe the Queen could get away with it). We have almost reached that here in Canada since this whole trucker protest has sprung up. (This is not to mention the very word "freedom" being co-opted as well.)

I imagine they do it because they see it as  lending them legitimacy. Maybe they actually think they are being patriotic, and that they are representing "Canadian values" (even though what they are exhibiting actually seems much more American to me, and a long way from the polite, law-abiding, cooperative Canadian spirit that I think of). But I now find myself subconsciously suspicious of anyone I see wearing a maple leaf. Which is a shame, especially given that this whole protest has been so, well, un-Canadian.

It has also coloured my impression of truck drivers in general in a very negative way (and I am sure I am not alone in that). Driving around town today, I found myself looking askance at every truck I passed, and wondering, "Are they a GOOD truck driver or a BAD truck driver?" Which is ridiculous, given that the protestors represent a tiny percentage of total truck drivers, nearly 90% of whom are fully vaccinated and going about their normal business delivering goods to stores and factories, both here and in the US. But it's hard to shake that feeling, so acrimonious and divisive has this protest become.

Oh, Canada!