An associate professor at the University of New Brunswick who studies extremists and extremism in Canada says the minority actors who participated in the truck convoy that landed in Ottawa used it as an opportunity.
The truck convoy, which originally protested against vaccine mandate for truck drivers, had moments that shocked many Canadians, including contempt for the tomb of the unknown soldier, Nazi symbols and turning the Canadian flag upside down.
David Hofmann said it is opportunistic to stick to these movements.
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Remaining truck convoy protesters will not leave until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted
“What has happened here is that the far right, the far right elements in Canada, are essentially opportunistic,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “They seized the visibility of this movement and used it to essentially make noise, to spread messages of hatred, and to essentially steal the pulpit.
“It is no longer about the truck drivers. As misleading as their anti-wax views are, they have been wrestled away by these extremist elements. “
He said it is being done purposefully.
The central ideology surrounding the truck convoy and the far right share things in common, he said.
“I’m not saying all anti-waxxers are far right and I’m not saying all far-right actors are anti-waxxers, there’s a cross between the two,” he said. “But in essence, it’s both about anti-authority and (anti-government) views.”
Many inside the truck convoy carried flags that carried flags calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be removed from office.
However, some politicians have shown support for the convoy, including People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.
For Hofmann, it gives legitimacy to the far-right who cling to the convoy. He called the support the “absolute wrong choice”.
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“We will not give in,” Trudeau said as truck convoy protests continued.
“When the establishment legitimizes these types of worldviews, the moral and behavioral barriers to engaging in this type of reprehensible behavior are loosened,” he said Tuesday.
“Even keeping quiet would have been better than addressing them.”
Hofmann said while it is too difficult to say whether events such as the truck drivers’ convoy could become more common, even with continued COVID-19 restrictions, there is a faction on the right to be more concerned about.
“My biggest concern, however, is the movements we do not see or hear from – they are the really dangerous ones. These people are the noisemakers, they are trying to use their language to use red pill, to wake people up,” he said. he said.
“The vast majority of them are involved in reprehensible behavior, but do not pose a violent threat to Canadians and Canadians’ public safety.”
He said those who do these kinds of things in secret are the real problem.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to meet with any organizers involved in the truck convoy, and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland asked politicians to speak out against the ongoing protests.
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