SPECIAL REPORT: Latino-Canadians express support for 'Freedom Convoy'

When Canadian truckers first launched the so-called “Freedom Convoy” in protest of the government’s new mandates late last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick to blast the convoy for showing “disrespect to science” and championing “hate, abuse and racism.”

But while the Canadian media has been quick to tarnish the truckers’ as alleged racists, an alternative narrative is now emerging, revealing that many of the protestors are non-white minorities. As Canadian lawyer and radio host Jamil Jivani recently noted in a recent Newsweek op-ed, a large contingent within the demonstrators are actually Black.

“We have no reason to believe the majority of truckers in the convoy are racist. In fact, appropriate for the month of February, the trucker convoy is actually a Black history moment,” he wrote.

A popular Instagram account called People of Color for Freedom Convoy with over 65,000 followers collaborates his point.

But a new ADN America report shows that many of the protestors are also Latino.

Draped in a Cuban flag, one demonstrator in Ottawa told ADN Reporter Ismary Bacallao, "those who have lived through a dictatorship, know when a dictatorship is coming."

“Individual liberty exists, and people should be able to decide if they want to get vaccinated or not,” she added. “Above everything else, that decision must be respected. There is where I see the manipulation and the lies."

Another Cuban-Canadian demonstrator added that he believes there are parallels between the Canadian government’s COVID-19 response and the policies which have driven many Latin American countries to dictatorship.

“We came to this country in order to escape the hardships often lived in Latin American countries like Nicaragua, Nicaragua and Venezuela. So how are we going to ignore political decisions in Canada that have driven our countries to dictatorships?”

"Latin Americans should be the first people to protest such injustices," he added.

Similarly, a Venezuelan man who fled the Maduro regime for Canada warned that dictatorships don’t happen overnight, saying, “Many thought that what happened in Cuba could never happen in Venezuela. But it happened. We have to defend and support those who want to protect their freedoms.”

Another Latina, who now resides in Ottawa, told ADN America, “We have been protesting for freedom in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela for a very long time. We are proud of our country, Canada, and of those standing up for freedom."

“We believe that if Canada remains free, we can also help our countries be free again someday," she added.

Ottawa’s former police chief, Peter Sloly, was also forced to resign on Tuesday after repeatedly stating his department did not have enough resources to deal with the protests, which he deemed, “a nationwide insurrection driven by madness.”

But while the protests originally started in response to Canadian government mandates which implemented quarantine requirements for unvaccinated Canadian truckers upon re-entry to Canada from the United States, many left-wing minority pundits have argued that the “Freedom Convoy” is really a demonstration of white supremacy and white nationalism – claiming that minority groups would never be permitted to stage such widespread demonstrations.  

Trudeau has qualified the protestors as a “small fringe minority” who hold “unacceptable views” which “do not represent the views of Canadians.” Still, many interviews with the press reveal that many of the protestors include racial and ethnic minorities.  

The Canadian prime minister recently invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada’s history. The move effectively allows the government to seize trucks used in blockades and ban demonstrations in areas like border crossings, airports and the nation’s capital.