‘We wanted to have a voice,’ says counter protest against ‘freedom convoy’

By Germain Ma

Posted Feb 7, 2022 08:15:00 PM.

While crowds of several hundreds gathered in Uptown Waterloo this past weekend to show support for the ongoing protest against COVID-19 mandates in Ottawa, there was also a group of counter protesters.

They were seen with signs like: “freedumb 2 b selfish & ignorant,” — “vaccines protect our communities,” — “hate has no home here,” and “masks & vaccines for all.”

“We wanted to have a voice in Waterloo. We wanted to respond to the protest itself … we're standing against the hatred. We're representing our community,” said Ashley Fox, co-organizer of the counter protest while on the Mike Farwell Show on CityNews 570 on Monday.

The weekend's protests were peaceful and Fox said there were no altercations with protesters on the other side.

She estimated there were over a hundred in their group, with people “coming and going.”

The request to organize a counter protest first went out from co-organizer Dorothy McCabe Friday morning.

“We just weren't sure how many people would participate. By about late afternoon Friday, there were so many messages coming through from various platforms asking 'how can we participate?' — 'where are we meeting?' — 'I want to do this,'” Fox said.

Fox, who's also a nurse that's been vocal about her views on vaccines and the pandemic, said she received multiple threats, including arrest calls.

She said her colleagues in hospitals reported the same.

“A lot of the hatred that's coming through is the belief that we're not standing up for all healthcare workers, and then there's also the belief of misinformation. That we must be following misinformation and we're props that are directed by propaganda, which we know isn't true,” she said.

Counter protesters were encouraged to bring buddies to the event.

“Mandates suck, they really do but we're not going to get out of this if we're not all in this together. We know that science has proven the vaccines. It helps decrease hospitalization. It helps people to stay alive,” she said.

Fox said a lot of people have reached out to express their thanks for arranging the counter protest and for giving them a voice.

“If we have an event like this in the future, if we need to demonstrate again in public spaces, we'll be there.”