What Is Freedom?
Growing up in Canada, there was a truth that most Canadians knew and understood with a certain degree of (appropriately humble) pride:
“When you travel abroad, sew a Canadian flag on your backpack. People love Canada and will treat you well!”
Of late, the Canadian flag is gaining a different sort of familiarity around the world, with mixed responses depending on where you might fall on the political spectrum. In response to the Canadian government’s pandemic mandates, a national protest has emerged, demanding (among other things) the immediate removal of all mandates.
The Canadian flag can be seen prominently and copiously represented in all gatherings. It has come to the point where seeing the flag anywhere other than flag poles immediately sparks the assumption that it is being used in support of the so-called “Freedom Convoy”. Many people (myself included) find that my immediate response in seeing the Canadian flag these days is more often than not disdain. I guess I’ll be taking it off my backpack.
Like the flag itself, the central and vehement use of the term “freedom” in these protests has also changed my experience with that word and concept. When I hear the rhetoric around these protests and the ideology that fuel them, I cannot help but think of the words of…