By Harold Jackson

For our entire history, Canadians have enjoyed constitutionally guaranteed freedom of movement, most recently in flight.

Free to Fly is a rapidly growing group fighting for freedom, for every Canadian. Founded initially by four pilots at a major Canadian airline, it now has well over 2000 pilots, flight attendants and other aviation workers from across all major Canadian airlines. More importantly, 13,000 passengers have joined the fight and the movement continues to grow.

Their website reads “We hold dear our health freedoms and our right to liberty and security of the person under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and upheld by the Supreme Court. We unequivocally support our passengers’ and colleagues’ rights and freedoms, and their freedom to fly.”

A recent update to their 15,000 members outlined, “When it comes to Canada, the size of our great nation makes connection uniquely dependent on air travel. Sadly, we’re hearing painful stories every day; families thousands of miles separated, soon with no easy options for reconnecting. Budding dreams and lifelong careers are being crushed by the bullying fist of private policy. Imagine if employers barred mobility or hired and fired based on food choices, or perhaps exercise discipline?”

A major roadblock for unionized employees with recent vaccination mandates is there are few options outside union representation when it comes to the litany of rights violations. Most airline employees are unionized and their leadership has generally been unwilling to stand against employers. Westjet’s Master Executive Council was initially supportive, advising members not to disclose vaccination status, but reversed course following the Canadian election results.

Air Canada’s pilot union, the Air Canada Pilot’s Association initially affirmed members’ rights to choice but also reversed course in early September, going so far as to remind members, “The Company can request, and is entitled to receive, your vaccination status” and in a statement that can only be seen as highly coercive as it specifies harm in seeking legitimate accommodation, “Non-compliance/ accommodation under the Company’s policy will have far-reaching impacts on one’s livelihood and career, up to and including loss of income through unpaid leaves of absence and/or termination of employment.”

In a covid obsessed world that increasingly polarizes society, one of the groups founding members is quick to emphasize, “This is no longer about injections, but the ever-widening and dangerous path to broad violation of our rights and freedoms. We’ve normalized trading illusions of safety for liberty over the past 18 months, and the end of that road is dark. History has born it out, again and again. Informed consent is being replaced by evil, strongarmed tactics meant to feed on the most basic human desire to care and provide for one’s family.”

He continued, “Perhaps some don’t care as much about health freedom. I don’t understand this, but ultimately a freedom they do care about will be targeted and we’ve seen it this past year already; freedom of expression or religion, maybe peaceful assembly? We need to unite, vaccinated and unvaccinated, around our shared love for freedom.

Certainly everyone loves their kids or grandkids. This is about the world we are leaving them. If we won’t stand up, now, they may never know the freedoms we once enjoyed.”

The group is formally aligned with several other groups advocating for liberty across the nation, as seen on their website, and is seeking to coalesce with more to grow in united efforts with larger numbers.

The same founding member continued, “I was recently wrestling with images coming out of Afghanistan, the horror of desperate locals plummeting from the wheels of aircraft to their death. What struck me most deeply was what each of those Afghani’s clearly knew, from experience: freedom is unmatched, worth life itself and has unspeakable cost when lost. Much of society seems unaware, but worse I fear none of us truly understand what its loss means. Unless we all step up and fight, with all we’re worth, we may soon find out.”

Free to Fly has mounted a blue-ribbon campaign. Anyone can drop by their website (www.free2fly.info) and order blue ribbons for their luggage or clothing, a visual sign of unity for health freedom and informed consent.