
the-day-the-emergencies-act-was-invoked
The day Freedom Convoy 2022 came to life. January 29th, 2022, Ottawa.
The Day the Emergencies Act was Invoked
By Shawn Jason
That day is still well etched into my memory. It was cold, bitter cold, as it had been for the entire 11 days I was in Ottawa. It was Monday, Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2022, when Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. Tension had been mounting over the weekend as the truckers were being pushed harder and harder into leaving the downtown core.
I was in Ottawa with a team, and we had a plan to help the truckers legally stay in the downtown core. We were hiring truckers to deliver envelopes addressed to Justin Trudeau’s office. In the envelopes? Copies of Druthers, of course. Lol. But that wasn’t the point. The main purpose was to give the truckers a contract that would grant them commercial rights to be in the city, hence making it more difficult for the city to legally make them leave, as any attempt to do so would be interference with commercial contract law, and that’s something “they” tend to take seriously.
It was a brilliant concept (thank you, RM), and the Druthers crew hustled to put this project together quickly as a way to help the truckers, but our efforts came to fruition a little too late. Police were applying pressure to the truckers faster than we could get them signed on.
Don’t lose touch with uncensored news! Join our mailing list today.
We knew time was short.
We all could feel it in the air. At that point, it had been two weeks of Trudeau refusing to talk with the truckers about vaccine mandates. All the truckers wanted was to be heard. Instead, our country’s “fearless leader” ran off to spend some time at his cabin. He blatantly snubbed the truckers’ requests while outright mocking them and calling them names, effectively turning many Canadians against the truckers and essentially silencing their voices.
What were their concerns?
It was simple. Vaccine mandates. The truckers wanted to keep their jobs but didn’t want the “warp speed” injections. In any sane reality, that’s a completely fair, understandable, and acceptable thing to say. But not in Canada, apparently. Trudeau called truckers and supporters the “Fringe Minority” with “Unacceptable Views.” Yes, for real! The so-called leader of our country really said that, and much worse, about Canadians.
Instead of opening dialogue with truckers to hear their concerns and come to a peaceful resolution, the Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14th, and at that point, everything changed.
A stunning show of love for the people from our government on Valentine’s Day!
Realizing heavy-handed tactics were imminent and that we weren’t going to get enough truckers signed up in time, and hearing about the many truckers who were thinking of heading home since they were out of funds, I made the decision to withdraw $100,000 from the bank and give it directly to the truckers in need.
NOTE: We held a fundraiser that went viral the week before. The deal was, for a $20 donation, we would hire a trucker and give them a legal, commercial contract to be in the city. From each donation, $10 was to be paid to the trucker, and $10 was to cover our costs in making it happen, with any remaining funds used to print more Druthers. Well, Canadians responded strongly, and we quickly raised way more than anticipated: $150,000, in fact, in about a week! That was enough funds to hire 7,500 truckers. Holy smokes! Money just kept coming in, so I closed the fundraiser because I wasn’t sure there were that many truckers in the Ottawa convoy to hire. We now had $75k to spend on hiring truckers and $75k for operating expenses. That was much more than we needed for operating expenses, so we made the decision to give an extra $25k ($100k total) directly to the truckers, leaving $25k to cover expenses for this project, such as hotels, travel, and meals for the team, plus $25k to put towards printing more Druthers.
I went to the local BMO branch in Ottawa near the hotel on that crisp Monday morning and asked the teller for 40 cashier’s cheques of $2,500 each. It was then I was informed that my bank account was frozen. What??? How could that be? Well, the bank manager had no answers for me, just a phone number to call their Compliance Department. Of course, nobody was answering the phone there. Only a pre-recorded message asking to leave my info and saying someone would return my call in 3-5 business days.
Seriously??? They just froze over $150k in funds and were unreachable for 3-5 business days! Wow. What a slap in the face.
Then, we found out that hundreds of other bank accounts were frozen, too, when the Emergencies Act was invoked. Most accounts were quickly released in the following week, yet still, to this day, some accounts remain frozen. As of this writing, the $150k we raised to help the truckers is still being held by BMO, nearly two years later.
The last thing BMO’s Compliance Department said to me is that they believe I am unable to fulfill what was promised in the fundraiser, therefore, if they released the money to me, they could be aiding me in fraud, and they can’t do that. Wowwwww! Hey BMO, who frauded who here? I went to withdraw the money for truckers. More money than was even agreed upon. You froze the funds and are now refusing to release them. So, who is actually committing fraud?? That’s you, BMO. Not me. I’m still ready and eager to give the funds to the truckers. The people who donated still stand behind this project. It is you, BMO, stopping this commitment from happening. It is you, BMO, who is committing fraud.
The agents at BMO’s Compliance Department also told me there are only two options for getting the money released:
1. Give the donors list to the bank so they can return everyone’s funds.
Ha, yeah, right! I’ll never give up the donors list. Our donors have made it crystal clear that they do not want their information released to anyone, and I will absolutely honour that.
2. Take it to court.
Sure, spend $100k (money we don’t have) to take it into court? That seems a terrible idea and a great way to waste a lot of time, money, and energy. Plus, do I really want to support the legal system with all that money, even if I could? Heck no.
So, I’ve been sitting quietly, patiently waiting for the right time to move on this. It seems that time has come.
With the recent ruling by a Supreme Court judge deeming the invocation of the Emergencies Act as unjustified and unconstitutional, I see a greatly increased potential of having the funds released without taking it to court.
It’s not ideal to give details here, yet, but I’ll update you as things progress. Be sure to keep an eye on these monthly papers. I still expect, as I have all along, we are going to get that money to the truckers.
Anyway, my trip to the bank on the morning of Valentine’s Day was disappointingly unsuccessful, to say the least. We did not get the funds for the truckers and suddenly we no longer had funds available to sustain the crew in Ottawa. It was really quite a pickle. Fortunately, many concerned Druthers lovers came forward to help us land on our feet. We did so quickly and were able to continue reporting on the events taking place in Ottawa, but we still had no money for the truckers.
That was my experience on the day the Emergencies Act was invoked by Trudeau.
Thankfully, we were able to remain in the city to report on events because the legacy news outlets were telling blatant lies about what was happening. The bullying from police intensified all week until it culminated in the big squeeze from the city that weekend, and we were there to record the events as they unfolded, live, in real-time.
Do you remember seeing the horses rush in and trample a couple of people in the crowd? Chances are good that the clip was from the Druthers live video stream to Facebook, hosted by Kingsley. Viewers shared that clip everywhere, with tens of millions of views. It became an iconic clip of that time of peaceful protest in Ottawa, clearly displaying the officials’ disregard for Canadians who do not agree with policies being forced upon them by the government.
On that note, does anyone have any information about the man in the brown coat trampled by police on horseback? Please reach out to us at info@druthers.net if so. We know the woman with the walker who the horses trampled. Sadly, she still suffers today from injuries received two years ago, but she is alive and well. The man in the brown coat, however… Who is he? Nobody seems to know. Did he survive the police horse hooves and weight of the horses trampling down on his torso?
By Sunday night, the streets were eerily empty, brutally cold, and locked down in what officials called the “red zone.” The Freedom Convoy 2022 was officially over.
The entire thing was a beautiful experience of humanity coming together with a sense of love, community, and fearlessness in standing up for what’s right. It was peaceful. It was enriching. The streets were kept cleaner than ever. Sidewalks were shovelled. People living on the streets were better fed than they had ever been. There was no smashing of storefronts or burning cars like in other “controlled” protest movements we’ve seen in recent years. It really instilled a whole lot more hope for us humans, us Canadians. We are kind, we are strong, and we will remain free!!
One final note before I sign off.
About this recent ruling for the government using the Emergencies Act against peaceful protestors, while it certainly is a win of sorts, I say, let’s not get too excited. I know we’re all eager to hate on Trudeau, and justifiably so, but please understand and see that he is merely a puppet doing the bidding of global controllers who have no care for you or me. He is not the ultimate decision-maker. He is simply playing his role as he is told to do. As I see it, us hating Trudeau is part of their plan. We’re “supposed” to hate him and want him out so we can get somebody “better.” Do you see?
Just know that getting Justin out does not equate to ridding the government of tyranny. There are a dozen other puppets waiting in the wings to be called on stage, and the globalist agenda will continue to roll forward unless we, the people, become aware enough and wise enough to see through their lies and deceit.
We must see the bigger picture and recognize the political and world theatre playing out in front of us for what it is. A big show designed to distract and bedazzle us into ignoring real-life issues that actually matter. Issues that matter for all of us, including our children and our grandchildren. Issues that are rapidly eroding our rights and freedoms. We must make that stop. And we can. We will. We are. But we must pay attention and see bigger.
Please. Read Druthers.ca and stop listening to the mainstream media. Remember, they told us many, many times back in 2020: THEY ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!!
Stay vigilant. Stay curious. Stay strong. And most of all, stay loving, for that’s the world we wish to create. Isn’t it?
Much love to you all. And thank you for all your outpouring of support of Druthers. As of this month’s printing, we are now at over 10 MILLION copies of Druthers in circulation! Truly astounding. It just goes to show the power of the people when the people pool their power.
Subscribe: druthers.ca/subscribe
Donate: druthers.ca/donate