By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
This past weekend marked the first real Cherry Fiesta/Canada Day celebration in Osoyoos since the pandemic began and the mood of the substantial parade crowd was electric.
Unfortunately, however, there was a buzz-kill in the parade, a rotten cherry in the pail, if you will.
It wasn’t particularly obvious so some may have missed it. But for most, one trigger word on one car in the parade was enough: “freedom”.
The other trigger identifier – the Maple Leaf – which has been sullied and weaponized by the so-called ‘freedom’ protesters was rendered inert on this particular day because of the legitimate, celebratory use of the flag.
Why on earth were so-called ‘freedom’ protesters in the parade? The offensiveness of their presence was made all the more acute when one considers the parade is led by first responders and members of the Royal Canadian Legion who actually do know a thing or two about freedom having paid more than tawdry lip service to the principle.
Their arguments aren’t even coherent. The claim vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers and health workers violate constitutional rights. No one is forcing anyone to get vaccinated. Certain jobs like health workers come with health requirements just as international travel does.
They oppose life-saving COVID-19 mandates – masks and vaccines – and deny science-based evidence.
I wonder if it’s even crossed their minds that had it not been for everyone else’s adherence to provincial health orders and getting vaccinated there would not have been a parade at all.
These people may paint themselves as patriots, and fancy themselves as some sort of vanguard defending democratic freedoms, but they simply are not.
These parade participants are a subset of the larger group that sought to overthrow our democratically elected government through an MoU and repeatedly violated the laws of the land not to mention spewing venomous hate and obscenities.
Significantly this group did not enter the parade through subterfuge, they applied with the organizers discussing at length before ultimately approving.
In so doing I believe the organizing committee of the Cherry Fiesta – the Osoyoos Festival Society – made a serious error. By allowing them in, the committee has unwittingly lent them a degree of legitimization.
I appreciate the struggle: get into bed with the devil by allowing these ‘freedom’ protesters into the parade in exchange for a commitment that they will behave, or take the moral high ground and deny them entry, risking disruption and even potential violence.
Fears of disruption were surely justified. Let’s not forget that certain members of this ‘freedom’ fringe had no hesitation in trampling other people’s rights and freedoms, whether it be in Ottawa, at the Osoyoos border, at the Oliver secondary school or at various stores around Osoyoos that were invaded by anti-mandate hoodlums.
And while this particular group kept its promises of behaving like mature adults, it was nonetheless a capitulation by the committee. In fact, it was nothing short of blackmail. Not overt, but that unspoken threat of disruption surely hung heavy in the air.
One of the reasons cited for approving their entry into the parade was “freedom of speech”. This is simply a false argument. These people are free to drive around town with Canadian flags on their cars, stand on the street corner in front of the town hall with their kooky ‘tinfoil hat’ conspiracy placards, waving their flags all they want, but the celebration of Cherry Fiesta/Canada Day is not the time nor the place.
The parade by its very nature is not about politics. It’s about a time-honoured tradition of celebrating our nationhood, our community and the start of a bountiful summer fruit harvest. Yet the simple act of allowing them into the parade tainted it.
In the final analysis, the committee’s decision may well be viewed as the prudent choice, but I for one think it was a big mistake to allow them and the warped misinformed politics they represent, into the parade.
It opens a pandora’s box going forward and one I fear the Festival Society may be ill-equipped to handle. Let’s hope next year the Society has a better vetting protocol in place that excludes any politically-motivated entrants and more importantly, the stomach to make the right decision.
If you have to secure guarantees that a parade participant will not espouse hate, obscenities and disinformation in order to participate, there’s already something very wrong.
