I felt angry. I felt violated.
You know, when were these restrictions gonna end and they didn't seem like they were coming. So So you you you you were faced with not just your business going, I guess that would mean your property is gone. Your son's job would be gone. Yeah.
We find out afterwards that the government of Canada or the provinces actually were turning off the cameras on the highway. The government was starting the, the hate speech about us. They they they took innocent, you know, blue collar Canadians that just wanted to have their freedom back again.
We'd said it all along that a conversation would have been perfect and and his intent was to
use law enforcement as a weapon and beat, you know, innocent protesters. We had we had bouncy castles.
Everybody that anybody that took place in the protest in Ottawa felt alive again. They felt rejuvenated. They felt like they weren't alone.
And that's why you've seen so many people come to to Ottawa to stand and fight further right to protest.
Information covered up, censorship,
corruption, the mainstream media have proven itself
to be untrustworthy.
I'm here to give a platform for debate,
for truth, for open discussion.
I'm introducing you to my podcast,
Silenced with Tommy Robinson.
Who exactly is Tommy Robinson or Stephen? Next to Leno. With the English friendly EDL.
Action.
The problem is the Islamic way. Far right, lambophobic
Since then, it's been organized protests across the country. London, Manchester, Leeds, people in their thousands of marching across the street. There is no such thing in this country as a Muslim Free, Tommy
Welcome to my latest edition of my podcast, silenced. I'm in Canada.
When I think of Canada now, I think of the trucker convoy. I think of the moment that broke COVID's
back. I get the opportunity now to sit down with
Chris Barber, the man that first organized that and with his
the red Big Red. The Big Red. With Big Red led that truck convoy. So it's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for having me, Tom.
Your convoy become
world famous,
Chris. I'd like to start just to understand who you are. I know you were just an ordinary trucker, but where was you born? I was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan,
southwest corner of the province.
Yeah. Farm farm raised. Mother and father, strong strong family. 2 siblings.
We we were born and raised around supper tables, eating meals together, having conversations like what normal families did in in the eighties nineties.
The same thing. It just matured into a trucking business off of the family farm, which we have we've been a part of for we homesteaded here. My great grandfather homesteaded here in 1905 on the same property I live on today.
So your grandfather come here, then your mom and dad lived there and you live in there now? Yes.
And did you say you homeschooled then? I was not. No. I was homeschooled, raised up in a in a small little village north of Sufkarn of about 200 people.
200 people in the village? Yes. What's What's it like growing up somewhere like that? Born in, I guess. Small town. We lived, 2 miles outside of the village of that town. So bike riding into school in the mornings,
small close knit families, neighbors that are still, you know, neighbors per se. We we
a community that you wanna be part of as a family. Everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew everyone and Everyone looked down for everyone. Yep.
And you had 2 2 brothers, 2 sisters? I've got a brother and I've got a sister. Older, younger. Was you the oldest? I am the oldest. Sister's second by 2 years and my brother's by 4. You're a big old dad as well, aren't you? I am. Yeah.
You're a bit how tall are you? 6 foot 4. Is that from mom and dad? Oh, yeah. I don't know where I get my height from. My father's tall, but not as tall as I. You know, and nobody's quite as stocky as I am. So But you were lump.
Yeah. My mum is. Yeah.
When you come out of school what did you do? How did you did you did you get in any trouble growing up? I did a little bit. Nothing really really too law enforcement worthy. Just your typical, you know, teenage
running around and and being a nuisance.
Out of out of high school, I jumped right into my career. Went for my class 1 a license is what they call it in Canada, which is your commercial vehicle with, air brake endorsement. So from 18 years, I started driving commercial vehicle. I've been driving for just over 30 years now. Why did you wanna do that when you're at school? What was what was your push towards that? Was it was it was that the only option or was that something you was passionate about? Born and raised in a farming family. So, we had a a gravel company came to our yard and hauled some scrap, some some garbage away once, and I got the the privilege to ride in the passenger seat of of a of a semi.
And from that moment on, I think I was probably 10 or 11 years old at that time. My mother said that I was fatuated with semis from that moment forward. So What's a semis? That's a big mistake. Semi. Yeah. Yeah. Lorry. How you say it in Europe. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I got my license. Was a company driver and, you know, when 21
years of age you're allowed to cross the international border into the United States. And as soon as I was 21, I was I was trucking to Texas all over all over North America.
And I've been doing that now for for quite some years. In 2006,
I started my own business.
We specialize in agriculture hauling equipment from the factories in the United States. Your John Deere's, your case, your, your AGCO,
we bring the new equipment to Canada. We then, the dealerships will then pre pre trip it, get it ready for the farms. We will take that equipment to the farms,
bring the trades back,
sell the trades. It's just a it's a big system. So How long are those journeys that you're on? How long are you on the road for? We can usually be gone for 4 to 5 days with my company. We're pretty selective. We're a dedicated carrier. We only do specialized equipment. So my guys are usually gone on a Monday and home on a Friday. So When you say your guys, is is that you as well? Is that life you live? You you're on the road for 5 days out of 7 yourself? Yes. Yeah. Commonly. Yeah. Yeah. My life has kinda changed a little bit in the last number of years or so. I've got, 5 other guys that work under under me, my son, and my and and and I own the company now. So my son looks after it while his dad's traip traipsing around the country trying to trying to do what we're doing. How many kids you got? I've got 2 children. I got a 21 year old boy, Jonathan, and a 19 year old daughter, Sierra. Well, and Jonathan's in the business? In the family Yeah. He got his license when he was 18 years old and he's been working with me ever since. So Oh, wow. He's a good kid. You enjoy having him working with him? Very much so. He's, he's he his energy is is high paced. He's,
mechanically inclined to fix just about anything there is to fix. And,
you know, it's like a rivalry now to see who can haul the bigger loads, his dad or or him. So How has it been on the road as a family man like when you had 2 young kids? How is it as a father working away for 5 days at a time?
You know, the kids the kids did really well growing up. I've got a strong strong family unit at home.
So, you know, when you're home, you are with the kids.
I've got 2 amazing children raised, you know, they're they're good kids. They're good hardworking ethics and
focused on family. I could I couldn't be prouder than my children. So
And, then mom? And Jimmy, mother?
Must split family now. We divorced about 15 years ago. So, Stephanie,
is a school teacher in the local
system back home.
Yeah. And and still involved. We've co parented our children quite well. Remain close? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have a we have a good close family. We've raised our children.
Priority number 1 was to make sure our children knew that they were loved and and that was that's something we've always focused on. So That's good. Okay. So let's get on to
your you're just running your family business. Your kids are growing up. They're involved in the business.
What happens that changes your life? What's the moment that changes it? Well, COVID hit in I believe it was 2019,
and I stayed working. I, I didn't take any time off. Demand for trucking was
was pretty large. So I spent those days on the road. I remember driving on the highway in Saskatchewan with not a single vehicle on the highway.
The trucking industry stayed and with we were we were essentially heroes, you know, to keep the country moving while everybody was at home. I remember standing in drive thru lineups,
with vehicles, you know, because you can take a semi,
through a drive thru lineups. So you would have to walk through the drive thru lineup with the passenger cars to get a coffee or a bite to eat seeing as the bathrooms are closed, restaurants were closed for a time. And in Canada, our lockdowns were pretty severe as, as as most people know.
We then entered a phase in in the province of Saskatchewan where I live. Premier Scott Moe had announced that we would not be taking part in a COVID vaccine passport in any way, and it was just funny that the province of Alberta did the exact same thing under Jason Kenney.
And, I wrote The the problems are about so they wouldn't either? They weren't going to take part in the vaccine. The the COVID vaccines had to support. So the government was saying you're gonna need a passport to travel. They And these two provinces were saying no. They were saying no. And it was it seemed like a short visit. The the prime minister flew and had a meeting with both of these premiers and it was shortly after that they both announced
that the provinces would be would be joining the digital passport.
And that was one of the last straws for me that took place in Saskatchewan October 1st
of 2021.
So enraged, I I think I yelled at the steering wheel and the windshield more than I did anything else. I was just I felt angry. I felt violated.
You know, when were these restrictions gonna end? And they didn't seem like they were coming. So,
in the fall of 2021, the government announced that, January 15, 2022,
they would implement a cross border mandate for commercial vehicles
crossing the border into the United States. We would have to be have to be fully vaccinated to do that. And,
I remember waiting right to the last minute at the end of December,
in 2021.
And then, you know, realizing that I'd spent the better part of 20 years running my own company and keeping those large carriers away from my customer base.
And the the government was basically handing them over,
you know, on my behalf because I wouldn't be able to cross that border anymore. So
reluctantly,
I, I I I got my shots in the end of 2021, became vaccinated to to comply. What would it meant? What if you haven't got your shots,
what would it meant for your livelihood, for your life? My business would have been done. Your business would have gone? Yeah. I have my I make a living off of hauling equipment of the United States into Canada. So So then that so you you you were faced with not just your business going, I guess, that will mean your property is gone, your son's job would be gone. Yeah.
So that's what you're looking at. It was. So That was your option.
That was my option, unfortunately. And, you know, the government put us in such a position.
My son my son was the only one that that didn't have to adhere to the rules. He worked, he lost his job actually due to vaccine mandates.
His employer, you know, requested him become vaccinated and
at that time, I said, no. You know, you, he was working for another person. It wasn't working for me full time at that time. So when that happened, I I'd said,
now it's time to come home and help me with the business. You don't have to be vaccinated to be here. And, and so therefore he then then came on full full full bore. So my daughter, peer pressure in the high school, forced her to get her vaccine. My At that wage?
At, would have been 17 at that time.
She had 1 or 2 shots? She had 2 shots, and she has had,
a significant amount of, issues with her female reproduction organs ever since. So,
she's not married or or or anything yet, so I'm hoping and praying that things go properly before that.
So my wife your concern now that from the shots, she might not be able to have babies? That would be a concern. Concern. Yeah.
Your wife?
My wife worked in the school system, so, she was forced to take the vaccine to keep her job as well.
So it was it was it was a mandate. The government pushed this on everybody. But now they're saying they didn't. Right? Yeah. They're now trying to act like they didn't. So as you said, you were forced to get it. Your daughter was forced to get it. My wife. Your ex wife was forced to get it.
My current wife, she works in the school system as well. Your current wife does well. Okay. So,
yeah. January 7th, I did the social media posts.
I was in the states 7th? What year? 2022.
At the height of COVID? In the 7th. So approximately, you know, 8 days before the before the mandate for commercial vehicles had to I'd felt I faced with a lot of the drivers that I worked with at the India's in the in the industry,
were were leaving the industry. They weren't gonna be crossing the border anymore. They're gonna be staying at home.
They were gonna be working around home.
It put a lot of extra pressure on us for the people that were crossing the borders. We were losing a significant amount of drivers that were crossing that border. So
we did a social media post that was just I was angry. I, remember looking at the video now. I, you know, used the full color colorful words, and
it was it's pretty What's that? And what happened with that video? I'm guessing it went viral. That video went viral and it was basically the start of what was How viral?
So I don't even know what the numbers were on it. So it was I'm guessing it was an an angry passionate rant It was. About COVID forced vaccination of tub of truck drivers crossing borders. Yes. Yeah. It was it was to do with, you know, like, when is this gonna end? We need to stand up. I'm calling, you know, a call to action per se.
The initial idea was then to to, was to protest with our commercial vehicles at our local legislative grounds in our home provinces.
It was a little while later in the planning stages of of the convoy itself that we decided that we were gonna merge with another couple groups that were already planning on going to Ottawa,
for or a mini protest
and, and it just evolved from there. So a whole pile of of people came together.
There was a need for it. People wanted it.
People were tired of the mandates in in Canada and and, you know, and then the the planning started from there. And it was approximately a week later, miss Tamara Leach called me out of the blue and and I've never spoke to Tamara in my life. I didn't know who she was.
And, she said that I'm I'm here to help if you need some help and, it was born from there. 2 weeks after that point, we were I was picking her up in Redcliffe, Alberta, and we were on our way to Ottawa, 3000 kilometers.
Wow. How does
all with the coming together of those people,
how how does that
how did that grow? So you said you're speaking to people in other groups. Was that through different social medias? Did you set the social medias up? Was it tomorrow? How did you grow from from from you making an original, right, we need to do this, I'm upset. How's it then growing too?
Started with a few people having a conversation on social media to the video going viral and then finding out that there was a network of people all across the country that felt the same way and had had enough of the government mandates and didn't know when the mandates were gonna quit.
So it was just it was a collective group of people that just decided to come together from nowhere. I I had met so many people that were so passionate and fighting for years before that.
And here I was yelling at the steering wheel for a few years before that, not knowing that there was a group of people out here that we could we could actually make a difference for.
So then you started driving after 2 weeks?
We did. January 24,
2022, we left. What do you say to your wife at this time?
Oh, boy. I left the yard at 6 o'clock in the morning that morning. I said, I hope to make you proud, honey. And she said,
you already did. So she did a social media post up that went a little, you know, a little viral there of me leaving a dark wintery
morning at 6 o'clock in the morning. So your wife videoed you leaving? Leaving in the yard. Yes. She did. Or did did she say anything on camera?
No. She just videoed the truck leaving the yard and just just just what she wrote there. Pardon me? Your truck's quite iconic to see. It is. Yeah. When it's when it's dark and big reds rolling down the highway, it's it's lit up pretty nice. It's, it's a very it's a very yeah. It's been 20 years of work on that truck. I've been I've been kinda slowly fixing it up over the years and it's a pride. It's it's a it's my it's my baby.
Yeah. Okay. So you've left.
Talk me through the story.
Well, we didn't know who was gonna be involved in it. We didn't know if we were gonna have any community support. We had no idea what we were coming. We had a lot of people on social media that were talking about it, of course, in my hometown of you know, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
The deal was to meet at 7 o'clock in the morning at the at one of the fuel stations. And,
so coming around the corner at that time in the morning, I was
you know, you you come around the corner and you see this whole parking lot full of cab lights, clearance lights, and,
and just it was a cold morning, of course. It was minus 20 or minus 30 degrees. Wow.
And the parking lot was full. Overwhelming response.
When you say full, how many cars? Is that a 100? There must in my little town, there must have been 50 vehicles. Okay. 50 commercial vehicles.
And our plan was then to convoy to the opposite way from Ottawa to Medicine Hat, Alberta
to pick up the west convoy and to pick up Tamara or to meet Tamara there for the first time. I just 2 weeks into the planning, I'd never met Tamara. Still just speaking to her on on the phone. So
I was quite surprised to see how short she is and how tall I am,
and a friendship was born from there. We,
we then, you know, started our Facebook lives and and conversation. My son, Jonathan,
joined us in the truck. So we Are you telling from you saw him on with you? Yes. Yeah. He was with us the the entire time. Okay.
So are you sure as you're on your convoy,
as you're heading,
do you have any idea how big it is? What what's about to happen to you? Do you do you have your finger on the pulse of the country at the time? Yeah. I mean, when we left Redcliffe, Alberta that morning when we had Tamara in the truck, it really the the first thing that hit me was we had police traffic control at every intersection making sure the intersection was closed for when we went through the parking lot in Redcliffe, Alberta was packed. There was a lot of people there, media as well as trucks. And then you've seen the other convoys coming in from the Southern Alberta, you know, in central Alberta.
And the biggest thing that we've seen was, like, the the the streets are filling in the city of Alberta or Medicine Hat, Alberta just just a suburb of Red Cliff. And it was evident from that moment on that we had we were onto something, of course, because the highways in in rural Alberta, rural Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, it's very desolate in in certain parts. There's there's
not a lot of houses on the side of the highway. You can go 50, 60 kilometers without seeing a house, just prairie.
And the entire journey from the west to the east was full of people adorning the highways or the ditches
at all hours of the day, at all hours of the night, in in the frigid temperatures of the of the Canadian winter. Minus 20, minus 30 people would be standing there with their, you know, their their kids. There was there was a lot of kids
and flags and, you know, trucker signs and and just freedom and
yeah.
So you've lit lit something up?
We did.
We, we I think the convoy at its length was approximately
50 miles at one point. I've got pictures of it from an aerial photo that
you can't see the end of the lights behind us en route.
And as as this is going on,
are the are the news or the media agencies
letting the public know the size of this?
No. We find out afterwards that the government of Canada or the provinces actually were turning off the cameras on the highway,
the highway maps, the 501,
highway maps here so people couldn't see the length of the convoy. Oh, so you have cameras that people can see? We do. Yeah. You can you can log. Oh, you can log on and look like and they were turning them off to bring them off
to to so that the public are not aware of this huge gathering that's happening. And it wasn't long after that the media came after us ferociously,
discrediting us with everything. And, of course, the in Canada, the media gets its direction from the federal government, of course. So the government was starting the, the hate speech about us. They they they took innocent, you know, blue collar Canadians that just wanted to have their freedom back again
and,
you know, try to demoralize them. And, Vas, what did I say about you? Pardon me? What did I say about you? Well, this is just what everything personal attacks. I fit the I fit the criteria for being a white supremacist,
you know, a racist or whatever,
what do they call us?
There was a lot of names. The prime minister used a lot of divisive rhetoric. One of the best terms that he used on us was that we were part of a small fringe minority with unacceptable views.
And we took that term and we actually used it for positive. We we've we've named some of our our groups like the small fringe minority in Canada. So,
we took everything that they said we turned on them and and proved wrong.
What was it like as a business owner? You're a business owner at that time when the media onslaught was starting against you.
Was you concerned about the future of your business, your livelihood
at us, in those early days or was it something that progressed? You know, my business is gonna be done regardless.
With the mandates? With the mandates. So,
I've been very fortunate. My customer base is all very supportive.
My customers are all rural farmers.
You know, a lot of them are are extremely
extremely loyal,
and they've seen the true intent of the convoy, and they've seen exactly what the government tried to do to make this or to demonize us, I guess.
Okay. So as the convoy is heading,
you're seeing people everywhere.
How did it develop?
How did it develop? When you get into the sea, Where were you heading to? We were heading to Ottawa and that was our goal. How does that take?
We we left on the 24th January. We arrived on the 29th. So
we had police
escorts the majority of the way across the country. Law enforcement worked with us extremely well. In the province of Ontario, the local detachments are called the Ontario Provincial Police actually met us at the Manitoba
Ontario border and gave us,
an escort right through the entire province.
Ontario is a very vast province. It's it's approximately I believe it took us 3 days to get through on Ontario just alone. So,
every city we had a different, liaison. We were in constant communication with law enforcement all the way across the country.
So you liaise so so you contacted the police and you liaise for this convoy the whole way there? We did. Safety was the priority. That was the utmost
you can't put that many miles of traffic together in a line and, and not expect an we didn't have any trouble. There was no, fender benders, no accidents.
And I I believe that was solely because we were we we did what we could to make sure that the safety of the people was number 1. And in some of the cities we came through, it was it was wall to wall people standing on the side of the street. So we had to be very cautious of Speed. And we're in semi you know, big semis, big trucks.
And that was the thing. Ottawa was was we were led right to Wellington Street. We're right in front of the parliament. When we were led there by law enforcement, they parked us. They stopped us right where we where we sat.
So in your eyes,
at the time of organizing this, you're organizing
a convoy
legally,
peacefully,
safely
to make your protest against the mandates. Yes. 100%.
What changes there? Because
what from what the media reported, what they wanted to tell the public
was a very different picture.
It was.
The government, you know, used the media
to, to try and, you know,
vilify us,
make it sound like we were these horrible people. Meanwhile, the government wouldn't wouldn't
our main goal and and purpose was to have a conversation with our sitting government
and, that was never an option when it come to what the government's intent was. The the government won't talk to you? They wouldn't talk to us. There's no negotiation. This day, we we would never had a conversation with anybody from the federal government. Still to this day? To this day.
So you'll go in there.
You'll go in there. You're bought into the city.
Thousands of protesting. What
changes?
How long are you there? What's the police reception like? Is it friendly? Is it kind? Are they working with you? Are they happy with you? They were. And is there a change in that mood or atmosphere at Law enforcement worked with us right through the entire protest. Law enforcement, we were we were we were open and honest with everything that we we did right from the start. All we wanted was a conversation with our government.
The only thing we heard from Canadian citizens the entire distance across Canada was that,
you know,
don't leave until you get results.
You've given us hope.
This was this was our one and done, you know, thing to push through. We didn't we didn't we felt compelled by the the citizens of Canada to stay there and and have an audience with our sitting prime minister. So the trucks were used as representatives of the other members of the public Of course. Who were demanding, who were worried, who were concerned with the mandates Yes. The trucks become the symbol
of resistance to it. So when you're there, you feel you you're going there and the intent was to stay there until you get a solution from the government. It was. So how long were you there?
The protest had lasted approximately
3 weeks before, Justin Trudeau came to the point of using the Emergencies Act, the War Measures Act against his own citizens to bust the protest up.
We'd said it all along that the conversation would have been perfect and and his intent was to
use law enforcement as a weapon and beat, you know, innocent protesters. We had we had bouncy castles. We had, we had an ice hockey, street hockey game.
We had we had the national anthem. We had prayers on Sundays. We had a stage on the on the main street. We had we had unity.
We had peace, and we had love in Canada. We we woke the world. We shook the ground all across the world as far as I'm concerned. Oh, I agree you did. I agree you did. What's it like for how
because we we managed to muster up some people to come to a protest for about 2 or 3 hours. Yep.
And you muster them to come up to stay somewhere for weeks weeks. What does that curtate? What does that look like?
Families leaving Yeah. Driving for days days.
Men,
you're leaving your kids
for weeks weeks.
How did so many people do that? And what was the atmosphere like?
And what were the conditions of living
like? Well, we, it shows the desperation that Canadians are feeling, I guess, towards COVID vaccine mandates. We had, we heard stories the entire distance across the country. We heard stories from people.
You know, one of the biggest ones that hit me was the amount of people that were thinking about committing suicide.
The people that felt so desperate in this country that that they felt like a lady wrote a letter and I still have this letter in my possession today stating that she felt like the government had taken everything away from her and the only thing she had left for for a decision was on how she took her own life.
And then the trucks fired up and it says that in her letter that that, the trucks saved her life and we still we have conversations with people on a daily basis to tell us the same thing, the desperation that they felt
or how close they were to suicide
or the stories of people that lost loved ones to suicide
or the people that lost loved ones in nursing homes and, you know, they weren't allowed to see their parents before they passed away. They got to watch them on an iPad.
You know, these are the stories that happened in Canada. You you talk about the the way the the people were oppressed.
You know, the skating rinks that were shut down. The outdoor facilities were shut down. You weren't allowed to have a funeral, a wedding,
any gatherings but yet you could go to Walmart or Home Depot
with 200 people in the store and it wasn't an issue.
And none of it made sense? None of it. And that's all I think anybody's ever asked was make it make sense and nobody can say that. I used the bathroom
outside in parking lots because no restaurants were open. I remember coming home after about 2 weeks into the pandemic and saying to my wife I can't do this anymore. I believe I lasted home for about a week and then I was back on the road trucking again.
Eating out of the cab of the truck and and and not having the facilities at hand that I needed. But
when Ottawa happened, it was life again. And I think everybody that anybody that took place in the protests in Ottawa
felt alive again. They felt rejuvenated. They felt like they weren't alone.
And that's why you've seen so many people come to to Ottawa to stand
and fight for the right to protest. We found I know many people that would drive and say, oh, I'm just gonna go as far as Regina, Saskatchewan then I'll turn around and I'll go home. And they got to Regina and they said, no this is this is something. I'm gonna go to Winnipeg.
And they would go to Winnipeg and then 3 weeks later they were leaving Ottawa.
Sounds great, man. It must have been amazing feeling to be part of it. It was the most inspirational thing I think I could ever have gone through in my life. I've, I can say that out of all the people in in the protest, you know, that that possibly had something to gain, I'd say I probably grew the most.
Maturity level probably was you know, online I was always the guy that was liking to start a little bit of trouble here and there on my social media posts and posting and then all of a sudden I was elevated to a different,
status I guess and, and I had children watching what I was posting.
So it was very soon into that I I cut the the language out of my my comments or my Time to grow up? Yeah. People are listening. Time to grow up, people are listening and,
I still chuckle that. Yeah. You catch me on a catch me yeah. I'm the same way, but I'll just keep it keep the where it should be now. So
So
how does it because you did you you you it was inspirational
to people around the world.
The entire world was watching Canada. They were. Do you know what? Because I can remember in Britain, and I can remember everyone being upset and angry. And when the truckers and and it was the sight of all the trucks as well. Yeah. The way they look, and the convoys coming down the road.
I think do you think
do you what effect do you think that those actions had on COVID
and the pandemic worldwide?
I believe the convoy obliterated the COVID vaccine,
narrative. I believe it did and we started watching provinces dropping their their mandates.
It was it was within the route of the convoy
before we even got to Ottawa. The provinces are starting to wake up, I believe.
Saskatchewan was the first to fall. Alberta was then,
some different different places.
So we,
we had a direct effect.
I agree. So it's when did it change when you were there? What changed with the police? What went how did it go from peaceful protest
to designating you as basically terrorists?
Well, we reached kind of a tentative deal with the city of Ottawa to start moving some of the trucks out of the residential areas. You know,
downtown Ottawa doesn't have a lot of people living in it but there was some
some some people in the downtown core that were affected and their priority was to try and get those trucks out of the downtown core up onto Wellington where they could show a bigger, you know,
footprint to to the Prime Minister
And when that deal was struck, it was immediate that Justin Trudeau didn't wanna have that. He wanted us taken out of there. He didn't wanna see any movement. He wanted to use everything he could against us. So when that deal was struck with Mara Watson,
we were immediately shut down. And you watch the the police that we've been working with for for approximately 3 weeks
and they moved back and in a different, you know, set of police officers appeared and a lot more aggressive.
You watch the police, even the units that patrolled the streets. We we had a constant president of police there but they were they were really compliant. They were on our side.
I believe they were on our side. They slowly became replaced with people that they head hunted all across the country.
They they started a narrative all across the country that we were evil people that were trying to overthrow the government which we were not.
And and the government flew them in to basically stomp
Canadians in the on our Main Street Wellington right in front of the the parliament
buildings.
Would you say that's what they were brought in to crush you? They were. Yep. They were.
When their job is actually to facilitate legal and lawful protest? It was. Yeah. We've seen billy clubs.
Which billy clubs? Billy clubs. Look, it was a chunk of 2 by 4, chunk of wood and they didn't even shave the edges off so they could they could use those to beat. Well, the police were picking up bits of wood? Yeah. Police were using were were chunks of wood to beat Canadian protesters on the street in front of our parliament. They used rubber bullets. They used,
I don't think stun grenades but they used, your your pepper spray, your And did this just change from one day, everything peaceful for 3 weeks to just the orders come, crush them? It was. Is that when he invoked the emergency act? He invoked the emergency act on 14th
February.
Tamara and I were arrested on 17th February.
I was one of the first ones to be arrested. Tamara was the second.
And then after that, you know, Pat King was arrested and so was How did the arrest come? Your arrest? What happened?
Well, I just got a fresh coffee and I was walking down a quiet street in Ottawa and and,
you know, the one of the streets that I cleared just the day before we took those trucks off that street moved them a block up. So it was a quiet street and, I didn't know that we were being surveilled. So when we were alone and away from the protest site, I was approached by 2 officers and immediately
had a fresh coffee in my hand. I was arrested to take it into custody,
and and then spent the next I was pretty fortunate. I spent 26 hours in police custody before a bail hearing was had.
We've reached an agreement where I could, I could return home. I had to leave the protest site. What did they question you on?
It was an intense,
questioning period. It was just basically on on the officers asking how why I thought I, we had so much support behind us. They were concerned about the money that was raised, you know, the the the Gibson Go, it hit about $10,000,000
before the government had it shut down. And then the So people are people are donating money to support the truckers? They were. I mean, they we we we probably we raised more money than what the Liberal government did in in for fundraising in in Canada. So the Gibson Go was the second.
The GoFundMe
campaign was the first, which hit approximately $10,000,000,
which we had access to very limited funds. I believe we had access to maybe $20,000
before the government had everything frozen. They used the banking system in Canada
under, you know, an illegal act to have our bank accounts frozen, all the funds that were used. But thanks to the resilience of Canadians,
the cash started coming in and, you know, we were we were doing what we could to keep the trucks in place. We wanted results. We wanted our our government to listen to us.
And then and then you're you've spent 26 hours in the police station.
You've then been bailed in given conditions? Yeah. I was bailed at a 120,000
bail,
bail bond. So you had to pay a 120,000? A 120,000.
I'm not allowed to speak to Tamara Leach, going forward with, Danny Beaufort, which is an RCMP
officer x RCMP officer. He's actually a part of the sniper team that was, was in place to keep, you know, parliamentary people safe,
who lost his job due to the vaccine mandates, the federal vaccine mandates,
and then Pat King. So I've got 3 people on my list of of people. I'm not allowed to take part in the protest. Basically, not allowed to go back to Ottawa. You're not you're not allowed to take part in any protest? No. So you don't have any democratic right?
No. It was basically go home and, shut your mouth and wait for your day in trial. So we were it was as then upgraded from the trial. The charges are then
7 indictable offenses. I'm a certain Indictable is basically, you know, murder is an indictable offense.
Right.
Mischief would be the first count. Mischief is usually a summary offense, so it's usually a slap on the wrist to a fine, probation, something like that.
They've upgraded that summary offense to the indictable offense so they can seek greater punishment. I've got 7 indictable offenses on me right now. Mischief
counseling to commit mischief.
Going against the court order, I've got 2 counseling charges on top of that. What was the court that you meant have gone against?
There's an alleged video out there where I said, you know, if the police come and smash your windows on your truck and try and hurt you or take you,
grab the ear horn and give it a tug and let everybody else know that it's happening. So there's a court order in place that there was to be no honking in the city of Ottawa. Of course. So you tell people to honk. Yes. And then the last charge was, was,
intimidation of a peace officer with a counseling charge on top of that. So
When when when when was you charged? What date?
February 17th. What year? 2022.
2022.
It's two and a half years ago. Two and a half years ago, our trial You've been on these conditions for two and a half years? Two and a half years. Yes. Tell me how,
as a as a businessman
and as a father
who's gone and legally
protested,
how how do you feel about your country at that time?
About about the emergency order act put in by Justin Trudeau, about the media, the way they're labeling you, and about the
the state of the Canadian government and the way they're acting?
Well, we obviously seen the best in Canadians throughout the protest. We've seen so many people come forward
and show just how Canada we still were. The government on the other hand is the issue or has been the issue.
I've, my credit rating has been destroyed because of this. My bank accounts were frozen for three and a half months.
So they froze your bank account. So My
they froze lots of people's bank accounts. We saw this all over the news. You were one of them then. Yes. How do you how talk to me about that and and what and how that was it your account? Was it joint account with your wife? It was everything. It was corporate accounts. It was my personal bank account. It was a joint account with my wife. So
immediately after the weekend,
the the RCMP,
issued a a letter to my banking facility saying that a mistake had been made and to unfreeze my corporate account and my joint account.
However, my personal account remained frozen up and for three and a half months. I don't know if many people know this but the citizens of Ottawa has launched a $400,000,000
lawsuit against myself,
Tamara Leach and others that took part in the Ottawa protest.
They used a, a plaintiff named Zexy Lee, a downtown resident who is employed by the federal government in in service Canada.
We realized that lawyer downtown lawyer Paul Champ orchestrated the whole thing trying to find somebody to be the face of the lawsuit. So they found someone who stands with the government in that town to then be the face of organizing a lawsuit to sue you?
And so she came into the courtroom,
last year seeing as her trial started September 5, 2023.
She testified against us for a few days in court. And,
under that testimony, we we under cross examination, we got it out of her that she had not lost a single dollar in pay nor a day in work throughout the protest. But we have video of her yelling and screaming at people on the street in Ottawa,
and name calling and as well as allegedly throwing eggs off building balconies.
So what's she suing you for?
And and how and there's a group of you being sued, this is law fair,
for 400,000,000 Jews. 400,000,000.
Are you concerned?
I'm not. No. That's a lot of money. I don't, I don't necessarily have 400,000,000 dollars. But you don't see that their goal is just to clear you out? It is. You know what the goal is is to get the money.
Any remaining funds that was left over from the Gibson Go or the GoFundMe is is totaling about $5,500,000
and all that money has been in escrow seized by the courts
since early February when it was raised. And that money sitting there now still,
money that Canadian Canadian taxpayers paid to have some answers out of the federal government. And that lawsuit will continue for a number of years. So I think the goal is to take that money first of all. Money up so there's no money in there. Thankfully, we have a lot of help in this country. We have a a a business. It's a nonprofit business called the Justice Center For Constitutional Freedoms based out of Calgary here who has been helping us with their legal defense on that as well as some of my criminal charge cost.
Tamara Leech has the Democracy Fund, which is a rebel news organization, you know, basically behind the scenes.
So we've got help out there. We've got a lot of help and we're very the public support to We do. To help you with the finances. But if you hadn't had the public support, what competition would you be? Well, that courtroom would be a very lonely place. Would you be would you still have the fight that you've got now? I don't think we would. They would have dreamed us quite some time ago. So we'll just keep going and that's what our goal is, is to keep going. But there's a lot of other truck drivers and protesters throughout Ottawa that are still facing legal fights right now. So the goal of Tamara and I has been to go out and try and fundraise for some of these people or get them the help that they need. Unfortunately, I think there's just over just over 200 people that were arrested in Ottawa at the protest and charge. So finding those people, if they've already made their way through the courts, if they've been taking a plea deal per se,
getting them in charge or in in touch with somebody that could financially help them is the big So you're trying to help. So I have the 200 the other they they arrested 100. They did. Trying to find them to make sure they've got the legal support and the moral support to back them. For sure.
In two and a half years in, you've had all these conditions.
You're not allowed to protest.
So in a country that's meant to be one of the most democratic countries
in the world,
you've got no rights right now? I don't have any rights. And the funny thing is to marinize
conditions,
have been in place since February of 2022.
We had to actually we asked the crown prosecutor
quietly behind the scenes if they would remove the conditions
between Tamara and I so we could actually have a conversation together seeing as the crown had rested their case against us and defense had rested their case. We're waiting for final submissions right now to be held in in another month or 2 before we can actually end the trial.
But,
the answer from the crown's office was resounding no. They wanted the conditions to remain in in place. So what we did was we filed a motion with the judge in our case to actually have her make the decision whether she would allow us
to have contact. And thankfully, she she looked at the evidence in hand
and and decided there was no reason why we couldn't have a conversation. So she really removed those. Well, I guess the conditions prove exactly what all this has been about. It's about silencing the opposition to the federal government, I believe. So
What do you think the future looks like for Canada?
Well, I I see the power of the people. I see the people that are still involved and I see, you know, the government keeps pushing more and more and taking away more and more freedoms from the citizens and,
there's probably 40% of Canadians are still fast asleep right now, maybe if not a little more. And when something finally happens to affect those 40%, you're gonna see a little bit of change happen.
You currently face prison?
10 years in federal prison is what the current prosecutor is asking for right now.
Crown Prosecutors asked for 10 years because you wanted a few people to bit their horn and park their trucks in the city center. Yes.
How does that compare to
the way the government are dealing with,
say, open border immigration and criminals that come into a country or migrants that commit crimes?
I think my counterpart Tamara summed it up best here a little while ago when she said a 125 cases
in the court system right now in the Ontario area had been thrown out due to what they call a charter charter application
for, not enough time to try them properly. So those those cases have been thrown out because they've been so intent
on focused on on convoy people and punishing them in the courts. Some of the offenses there were rape,
and, armed robbery, burglary burglary.
They're phoning all of them out. Throwing them out to just Because they're constrained on the convoy. Yes. We have a we have a man What what what's the purpose
of such intense prosecutions
against what is just ordinary working Canadian men?
Silence. I think they just want us quiet. They don't want us speaking. It was a time in Canada in Canadian history that scared the living daylights out of the federal government.
They've seen so many people rise up and and fell depressed so badly that they had it was time for them to have a voice and speak out against
the mandates. So when that many people, you know, showed up on the doorstep of the federal government to have a conversation,
you've seen
when the trucks were rolling in Ottawa on January 29th,
you then see every province around in Canada light up with protests that went to their local legislative grounds. So we had a just over a 1000 trucks,
show up in in Regina, Saskatchewan. It's a Saskatchewan legislative grounds.
You've seen that all across the country. We've seen that from Victoria, British Columbia, all the way across. It was it was a complete
unity across Canada. We were Would you so many revolution? It was. It was.
And the government did everything in their power to to silence that.
To keep it from the public's eyes or the world's eyes or to slander and demonize it in whatever way they can. They pulled a Nazi flag out of wherever they found it and they flew that on our nation's capitol hill and tried to make it look like it was one of the convoy people and tried to slander us, tried to make us look mean. Am I right? Can I just confirm that the where the Nazi flag was
was actually in an area that only the police could get to? Absolutely.
I I remember this. Do you know why? Because I've led organizations. I've led demonstrations. I've seen these tactics time and time again. So whenever you see a Nazi flag flying, it's like they're waiting to take the photo. It was. You actually seen the folds in the in the Nazi flag on the still photos.
And, you know, media, they wanna see a rolling shot. They need a live shot. These are still photos. They came out of the hotel called the Chateau Laurier which is on the east side of downtown Ottawa beside the the parliament buildings.
They came out of a side door in that where where the law enforcement was primarily staying. They walked around the grounds in a quiet part of where the protest say where not a lot of protesters were. The only way you could get to the spot where they actually were was through a locked gate that the old police only had the the the keys to get through. So it was a staged setup. They flew a Nazi flag on our par our solemn parliament grounds in in Canada
to try and make citizens look in a bad light. To try and turn it against you and get the public to stop
their support of the movement. They did a lot of that stuff. We have a we have a proud statue of our Canadian hero, Terry Fox, which is, you know, Terry was a was a a runner back in the eighties who had lost his leg to cancer,
and he was walking across Canada. He made it in through Ontario before he succumb to cancer and passed on.
Terry Fox is a Canadian legend, and they used him when somebody from the protest site draped a Canadian flag across his shoulders and put a mandate freedom sign in his arms. They tried to demonize us saying that we desecrated
the Terry Fox statue. I mean,
Rodney Palmer, one of our beloved journalists in this country said, what what person in Canada wouldn't hate these guys if they were tried to portray it in the light? But,
you know,
any other organization that comes to Ottawa in protest usually hangs their flag on
I've seen the Palestinian flag on Terry Fox and the media has been silent.
Tell me,
tell me, you travel the country in Big Red? I do.
Tell me the reaction you receive.
It's pretty impressive.
We get noticed wherever we go. So
a lot of people will go by horns honking, waving.
A lot of people will stop on the side of the road to film us or photograph us.
It's, it's something. You can't usually go a few miles without somebody honking your horn or and when you saw people come up to you, it's it's,
it's pretty humbling to know that there's a lot of support out there.
You faced any have you faced any violent opposition, any death threats? Has there been any
target interview or your family? Has there been any groups? Any anything like that? There hasn't been. No. No. I've been very lucky. My social media haters are all usually trolls online.
I'm a big guy. I'm a big guy. Yeah. Yeah. The Tamara and I finally have her voice back again. It's it's been it's been awesome traveling the country with her. Tell me what you've been doing. You have to well, I spoke to Tamara earlier. You're traveling Canada again now. Yeah. What are you doing?
Well, we're focusing a lot on, on the truckers
and and trying to get some some guys some help getting through their legal fees because there's still a lot of guys that are still facing trial even two and a half years later. The other focus that we're starting to work on right now is the vaccine injured. We've spoke with so many people across Canada with vaccine injuries, and some of them are fairly devastating.
Neurological,
and and,
you know, left them in wheelchairs. We've got a girl in Ontario right now, Kayla Pollock, who is is, a quadriplegic
now because she took a vaccine.
We met one in Ashley. We met her in Ottawa a few weeks ago that she's a 2 20 year old, 6 year old daughters.
She's gotta be in her mid twenties herself, and she is with 2 canes now and can barely speak.
That's from one shot.
And they're still pushing these shots. With one shot in here and the side effects were that bad, they asked her to get her second shot. And when she said, I'm vaccine injured from my first shot. Do you seriously suggest this? And their response was, we'll do the injection in the emergency room in case you have another bad reaction.
Medical professionals in this country aren't listening to these people. They're telling them that it's all in their head. Here's some depression medication.
And this is this is there's a lot of people out there right now, and they're in a lot of hurt right now because of these vaccines. We're seeing all over the country, over the world right now, Pfizer, Moderna. You know, Moderna pulling their stuff off shelves.
Pfizer is now entering into a bunch of lawsuits throughout the United States.
And medical people in this country primarily aren't listening to them.
Where do you think it leads? Do you think the truth gets out there about that? Do you think it's too the governments or
all the governments were in on it? Yeah. I don't I don't think you can suppress the truth much longer. I see the truth is coming forward.
You know, we just had a by election in in an Ontario,
Toronto, Ontario, and the Liberal Party of Canada lost to a to a conservative.
And that's right in the heart of That's Liberal guy.
That something's happened. That's embarrassment on the Liberal Party of Canada. We're seeing that war room. He should forfeit his position. He should. He should've after that election result.
We are we are good friends with one of the last remaining signatures of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, mister or honorable Brian Peckford. And and Brian tells us stories about when, when a sitting prime minister or politician is found of an ethics violation,
that prime that that person in politics should be removed, should resign and move on. Justin Trudeau's on his 5th
5th ethics violation.
But they get away with it.
Look what they've got away with. They've got away with the lie. It's not just in Canada. Look what the British come. You speak about fear earlier. All the all the messages come out, the the WhatsApp messages. We'll just scare the shit out of the public. That how they were having their discussions
with the new variant. We'll just terrify them.
But that's all come out. No one's facing prosecution.
Not in Britain, not in Canada, not in America.
All the lies, all the medical problems, all the Yep. Injuries,
still,
I just asked myself if if it ever will.
I think what we're hearing too right now from a lot of people all across the country is we want accountability. We want accountability from the sitting politicians who were in place to put all these mandates They made them. Yes. They did. And they still haven't
acknowledged that there was wrongdoing
and they had and until they get to the point where they can acknowledge and accept some of the responsibility, I don't think people are gonna arrest.
So when are you in court, Chris? It's Mary and I go back in August 13th. I guess we found out a few days ago that we have, we have 4 days in August.
We were gonna do verbal submissions for the final of our trial. The judges now asked for written, so that will save quite a bit of court time. So 4 days of trial left and then we are essentially done until a verdict is read. So
we'll go forward praying that that it's a good verdict. Years. That could be up to 6 months, I believe. So we could have a verdict by early 2025. So that would have took 3 years Yep. 3 years. For mischief.
And basically, you know, we'll be we'll be bouncing off a $1,000,000 in court fees by that time. A $1,000,000 in court fees whilst they drop all the rape charges or robbery charges Right. And pursue the legal citizens who
there in to challenge their narrative.
We need more people to stand up in this country. Well, actually, all across the world, people have to be quit being scared to stand up. We hear this on a regular basis. I've had people come up to me and say, you know, I would have totally come to Ottawa and stood with you, but I have a mortgage and kids.
You're spouse. I have a mortgage and kids too.
I was just about I was gonna I was gonna end that on this. You've stood up. You're a businessman. You're a father. You've risked it all. You're still standing up. And I'll continue to stand.
What advice would you give to people watching this?
Remember, there's a lot of people. You know what? I always say when that when they when when it turns, it's gonna turn so quick and so fast. There's a hell of a lot of people out there who feel oppressed and silenced and feel forced into silence for the same reasons.
Job, mortgages, families. Yes. Yeah? What advice would you have to them? Home state of play. Stand up. In Canada here, we have a parliamentary system that's easy to access.
5 dollars, I believe. $10 for a party membership you can get actively involved with your, with your political parties.
If more people did that it's a thankless job honestly,
from city council to, you know, your school council,
rural municipalities in Canada especially, get involved with your local politics and change things from within. The politicians are not gonna get us out of this right now. They're the reason why we're in this in the first place. So if anybody's active out there, it's time to stand and take part in the in the in the system. So because a lot the majority of the British public don't vote or don't get involved in politics. So you'd be advising anyone and everyone to get involved
or stop moaning. Yeah. Stop moaning. If you get involved Yeah. Yep. You can't
you can't sit back and watch this. Sitting back and watching this has put us in the position that we're in right now.
Well, thank you, man. Thank you for your time. It's been Appreciate it, Tommy. It's been interesting listening and, I wish you luck in court and I'll make sure we're certainly following your verdict. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Cheers. If you've enjoyed the story, where can people follow you? I'm on social media, big red. Usually big red 1975
is my TikTok handle.
Twitter, it's Chris Barber 1975.
And, there's a website out there with big red. Big red. Big redmerch.ca.
If you get off with the case, will we see big red back on the street? You will. All Big Red's out there working every week. See it in a process format. Well, we'll see about that. We'll wait till the verdict.
Thanks, Tom. Cool. Thanks for your time. Take care, Marissa. Again. Thank you, Paul.
Carry on watching for more interesting guests. I'll talk to anyone. I'll debate anyone. I'll hear anyone's
story. If you want to help me along that way,
it's not free. I need your support. If you can support my family,
that gives me my peace of mind. It means I can continue to do the work I do. I appreciate every bit of support as do my children. It gives me the ability to fly them out here to see me so I can stay in constant contact with them. I'm the platform and I'm censored, so I need you. I need you to share this content. And make sure you stay tuned for upcoming weekly guests,
interesting guests,
exciting guests. I'm Tom Robson, and this has been my podcast,
Silence.