He thought he was standing up for rights and freedoms in Canada. And last Saturday, Michael Cooper, the MP for St. Albert-Edmonton constituency, wanted to be seen while saying so. Thousands of people blocked the streets of Ottawa with trucks and demonstrations as part of a so-called “Freedom Convoy” to protest vaccine mandates and other restrictions in response to the COVID pandemic. And Cooper chose to join the demonstrations and speak to the media, which is what all politicians do when they feel they’re on the right side of history.
“(People are) just here to send a message to the prime minister,” Cooper said as the CBC TV camera rolled.
But what the Alberta MP had not planned as part of his few seconds in the limelight was the backdrop to his statement. Fluttering in the breeze immediately behind him was an upside-down Canadian flag which was also desecrated with a swastika. Well, reaction was swift. The mayors of both St. Albert and Edmonton (part of Cooper’s federal constituency) issued a joint statement.
“We want the rest of the country to know that MP Cooper’s presence at this rally in no way reflects the values of Edmontonians and St. Albertans,” proclaimed mayors Amarjeet Sohi and Cathy Heron respectively.
Whether he wanted it or not, Cooper’s stance was indelibly associated with that swastika. Since the incident, MP Cooper has tried to distance himself from the rally, its participants, and the inappropriate juxtaposition of a federally elected representative decrying Justin Trudeau, the COVID vaccine mandate for Canadian truckers while standing in front of a symbol of oppression and hate.
To his credit, Cooper’s office quickly released an unequivocal statement, that “Nazism is the purest form of evil and I have always condemned it.” But the damage may haunt him, says political scientist Duane Bratt, of the University of Calgary. “You could have expected something like this when you wade into a protest.”
Such is the danger of speaking out, marching, demonstrating, pontificating or politicking in association with provocative symbols in the vicinity. And the swastika was not the only inappropriate symbolism to emerge from the weekend demo in Ottawa.
Another group of protesters, claiming they were supporting the truckers, draped an upside-down Maple Leaf over the statue of Terry Fox near Parliament Hill and hung a “Mandate Freedom” placard on it. Still others paraded along Wellington Street with Confederate flags. And some “Freedom Convoy” demonstrators chose to park their vehicles on the grounds of the national cenotaph, some dancing and shouting on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Justin Trudeau blamed the abhorrent behaviour on a “fringe minority.”
Erin O’Toole called the truckers “heroes, period!” Such allegiance makes or breaks political careers.
Meanwhile, if we cared to check out what the leader of the convoy, Dave Steenburg was saying, we’d find his TikTok video “calling all Canadians … to stand up and fight for our country,” with a text of his fomenting comments scrolled over the Viking-head logo of the Soldiers of Odin – an anti-immigrant group that has clashed with anti-racism groups – while a pagan-rock song about Vikings walking into battle, played underneath.
Logos, symbols, flags and mottos – all intended to make clear statements, but most misinterpreted when attached to the cause of freedom.
I remember back in the early 1970s, when student movements took to the streets of most North American cities to protest war, racism and pollution of the planet. I participated in several. We genuinely thought our activism in the streets would make a difference.
Well, that Saturday in Toronto, a peaceful demonstration up University Avenue to the U.S. embassy suddenly attracted everybody and every cause. I remember marching with a “Give Peace a Chance” placard and suddenly next to me was a guy with a Marxist-Leninist flag and another with a placard protesting the Armenian genocide.
Ultimately, as the police tried to keep a lid on things, some demonstrators in hoodies and masks began smashing windows and tossing ink bottles at buildings. I was stunned, mortified, angry that my intentions had been hijacked by those with no peaceful intentions at all.
Oh yes, and then there’s the man who gave extremism a licence to go centre stage, former president Donald Trump. At a rally in Texas, where most in attendance were unmasked and wearing “Make America Great Again” caps this week, Trump hinted, if re-elected in 2024, he’d pardon those convicted of sedition at the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill last year. Then, he proclaimed, “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way.”
Be careful what you campaign for. The uncontrollable influence of symbolism may undo the best of intentions.