"Freedom" is now a suspect word

As demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions continue across Canada, the word freedom is on the lips and placards of many protesters.

Often associated with protests and rallies in the United States, the term has taken hold among protesters who are part of the Freedom Convoy, which rolled into Ottawa in late January and has become entrenched in the city's downtown.

For many, freedom is a malleable term — one that's open to interpretation.

That flexibility, in part, has fuelled its growth among certain groups, said Barbara Perry, director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the Oshawa-based Ontario Tech University.

"It is a term that has resonated…. You can define it and understand it and sort of manipulate it in a way that makes sense to you and is useful to you, depending on your perspective," she told Cross Country Checkup.

It's also a term that has thrived among far-right groups, said Perry, one of a number of experts who say the presence of far-right groups in Canada is growing.

As seen among some protesters currently opposing vaccine mandates and other public health measures, freedom signals a desire for freedom from government intervention or overreach, Perry noted.

"I think it resonates very much with what we've been seeing — and maybe takes some inspiration from what we've been seeing — in the U.S. over the last year and a half or so, leading up to the last election and events of Jan. 6," she said, referring to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/what-s-your-reaction-to-the-ottawa-standoff-and-the-border-blockades-1.6349636/why-the-word-freedom-is-such-a-useful-rallying-cry-for-protesters-1.6349865

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