There's a lot of chaos and division in Canada right now. In this episode, it's back to the basics: having conversations.
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Sarah Lawrynuik
Senior Producer
Cherise Seucharan
Reporter, CANADALAND
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer
Kieran Oudshoorn
Managing Editor, Podcasts
Hosted by Jesse Brown
There’s a lot of chaos and division in Canada right now. Beyond the people who got arrested in Ottawa over the past few days, there are thousands more Canadians who have financially supported the Freedom Convoy or been rooting for them from afar.
In this episode, the CANADALAND team reaches out to regular everyday people who support the Convoy to ask about who they are, how they ended up supporting the Convoy and what they think about the racist and dangerous aspects of the movement.
This is not a scientific survey, we did not do a poll. These three people are not necessarily representative of everybody else who supports this movement, but we’ve got to start somewhere.
“ It was hot girls having a blast. There's nothing wrong with that. I thought it was aspirational. I did not yet realize that we were in fact shooting porn and that that was actually happening in the back room of the bus that we were living on.”
- Courtney Kocak, former Girls Gone Wild “Merch Girl”
“ My brother, first and foremost, was a good person. He was very bright, he was educated, and he was autistic. And I think had he not met the creeper hunter, I think he would still be alive today.” -Brother of “John Doe #1”
“We need to start dis-entangling from the United States as quickly as possible, economically, politically, socially, militarily, and culturally.” -Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War
Jesse Brown is an ideological slut. Well, so he says. His past votes have jumped, in no particular order, from the Conservatives to the NDP “....maybe there was a fringe party or Parti Québécois vote in there somewhere, I can’t even remember who I’ve thrown in with over the years — I have no loyalty, I’m politically promiscuous.”
“ Here is what I would've done if I was Mark Carney, right? Just let it be out there. If you really have nothing to hide, don't hide.” - Professor Partha Mohanram
“...the tentacles of party discipline and party control have completely grabbed a hold of everybody and they have a really hard time breaking free. We just no longer have politicians who can speak their minds, politicians who can stand up on behalf of their constituents.” -Alex Marland, author of Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada
“ …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.”
- Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe