The Role of Sovereign Citizen Concepts and Overlapping Discourses

In January and February of last year, the normal operations of Canada's capital city of Ottawa were disrupted by the so-called Freedom Convoy. The convoy involved hundreds of trucks and personal vehicles and thousands of protestors at its peak, who made a lot of noise and blocked traffic before finally being cleared out. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, 2023, vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoy was condemned by the trucking industry and labor groups. The Canadian Trucking Alliance stated that most protesters had no connection to trucking. That all came to an end on February 14, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time since its passing in 1988. Between February 17 and 20, a large joint-operation police presence in Ottawa arrested organizers and protesters, removed parked vehicles, and dismantled blockades from Ottawa streets. Just a few months ago a new protest movement emerged, taking inspiration from both that convoy movement and anti-gay and trans protest movements. This one is called The Save the Children Convoy. Since this new convoy was announced, it has been subject to allegations of plans of criminal violence, infighting, and the leaders have invoked sovereign citizen and QAnon concepts. We talk to Luke LeBrun, editor of the publication PressProgress, about this developing story and what members of the Save The Children convoy want. REFERENCES Canada’s Far-Right is Planning a Convoy to Toronto to ‘Save the Children’. It’s Already Spinning Out of Control. https://pressprogress.ca/canadas-far-right-is-planning-a-convoy-to-toronto-to-save-the-children-its-already-spinning-out-of-control/ Far-Right ‘Save the Children Convoy’ Gathering at Rural Base Camp Outside Ottawa https://pressprogress.ca/far-right-save-the-children-convoy-gathering-at-rural-base-camp-outside-ottawa/ ‘Save the Children Convoy’ Leaders Plotted to Capture Police and MPs at Secret Meetings, Participants Allege https://pressprogress.ca/save-the-children-convoy-leaders-plotted-to-capture-police-and-mps-at-secret-meetings-participants-allege/ ‘Save the Children Convoy’ Leader Calls for Jailing Politicians and Replacing Government in QAnon-Inspired Speech https://pressprogress.ca/save-the-children-convoy-leader-calls-for-jailing-politicians-and-replacing-government-in-qanon-inspired-speech/ ‘Save the Children Convoy’ Says Conservative MP Invited Them Into House of Commons as ‘VIP’ Guests https://pressprogress.ca/save-the-children-convoy-says-conservative-mp-invited-them-into-house-of-commons-as-vip-guests/