James Topp has been a member of the Canadian Armed forces for nearly 30 years. He has served his country honourably here in Canada and in combat overseas.
Like many of us, he started to feel COVID policy creating an accelerating authoritarianism. When federal government employees and those in the military were mandated to take an experimental vaccine or lose their jobs, he broke rank. Eventually, inspired by the trucker rallies in Ottawa and realizing he was not alone, he decided to march across the country to bring attention to the need for liberty and individual choice.
His initiative - Canadamarches.ca - is crowdfunded and worth supporting. During his march he has had the support of tens of thousands of Canadians who have come out to march with him, shake his hand, come to his events, or just follow him online.
I got to shake hands briefly with James in Auld’s Cove - just across the causeway from my homeland of Cape Breton. He was kind enough to speak with me.
James connected from an RV in a campground just outside of Moncton. I’ve had to edit out some bits where the internet connection was sketchy.
After recording James wanted me to pass on that he feels people need to learn to look beyond the superficial story in the mainstream media. Scott Adams has talked about how the 2 ends of the political spectrum are “watching 2 different movies”. We live in a media bubble. Global News (who James is suing) and their ilk would have you think that James is a radical right-wing white supremacist, bent on violently overthrowing the government. I found him to be a soft-spoken, decent, moral human being who is concerned about the erosion of civil liberties and the rise of authoritarianism. This is like so many other military members and veterans who have seen first hand that the veneer of civilization is thin. They know where this trend can lead. In 1984 Sarajevo was a peaceful-appearing, beautiful city that hosted the winter Olympics. In 1992 it was in the heart of a civil war with brother killing brother. Soldiers know how fragile peace and stability is.
A sincere thank you to James for taking a stand at a great personal cost measured in time, money, as well as mental and physical effort. I hope that you will support his efforts either by marching with him, or by contributing to his march.
https://www.canadamarches.ca/
Follow James on Twitter: @CanadaMarches
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