To the editor,
Re: Freedom convoy protesters aren’t endearing themselves, Letters, Feb. 16.
We want to say this to those of you blocking roads and occupying cities in the name of freedom.
You are free to remain unvaccinated, but not to put others at risk. Your right to choose is in fact one reason we still need masks and passports. Whatever you think, the data are clear: where vaccination rates are lowest, infection and mortality rates are highest.
You are free to demonstrate, peacefully. You aren’t free to hurl threats and obscenities, harass and threaten.
And so, some requests. Please don’t co-opt our flag by wrapping yourselves in it as though you are its only defenders, and please don’t call yourselves patriots. You are undermining, not defending, what Canada is and stands for.
And please don’t think you are advocating on behalf of your ‘rights and freedoms.’ Being Canadian means we aren’t free: we need driver’s licences, we wear seatbelts, we pay taxes, we educate our children – with consequences when we don’t.
What makes Canada Canada? A commitment to fundamental individual rights, yes, but also to our common interests, and to safeguarding civil society. It is a fine balance, and our governments don’t always get it right. But not one of us has a pass to do what we want if that puts others at risk.
Where else do you want to live? There are very few countries that will give you the freedoms and guarantees you enjoy right here. We all need to be careful what we wish for.
Judith Gibson and Roy Sage, Nanaimo
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Convoy isn’t helping us get through pandemic
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