Community takes a stand against anti-masker rally

An anti-mask/anti-lockdown group is making its way across western Canada but did not hold an event at Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory as originally planned.

The Cross Canada Motorcade left Toronto on Saturday, Jul, 17, 2021, for northern Ontario after being asked by Tyendinaga officials and community members not to host its scheduled launch rally in the Mohawk Territory to begin the cross Canada event. 

“This event, Road To Freedom Cross Canada Motorcade, was to consist of anti-masker’s, anti-lockdown with ideals and values that do not align with the Indigenous values of our community. It was not sanctioned by any portion of the Tyendinaga community,” Tyendinaga Police Services Chief Jason Brant said in a release, dated Thursday, Jul. 15, 2021. 

“Opposition to this event was strong, to say the least, and the community was heard,” the release stated. “The Tyendinaga Police, with community involvement, were able to reach out to this group and it is no longer their intention to attend our Territory.”

According to Tyendinaga Police Services, the local contact for the Cross Canada Motorcade was not aware of the “intentions and beliefs” of the group when arrangements were being made for the event. This individual does not own a computer. 

The event was scheduled to take place in a field in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and though the group agreed not to show up on Saturday, Tyendinaga Police Services had blocked off the area as a precautionary measure. 

Though past Cross Canada Motorcade Facebook groups and GoFundMe pages have been taken down from social media, a current Facebook page lists a flexible schedule of events along the group’s journey to Nanaimo, British Columbia. The events are scheduled as follows: North Bay on Saturday, July 17, followed by Sudbury on Sunday, July 18, Calgary on Wednesday, July 21, and Vancouver Island, Nanaimo, on Saturday, July 24. The ‘Road to Freedom’ rally is scheduled to take part throughout Canada starting on Saturday, July 17 and ending two weeks later, on Saturday, July 31. Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Red Deer, Alberta, are other cities mentioned in the Cross Canada Motorcade tentative schedule; however, dates and locations have not yet been set for those cities yet (according to the Facebook page).

“We are about to take off on a motorcade tour across Canada on The Road to Freedom. … Stopping in cities to draw light to opening Canada back up and uniting our citizens,” the Cross Canada Motorcade Facebook page states. “We will have film crews broadcasting The Road to Freedom as well, which will reach millions of Canadians across the nation and have their eyes glued to us.”

For more information, visit the Cross Canada Motorcade Facebook page.

*Efforts were made by the Kingstonist to speak with someone from the Cross Canada Motorcade group, but there was no response from the group regarding a request for interviews by publication time.