ESTEVAN - Two women took a flight to Ottawa in early February to see what was actually happening downtown in the nation’s capital.
Estevan's Stacey Wempe and Calgary's Trina Burgos, Wempe's "political friend" as she put it, went on a weekend trip to the capital on Feb. 5-8.
Wempe said she deliberately hasn't been watching the news for two years now. But she's been hearing about the truckers' Freedom Convoy, and with her history of involvement with the 2019 Convoy to Ottawa to oppose the Carbon Tax, she was interested to see how things were in reality.
And what they've witnessed in Ottawa turned out to be a very positive experience, she said.
"It was amazing," Wempe said in the interview with the Mercury. "It was very fun. Very empowering. People were just holding Canada flags and (billboards) saying 'freedom.'"
Wempe noted that the entire experience was peaceful and safe. She spoke to many people, including several restaurant owners, who said they were happy to have truckers around.
While the trucks were all parked downtown, Wempe said they would need to walk a bit to get places. She said there were a lot of families with their children and even bouncy castles set up for the little ones.
"It was safe. I was very safe. The police were nice to us. There is more police presence, but that's how it was when we went to Ottawa in 2019. That's normal. It's just normal for when people come to Ottawa. It's like if you go to Canada Day parade, it's all normal for that," Wempe said.
The police presence wasn't the only thing that reminded Wempe of the Canada Day parade, but the entire atmosphere at the protests was surprisingly positive, she said, much like if it was a big public holiday.
"I've never met such happy people. Because these mandates are going to be lifted. People were so happy and people were singing, there was music. It was amazing. People were cooking on the streets, people were helping each other out," Wempe shared.
"What I've been told is that they've never seen Ottawa this clean, that the truckers are keeping everything clean. I went through all that, and everything was clean. And they were feeding the homeless people. It was actually a very empowering experience," Wempe said.
She added that as far as they could see, all people were doing is talking and celebrating. They didn't see anything unlawful happening. And while there was a lot of police, that felt normal for such a big gathering and didn't feel threatening.
They met with other people from Saskatchewan and met people from all over the country including many from Quebec and Ontario.
"It's so diverse. And everyone was thinking the same thing. They wanted (the government) to end the mandates and just to live their life," Wempe noted. "It was like a family affair. It was all family. Grandmas, grandpas. One thing that the truckers did is they did unite everybody, united Canada."
The two friends had a little incident while in Ottawa. Burgos lost her wallet, but it was picked up by one of the protesters and returned to her, and the person refused to take any repayment. Wempe said the police were very helpful as well and assisted them in making the report and doing everything else required in a situation like this.
"It was an experience that I will probably never forget because of how positive it was," Wempe said. "For me (the protests), it's not even about political strife or anything like that, I think it's more that people want to get back to their life. And that's all people want, get back to seeing their loved ones and their friends and families and this is what the truckers in Ottawa were gathering for," Wempe said.
