It bears repeating that the Emergencies Act’s predecessor, the War Measures Act, was used only three times in Canadian history – twice during the world wars and once during a crisis brought on by a string of terrorist bombings and the kidnapping of two public officials (one of whom was killed).
Pierre Trudeau’s invocation of the War Measures Act in the most recent case remains controversial to this day, which should indicate how seriously its use is to be taken.
The Emergencies Act has a less menacing name and is broader in scope, but is still intended to be a last resort.
Crucial to Justin Trudeau’s response to the Freedom Convoy was his and the media’s efforts to brand convoy protesters as terrorists, insurrectionists, racists, white supremacists, and so on.
Opinion polls have consistently shown that Canadians backed Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act. If you take note of the steady stream of misinformation about the convoy peddled by the government and the media, this isn’t all that surprising. Right and wrong are not determined by the majority, however.
While there are still outstanding criminal charges, court challenges against the Emergencies Act, and the faint possibility of political accountability when the next election comes around, there’s also the question of what the convoy’s legacy will be.
The Freedom Convoy is already a chapter in Canadian history. (I was amused when Amazon moved my book on it from the politics category to the history category a couple of months ago). It’s one that bears remarkable similarities to another chapter, the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.
In December of 1837 – thirty years before Confederation – a group of rebels led by former Toronto mayor William Lyon Mackenzie planned to take control of Upper Canada. Upper Canada was a British colony formally governed by a colonial administration, but informally was under the control of a group of well-connected oligarchs dubbed the Family Compact.
All of Upper Canada’s British soldiers had been dispatched to Lower Canada (now Quebec) to deal with a rebellion unfolding there, so Mackenzie decided to strike. Through a combination of miscommunications, leaks, and tactical errors, Mackenzie’s rebels were intercepted at Montgomery’s Tavern on Yonge St. by a group of armed civilians loyal to the British. After a battle of no more than 30 minutes, the rebels were defeated and dispersed.
The most dedicated rebels persisted, with about 200 of them proclaiming the Republic of Canada on Navy Island in the Niagara River. This too would prove short-lived, with Mackenzie abandoning the island and fleeing to the United States a couple of weeks later.
He was imprisoned there. Other rebels were charged with treason or exiled to the United States.
In 1838, it was easy to say the Upper Canada Rebellion was a strategic, political, and military failure. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
The unrest that led to the rebellion (as well as the Lower Canada Rebellion) triggered an inquiry by Lord Durham that laid the groundwork for the institution of responsible government in British North America, and eventually Confederation.
Mackenzie returned to Canada just over a decade after the rebellion and ultimately became a member of the legislature, representing Haldimand County (now part of Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis’ riding).
Mackenzie was still a controversial figure, at times burned in effigy by detractors. But he only became more popular as time went on. Mackenzie went from being a villain and a traitor to a hero. A bust of him sits outside Queen’s Park in Toronto. As crazy as it sounds today, might there be a bust of Tamara Lich or a sculpture of a transport truck adorning Parliament Hill in half a century? Anything is possible.
The parallels between the Freedom Convoy and the Upper Canada Rebellion are not hard to find.
Both movements were taken up by loosely organized groups with leaders only in a nominal sense and no formal hierarchies.
Members of both groups were varied in their backgrounds, their reasons for participation, and their levels of the commitment, but generally united under a large umbrella (notwithstanding internal squabbling).
Convoy and rebellion leaders alike underestimated how many people would show up to support them. Conversely, their opponents underestimated the support these groups would receive.
Both the convoy and the rebels were vilified by the government and the press (which was largely beholden to the government, so take from that what you will). As a result, both enjoyed harsh unpopularity in some segments of the population, but tremendous popularity in others.
Both were quickly quashed by the government, though I’ll note the convoy easily outlasted the Battle of Montgomery’s Tavern. In both, the state tried to throw the book at a select few to make an example of them.
This isn’t a perfect comparison, of course. The Upper Canada Rebellion was, as the name suggests, an armed rebellion that literally sought to overthrow the government. The Freedom Convoy was a protest armed with bouncy castles and pig roasts (which makes the “treason” claims by its critics all the more laughable).
But if a guy who literally took up arms against his government can be elected to parliament and venerated as a hero, it’s not hard to imagine a world in which people whose crimes were honking and playing dance music could do the same.
A little while back I suggestively mentioned to Tamara Lich that her province of Alberta had an election coming up. She laughed (a reasonable reaction to me, admittedly) but I wasn’t joking.
The Upper Canada Rebellion shows how perspectives change over time as history illustrates a context that is muddled and obscured in the present. Just as yesterday’s conspiracy theorists on are being proven right by today’s official narratives, today’s villains can easily become tomorrow’s heroes.
If you enjoyed reading this, please do click the “Subscribe now” button above to never miss a future edition. This is a free newsletter, but we thank those who’ve opted to take out paid subscriptions to help keep the metaphorical lights on. If you’re interested in learning more about the Upper Canada Rebellion, William Kilbourn’s seminal biography of Mackenzie remains a fantastic read.
thanks for the history lesson! Interesting parallels. The arc of history bends towards justice.
I appreciate this article. It does help keep things in perspective whem considering the long arc of history. I hope that it bears out this way. It can be difficult to be optimistic while in the midst of it. My biggest question is whether or not Canada can reverse the current trajectory.