A new veterans freedom group that held a ceremony at the National War Memorial alongside the Rolling Thunder convoy event in Ottawa over the May 1 weekend says they hoped to “restore honour” to the memorial and help veterans heal.
“This weekend was about healing,” says Daryl Smith, a 21-year veteran of the Canadian Forces who co-founded the group Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F) which organized the event.
He says the event was needed after some of the veterans who joined the Freedom Convoy in solidarity with the truckers “to simply open channels of dialogue with the [Prime Minister], were beaten and arrested for simply standing up for freedom,” Smith told The Epoch Times.
“This weekend was about laying a wreath at the National War Memorial where the police violently removed peaceful, non-compliant veterans from.”
The authorities had also erected a fence around the memorial during the Freedom Convoy protest, which veterans later took down out of their own volition.
Veterans and supporters gathered for the event, and before the laying of the wreath, some veterans gave speeches, including retired military chaplain Harold Ristau, who led the group in prayer.
“I feel honoured to be here with this peaceful community who have taken the time to gather here in this beautiful patriotic effort,” Ristau said. “It takes a lot of courage in light of the partisan media and government narrative that continues to paint us even, sadly, as terrorists.”
While being part of the movement advocating freedom that has sprung up in recent months, V4F also took a stance against displays of signs that include an expletive to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“There’s a lot of the ‘F Trudeau' flags and shirts and that sort of thing. If you guys can maybe just put that away,” said V4F co-founder Andrew MacGillivray at the beginning of the April 30 event.
“With Vets 4 Freedom [...] we’re going to try and put an end to that sort of stuff because we want to be an example for young people, and having that on their flags and their shirts is not the way we’re going to be moving forward.”
Growing Numbers
V4F, which seeks to “restore fundamental freedoms for all Canadians,” is seeing rapid growth says Smith, with a “huge influx” of veterans joining.He says V4F was formed in concept after police removed the Freedom Convoy protest in February, and the organization was formally established in March.
“I assure you our recruiting numbers are out-matching the [Canadian Armed Forces] right now,” Smith quipped, referring to the military’s struggle to enlist new recruits amid a culture overhaul.
He says the group was processing over 500 applications before the Rolling Thunder event.
The group is also associating with well-known voices in the freedom movement.
Military regiments typically have an honourary colonel, and Smith says former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford will be filling that role for V4F.
Peckford is the last surviving architect of the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He attended and was a speaker at the Freedom Convoy protest, and he is suing the federal government over its vaccine mandate for travel by air, rail, and some marine vessels.
V4F has also teamed up with veteran James Topp who is currently walking from Vancouver to Ottawa to advocate for freedom and protest the vaccine mandates. Topp is expected to arrive in Ottawa in late June, and V4F is currently planning for that event.
