This farmer's truck was towed at a COVID-19 anti-mandate protest. He wants you to hear him out.
CBC
Nathan Phillips had never been to a protest before.
But in early February, the 47-year-old grain farmer from Tisdale, Sask., decided he'd had enough with COVID-19 vaccine mandates from governments that he no longer trusted to do the right thing.
The divorced father-of-two packed granola bars and a sleeping bag into his white Dodge Ram on Feb. 5 and drove 300 kilometres to join a "Freedom Convoy" protest in Regina.
Organizers had vowed to surround the Saskatchewan Legislature with trucks and "occupy" the area until all public health orders were removed.
Phillips never imagined that his truck would be towed 36 hours later.
While he'd set off to find a "sense of belonging" and to exercise his democratic right, he left the protest feeling like a criminal, alone with no phone or truck.
Call him naive, he said, but he figured his right to protest trumped municipal bylaws.
"I was parked on a street. I'll own that no problem. But in considering the size of disruption from some of the other protests in Canada, I didn't think that the parking violation I was committing was worthy of the treatment I received from the police," he said.
The Regina Police Service (RPS) said parking on a roadway is an illegal act.
"When the actions of the protesters became unlawful, we took the appropriate steps to maintain peace," said RPS spokesperson Elizabeth Popowich in an email to CBC News.
Phillips said all protesters are being painted as extremists and criminals in Canada right now — and a small group of them likely are, he concedes — but that people have lost sight of the "ordinary, hardworking" people who simply feel compelled to speak out against government restrictions.
He's sharing his story because he believes more communication and understanding are needed.
Watch this Saskatchewan farmer describe how his truck was towed at a protest:
Phillips's path to the anti-mandate protest began nearly four years ago on April 6, 2018.
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