Canada’s trucker protests over vaccine mandates suggest a degree of religious influence, though it carries as much American as Canadian inspiration, reports the National Review magazine (February 14). Nate Hochman writes that “As more protesters flock to the Ottawa trucker convoy to protest Canada’s pandemic restrictions, the movement has taken on an explicitly Christian tone. Signs, makeshift food stands, and truck doors throughout the event are covered in Christian iconography and passages of Biblical scripture.” The protest’s daily “Jericho March,” with protestors walking a lap around Parliament Hill carrying horns and trumpets as a symbolic tribute to the Biblical story of Jericho, was clearly borrowed from the 2020 Jericho March protesting President Joseph Biden’s election. Hochman adds that religious faith colored the entire event he observed, which “kicked off with a series of short speeches, a prayer from a pastor, and a rendition of the Lord’s Prayer and the Canadian national anthem. The influx of Christians from across Canada was a new development, and a sign that the Ottawa protest is expanding beyond the truckers who initiated it.” While some of the truckers are Christians, the growing congregation of Christians at the convoy is a distinct group. Many of the protesters came from across the country, some embarking on multi-day trips just to get to the convoy.
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