# Petro-masculine Soundscapes: Music, Sound, and Violence at the 2022 Ottawa “Freedom Convoy”

*Paysages sonores pétro-masculins : musique, son et violence lors du « Convoi de la liberté » à Ottawa en 2022*

Allyson Rogers and Gale Franklin

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URL: https://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9630

DOI: 10.4000/15b06

ISSN: 2110-6134

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CRAL - Centre de recherche sur les arts et le langage

**Electronic reference**

Allyson Rogers and Gale Franklin, "Petro-masculine Soundscapes: Music, Sound, and Violence at the 2022 Ottawa "Freedom Convoy"", *Transposition* [Online], 13 | 2025, Online since 20 October 2025, connection on 13 January 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9630; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/15b06

This text was automatically generated on January 13, 2026.

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# Petro-masculine Soundscapes: Music, Sound, and Violence at the 2022 Ottawa “Freedom Convoy”

Paysages sonores pétro-masculins : musique, son et violence lors du « Convoi de la liberté » à Ottawa en 2022

Allyson Rogers and Gale Franklin

## Introduction

<footnote n="1">¹ In late January 2022, a series of truck convoys organized by right-wing activists converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada's national capital city, demanding that the federal government end all vaccine mandates and public health protocols related to COVID-19. While never a unified movement, opposition to pandemic-related health mandates became a rallying cry that brought together an assortment of right-wing groups with their various grievances related to carbon taxes, environmental protections, immigration, and perceived government overreach. Coalescing around ill-defined notions of freedom, the self-proclaimed “Freedom Convoy” (Convoi de la liberté) occupied more than ten square blocks in downtown Ottawa for nearly four weeks (Figure 1). A few kilometers away, organizers set up a command center where a military-style supply chain stockpiled and delivered food, fuel, and other provisions downtown, refueling the trucks and sustaining the occupation indefinitely in sub-zero temperatures¹. Idling trucks filled the air with toxic fumes (Figure 2) while gas cans and propane tanks lined the streets amidst open fires and fireworks being set off indiscriminately, all of which were serious safety hazards. Most downtown Ottawa businesses were forced to close, and essential services were limited. Police intervention was conspicuously restrained, enabling the Convoy to entrench itself and flout laws and regulations with relative impunity.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Map of downtown Ottawa outlining the “red zone” of the occupation.</figcaption></figure>

Source: City of Ottawa via Twitter.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2. Trucks parked on Wellington Street.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Véronic Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115097651, accessed July 3, 2025.

<footnote n="2">2 Music and sound were key characteristics of the occupation. The sound of trucks honking, engines revving, air horns, train horns, and amplified music routinely exceeded 100 decibels for prolonged periods, and were measured at 85-90 decibels inside nearby residences - sound levels capable of causing hearing damage,</footnote>
psychological harm, and other health problems². After ten days, a downtown resident obtained a court injunction prohibiting honking, which temporarily reduced sound levels, yet was ultimately unenforced³. Large sound systems and stages were set up in major intersections near Parliament Hill where DJs played mainstream popular and electronic dance music day and night to crowds of varying numbers, creating a festival-like atmosphere that included hot tubs, barbecues, and inflatable bouncy castles. While the sonic environment put many residents under extreme duress, it also drew people to the area, some of whom supported the Convoy, others who were ambivalent, and many who were eager to socialize after months of lockdowns and social distancing⁴. Despite the length of the occupation and considerable media attention, the Convoy did not attract endorsements or performances from celebrity musicians. Instead, the Convoy's mainstage became a platform for a wide range of amateur and semi-professional singers, songwriters, rappers, and DJs. Some performed original material, others sang cover tunes, most performed with backing tracks, and several lip-synced. Offstage, it was common to see mostly white people (sometimes draped in the national flag) banging on Indigenous hand drums, using them disruptively as noise-makers, playing along with recorded music, or in fake Indigenous ceremonies and round dances. These activities were condemned by local First Nations' leadership who issued a press release denouncing the entire Convoy movement⁵. While no single music genre or tradition defined the occupation, the most commonplace music was a mix of instrumental techno and Anglo-American Top 40 hits from the 1960s to the present (specific examples are discussed in detail below). Supporters routinely pointed to dance parties and musical performances as evidence of the occupation's peacefulness and popularity, heralding a post-pandemic return to in-person social activities, and appealing to received notions of music as inherently positive, edifying, and benign. Some enthusiasts mused that it was akin to Woodstock⁶.

3. Despite relentless efforts by supporters to highlight the alleged diversity and inclusivity of the Convoy, it was overwhelmingly dominated by white, middle-class, able-bodied men, and the truckers were mostly self-employed owner-operators rather than working class company drivers⁷. The occupation disproportionately affected racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+, elderly, disabled, and low-income residents who reported being harassed, physically assaulted, and intimidated throughout the occupation, leaving many trapped in their homes and feeling unsafe on the streets⁸. Those following the public mask mandate – including paramedics, health care workers, and business owners – were specifically targeted for harassment by Convoy participants. Local schools also reported that parents had been harassed by demonstrators while picking up their children⁹. Although organizers tried to downplay the Convoy's extremist far-right elements, they were at the core of the movement, and their presence was felt in the violence experienced on the ground, especially towards marginalized and vulnerable communities. Left to their own devices, residents mobilized within community networks to stay safe and meet their basic needs given the level of disruption to everyday life.

4. The constellation of beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes that produced the Convoy's thunderous soundscape is readily captured in Cara Daggett's concept of “petro-masculinity”¹⁰. Petro-masculinity articulates the combination of climate denial, racism, and misogyny that has become prevalent in right-wing authoritarian movements in Western countries, predominantly among white conservative men, and describes the
historic relationship between fossil fuels and white heteropatriarchal dominance. It captures the anxieties of transitioning away from fossil fuels to mitigate climate catastrophe, and of expanding human rights in ways that threaten the established socioeconomic order. As Daggett remarks, the tremendous desire to maintain the fossil economy, such that proponents are willing to accept and impose it through authoritarian means, suggests that it is not only about ensuring financial interests and fossil-fueled lifestyles, but also about securing cultural meaning and political subjectivities¹¹. The weaponization of vehicles and continuous supply of diesel and gas was the material basis of the Convoy, and demonstrators celebrated the burning of fossil fuels as a means of disruption, form of entertainment, and assertion of control (see Figures 3, 4, and 5). While the Convoy was premised on opposition to pandemic-related restrictions, the main organizers had deep connections to the Canadian pro-oil movement, and had staged similar convoys to protest both regulations on the Canadian oil and gas industries, and increasing immigration. This paper examines how music was used to provide a veneer of widespread support for the Convoy by playing into nationalist mythologies of Canadian multiculturalism, while evincing a kind of cultural extractivism that resonates with the logics of fossil fuel capitalism and settler colonialism.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. Demonstrators holding up gas cans in downtown Ottawa.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115242857, accessed July 3, 2025.
<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Figure 4. Hand-drawn "Gucci" label on a gas can worn as a purse.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115235010, accessed July 3, 2025.

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Figure 5. Gas cans stockpiled near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115236735, accessed July 3, 2025.
Methodological Approach in Studying the Convoy

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The Convoy generated an enormous volume of media, and online ethnography is one of the primary methods employed in this study. While both authors were living in Ottawa during the Convoy and visited the downtown sites, neither was living within the occupation zone, nor belonged to marginalized groups, and therefore did not experience the most violent effects of the occupation firsthand. Amateur livestreaming was a particularly rich source of data. At any given time, a dozen or more livestreamers were filming at various sites, mostly within the “red zone” downtown, but also in staging areas nearby, and many hoped to monetize their YouTube channels through extensive coverage. This study relies primarily on footage by Ottawalks, UOttawaScotty, and Viva Frei, who were present for nearly the entire occupation, filmed continuously for several hours each day, and whose archive from the Convoy remains publicly accessible on YouTube. From this footage, it was possible to assemble a detailed timeline of events, to observe the unfolding of the occupation day-by-day, and its dismantling over several days in mid-February. It was possible to track the construction of stages and expansion of sound systems, identify and catalog recorded music played at various sites, observe attendance and crowd behaviour at different locations, hear impromptu comments and chants, and note the visual culture (e.g., signs, flags, clothing, etc.) and other events taking place (e.g., barbecues, hockey games, prayer circles, etc.). Reporting by professional journalists was also an important source of information given that the Convoy was covered extensively by local and international news outlets.

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Other important primary sources were the video recordings and audio transcriptions of the two major public investigations into the Convoy that took place in the fall of 2022: the Public Order Emergence Commission (POEC)¹² and Ottawa People's Commission (OPC)¹³. The OPC was a community-generated initiative designed to document the experiences of Ottawa residents and provide a form of accountability for events that took place during the occupation. Community consultations were held between September and December, and more than two hundred Ottawa residents testified at fourteen public hearings. The OPC issued a two-part report, recounting the experiences of residents, and providing recommendations to the municipal government and policing institutions. Running parallel to the OPC was the POEC, led by Justice Paul Rouleau, and known as the Rouleau Commission. The invocation of the *Emergencies Act* by the federal government to end the occupation (from February 14 to 23, 2022) required that an official public inquiry be conducted, and a report submitted to Parliament assessing the circumstances leading to, and the measures taken during the declared public emergency. Public hearings were held from October to December, and the commission heard testimonies from Convoy organizers, participants, local residents, government officials, all levels of police (municipal, provincial, and federal), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and many others. The five-volume report issued by the commission contains thousands of pages of testimonies, a 260-page executive summary prepared by Justice Rouleau, more than 300 pages of analysis and recommendations, and seventeen policy papers. This generated another massive trove of data that provides some insight into the intentions and actions of key figures, and an account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the Convoy from multiple perspectives.
The Freedom Convoy and Right-Wing Populism in
Canada

Although the Canadian government projects and defends its image as a liberal, multicultural, and peacekeeping nation, it is also a settler-colonial state, and a leader in global extractive industries. The Alberta oil sands are the fourth largest known oil reserves in the world,¹⁴ and the extraction, storage, and transportation of fossil fuels has been promoted by those with vested interests in these industries not only as critical to the Canadian economy, but as a fundamental element of national identity¹⁵. Indeed, nation-building through resource extraction and large-scale infrastructure projects (e.g., railroads, highways, and pipelines) has been part of the dominant white masculine Anglo-Canadian imagination for more than a century¹⁶. The current development of the oil sands has had devastating environmental and social consequences, given the vast amount of water and energy required, staggering excavation of the landscape, and enormous volume of toxic emissions¹⁷. A report in *National Geographic* magazine calls it “the world’s most destructive oil operation,” and scientists have warned that further development will make limiting climate change extremely difficult, if not impossible¹⁸. The development of the Alberta oil sands not only threatens the health and well-being of those in close proximity to extraction sites, but also has planetary consequences.

In response to these dire assessments, media and environmental studies scholar Jordan Kinder has shown how the pro-oil movement in Canada has capitalized on the affordances of social media to mount an extensive propaganda campaign that attempts to rebrand Canadian oil as “ethical oil” – a concept initially put forward by Canadian right-wing media personality Ezra Levant¹⁹ – with the aim of expanding oil sands development and continuing the fossil fuel economy²⁰. These rebranding efforts leverage Canada’s official status as a liberal, democratic, and multicultural nation by presenting oil sands production as a force for social good, one that offers employment opportunities and economic prosperity to Canadians and Indigenous communities. Levant posits Canadian oil as a supposedly “ethical” alternative to oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Algeria, Mexico, and Venezuela, which he variously describes as “the world’s worst places,” pointing to human rights abuses, lack of environmental regulations, and undemocratic regimes²¹. Not only does this minimize the destruction wrought by oil sands production, it perpetuates racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic stereotypes while intentionally whitewashing Canada’s long history of structural racism and ongoing violence towards Indigenous peoples, racialized minorities, and other marginalized groups. Furthermore, it obscures histories of colonial violence perpetrated by Western countries in oil-producing regions, and the complicity of Western governments in upholding and benefiting from authoritarian regimes²². Kinder coins the term “petroturfing” to capture this phenomenon, which can be understood as part of broader “oil culture wars” taking place in Canada between progressive and conservative factions who have very different visions of the future²³. The pro-oil movement is deeply embedded in right-wing social media ecologies and tied to right-wing think tanks in Canada²⁴.

The Freedom Convoy sprang directly from this movement. Blatant expressions of the “righteousness of fossil fuel lifestyles,” and all the hierarchies embodied in petro-masculinity were part of the Convoy’s affective atmosphere and cultural space²⁵.
Conceptions of national identity and “freedom” around which demonstrators rallied were firmly rooted in white settler-colonial entitlement to land ownership, resources, unrestricted mobility, and the individual right to refuse governmental regulations without regard for the dire consequences their non-compliance might have for others²⁶. Their assertion of dominance, autonomy, contempt for vulnerable populations, and violence toward out-groups were overt displays of white supremacy. Participants claimed to speak for most Canadians, casting themselves as the “silent majority” and claiming to be patriots, a typical right-wing populist trope. They draped themselves in the national flag, organized hockey games (the sport most readily associated with Canadian nationalism, and with white, able-bodied, seemingly straight young men), wore hockey jerseys, sang the national anthem, and otherwise expressed their Canadianess, as they understood it. The influence of American right-wing groups was also prevalent, and the occupation was dotted with American, Confederate, and Gadsden flags, as well as Trump 2024 signs and MAGA hats. American right-wing media praised the Convoy, and Donald J. Trump immediately endorsed it on social media and at his rallies²⁷. A significant amount of funds donated to the Convoy came from US sources, although most funds were ultimately frozen and unavailable to Convoy organizers²⁸.

Throughout the occupation, Convoy sympathizers (including organizers, participants, and conservative media outlets) routinely highlighted the few racialized and Indigenous participants who were on-site as indicative of broad support, plugging into a long-standing nationalist mythology of Canadian multiculturalism. A prime example is the widely-circulated piece by Ottawa-based writer Rupa Subramanya (a frequent contributor to the right-leaning *National Post*) published in *The Free Press*, a US-based libertarian online magazine, in which she describes Convoy participants in the following way: "They came from across the country. Vaxxed, unvaxxed, white, black, Chinese, Sikh, Indian, alone or with their wives and kids"²⁹. The article includes stylized professional portraits of Convoy participants who are conspicuously representative of different ethnicities, and who explicitly reference their identities in the quotes Subramanya includes.

For the last fifty years, notions of Canadian identity and exceptionalism have been entangled with the Canadian government's official multicultural policies since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (father of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) introduced a broad-reaching Canadian Multiculturalism Policy in 1971, which was enshrined into law in the 1988 *Canadian Multiculturalism Act*. Official multiculturalism is a top-down policy intended to assure cultural freedom and recognize the contribution of diverse ethnic groups to Canadian society. However, it was designed to function within a bilingual and bicultural framework that recognizes Canada's two colonial powers as founding nations, thus continuing the ongoing erasure of Indigenous rights in the process. While official multiculturalism projects the idea of Canadians as inherently "responsible citizens, compassionate, caring, and committed to the values of diversity,"³⁰ this has often meant celebrating multicultural contributions in ways that do not threaten the existing political economic order, and reaffirm the core Canadian identity as white and Anglophone³¹. By claiming to have broad multicultural support, Convoy participants were drawing on powerful social currency and nationalist mythologies as a way of mainstreaming their views, many of which were rooted in nativist and xenophobic beliefs. While women and racialized performers appeared publicly on the Convoy's main stage, the core leadership were white Anglophone men who set up "command
centers” in downtown Ottawa hotels where they held meetings and press conferences, consulted with lawyers, and generally strategized away from the protest outside³².

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Like other right-wing populist movements internationally, the Convoy appropriated rhetoric and tactics from progressive social movements in an attempt to normalize their views, expand their networks, and position themselves within a broader human rights struggle. The Convoy appropriated the feminist “my body, my choice” slogan in relation to COVID-19 vaccination mandates; hijacked the Indigenous “Every Child Matters” campaign commemorating the intergenerational impact of Indian Residential Schools; and egregiously modified “Black Lives Matter” into “Black Smoke Matters.” They framed their refusal of masks and vaccines as conscientious acts of civil disobedience against a tyrannical government. Likewise, they appropriated popular music connected with historic antiracist and anti-imperialist struggles to express their moral righteousness and alleged continuity with international human rights movements. The Convoy itself was a blockade, a tactic and technique that has long been used by Indigenous peoples in these territories as a way of asserting their authority over, and relationship to, their Ancestral lands³³. Ottawa is situated on unceded Algonquin territory, yet Convoy organizers did not consult with Algonquin peoples or engage in respectful visiting protocols, which is standard practice for large or sustained gatherings on Algonquin territory. Demonstrators roamed through the occupation banging on Indigenous frame drums, held faux Indigenous “ceremonies” on-site, and appropriated Indigenous music and round dance, all without consultation or consent from Algonquin nations (see Figure 9).

## Yellow Vests Canada and the Freedom Convoy

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The 2022 Freedom Convoy was rooted in the 2018 *Yellow Vests Canada* movement (YVC), which co-opted and tried to build on the momentum of the *gilets jaunes* movement in France³⁴. Contra the French *gilets jaunes* who framed increasing fuel taxes as class warfare, the YVC made no such critique and articulated a different set of demands particular to the Canadian context³⁵. The YVC demanded unfettered expansion of Canadian fossil fuel industries, limits on foreign oil imports, decreased environmental regulations, repeal of all carbon taxes, and aggressive anti-immigration policies. Although a sense of economic insecurity was part of their motivation, rather than highlighting the class dimension they pointed to right-wing conspiracies such as the “great replacement” theory, “great reset,” and “globalist agenda” as explanations, scapegoating immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and other marginalized groups rather than critiquing political and economic elites³⁶. As such, the YVC’s demands posed no real threat to the dominant mode of production, state power, or corporate greed in Canada. Theirs was a defence of the status quo, the continuation of the fossil economy, and reassertion of white masculine dominance. The movement’s racist, nativist, and homophobic foundation was difficult to conceal, and its aims were steeped in climate change denial. In February 2019, the YVC organized the truck convoy “United We Roll” that staged a two-day rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa with a few hundred trucks. This was in many ways a trial run for the 2022 Freedom Convoy, which involved many of the same people and organizers.

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Initial discussions for the 2022 Convoy began online between long-haul trucker Brigitte Belton and truck company owner Chris Barber, both of whom refused to wear a mask or
be vaccinated against COVID-19. They were incensed when, as of 15 January 2022, truckers crossing the Canada-US border were either required to be vaccinated, or to quarantine for fourteen days³⁷. Belton and Barber were joined by Alberta right-wing activist James Bauder, who had cofounded an anti-health-mandate group called Canada Unity, and had taken part in United We Roll. In August 2021, Bauder posted the following call on Facebook: "If you have a Semi Truck and are willing to step up to save our Great Nation from becoming Chinada text me"³⁸. The idea that Trudeau was implementing Chinese-style communism in Canada was a common trope at the Convoy (Figure 6). That and other related conspiracies involving China were ultimately made manifest as antiAsian violence in Ottawa³⁹. On 28 September 2021, Bauder posted a link to a "Memorandum of Understanding" prepared by Canada Unity, which functioned like a petition, and demanded that a new government be formed with members of Canada Unity (representing the "People of Canada"), the Governor General, and the Senate⁴⁰. The document effectively plotted a coup, and was eventually rescinded during the occupation.

Prominent members of the YVC and other right-wing activists soon came onboard, including far-right social media personalities Pat King, Benjamin Ditcher, and Jeremy Mackenzie⁴¹. King was known for his violent rhetoric and his claims on social media that COVID-19 vaccines were meant to "track you, follow you, know your every movement," and that Muslims, gay, and racialized people were involved in an endgame to "de populate the Anglo-Saxon race," who King claims have the "strongest bloodlines"⁴². Tamara Lich, an ex-oil and gas worker, YVC organizer, and former board member of the Western separatist Maverick Party, became a key figure and public face of the Convoy. She was in charge of the millions of dollars raised on crowdfunding platforms including GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, the latter a Christian fundamentalist platform that has hosted far-right fundraising campaigns in the US⁴³. The Convoy received funding from numerous wealthy business owners and investors (many based in the US),⁴⁴ including Saskatchewan-based businessperson Joseph Bourgault who spent CAD$100,000 on hotel rooms in Ottawa for Convoy protesters⁴⁵. These were yet more indicators that this was not primarily a working-class revolt, but rather an assortment of wealthy professionals and small business owners (i.e., a revolt of the *petite bourgeoisie*)⁴⁶.

Lich strategically evoked her self-proclaimed Métis heritage throughout the planning stages and occupation. In messages exchanged between Lich and Barber prior to their arrival in Ottawa – which were entered as evidence by the Crown at Lich’s bail hearing, following her arrest on 17 February 2022 – they discuss playing the “race card” to improve their public image, and to garner more support for the Convoy⁴⁷. They expressed concern that the overt white nationalist rhetoric of King and others could be problematic for public relations (although they did not personally find it troubling), and felt they needed to counter this discourse from the outset, joking that “playing the race card works both ways lol,” and concluding, “it’s going to work in our favour”⁴⁸. Barber added that his wife is Métis, and Bauder that his wife is Algonquin⁴⁹.

Although Convoy supporters claimed to have widespread support, and vehemently dismissed public accusations that they were a “fringe minority” (see Figure 7), it was an unpopular movement, and condemned by most truckers⁵⁰. The *Canadian Trucking Alliance, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, Teamsters Canada* (representing fifteen thousand long-haul truckers, 90% of whom were reportedly vaccinated) and the *Public*
*Service Alliance of Canada* (one of Canada's largest unions), all issued statements denouncing the Convoy⁵¹. Unlike the *gilets jaunes* who at one point enjoyed a 73% approval rating among the French population,⁵² an opinion poll from the Angus Reid Institute during the Freedom Convoy revealed that 72% of Canadians wanted the Convoy protesters to “go home now,” and 44% of responders said the Convoy occupation made them *more* inclined to support pandemic-related health mandates⁵³. Rates of vaccination in Canada were generally very high. As of early January 2022, Health Canada reported that 88% of the Canadian population over twelve years old had received a full vaccination series⁵⁴. It was therefore clear that the Convoy's antivaccine and antimask crusade did not, in fact, resonate with the broader population that had largely complied with public health regulations. Although the Convoy had drawn participants from across the country, peak attendance was estimated at only ten thousand⁵⁵.

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Figure 6: Among a crowd at the Crane Stage, a demonstrator holds a sign that reads "Go Home Castro Jr., Free Canada," in reference to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115278123, accessed July 9, 2025.
<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>Figure 7. Demonstrators near the Office of the Prime Minister at the corner of Wellington and Metcalfe Streets. A yellow Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flag is visible, as are numerous Canadian flags, a Québécois flag, and a sign that says "We Are the Fringe."</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115235023, accessed July 9, 2025.

## The Main (Crane) Stage

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Trucks began arriving in Ottawa on Friday 28 January, and the protest gained momentum over the weekend. By Saturday afternoon, a boom truck from Alberta was parked at the intersection of Wellington Street (in front of Parliament Hill) and Metcalfe Street (perpendicular to Wellington Street, with the Prime Minister's Office on the southeast corner). The truck suspended a Canadian flag on its crane, and the flatbed became the convoy's "mainstage," or "crane stage," as it was called. The initial sound system was an array of six mid-sized speakers on stands pointing in all directions, which already exceeded the modest legal limit of two 300-watt speakers for publicly organized events on Parliament Hill⁵⁶. The set up evolved over the next three weeks: larger speakers, lighting banks, and kerosene patio heaters were added by the second weekend, and a huge LED video screen was constructed on the third weekend, requiring metal scaffolding (Figure 8).
<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>Figure 8: Trista Suke performs on the Crane Stage, February 12, 2022.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Maksim Sokolov CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Programming on the Crane Stage typically started around ten o'clock in the morning and ended around ten o'clock at night, with breaks in between. In many ways, it operated like an "open mic," and as a platform for an eclectic mix of programming that was loosely guided by volunteer stage managers, emcees, and technicians. It became a focal point for the occupation, and a participatory space where supporters could perform, give testimonials, and make announcements to the crowd. Benita Pederson, a well-known organizer for the right-wing separatist "Take Back Alberta" movement, was a frequent host during the second and third weeks, as was Bethan Nodwell, a former nurse who quit her job when the COVID-19 vaccine was mandated for healthcare workers. Pederson's banter typically called for peace, love, and unity, urging demonstrators to behave peacefully and to "be nice to the police"⁵⁷. She also repeatedly used the phrase "love wins," appropriating a 2SLGBTQIA+ slogan that became popular after same-sex couples won the right to marry in the US in 2015. In an interview with Tammy Peterson (wife of Canadian psychologist and far-right personality Jordan B. Peterson), Nodwell explained that she asked participants to avoid telling depressing personal stories or singing sad songs, and instead encouraged them to emphasize the hope they saw in the Convoy⁵⁸. She also recalls that Jordan Peterson advised the stage managers to "be playful, keep it fun, and keep it light," which Nodwell says inspired them to invite musicians of all kinds to perform on the Crane Stage. Despite their intention of setting a positive tone, police received a deluge of calls from Ottawa residents reporting hate-fueled violence and harassment by demonstrators during the first weekend, suggesting the Convoy was not, in fact, peaceful⁵⁹. Reports from that weekend included complaints that demonstrators were dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier⁶⁰, and that others demanded to be fed at a local homeless shelter, and hurled racist slurs at the staff when they were turned away⁶¹.

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The sonic intensity and fumes from the trucks, sound systems, gas generators, cranes, and other machinery that sustained the occupation was an overt display of dominance
over the space, and a source of exhilaration for supporters. In addition to the sound
systems and honking horns, trucks routinely revved their engines and backfired to
enthusiastic cheers from spectators. Speakers and musicians on the Crane Stage were
often drowned out by honking, yet the crowds cheered, and Lich described the
cacophony as “music to my ears”⁶². Many revelled in the sonic harm they were causing
Ottawa residents. In a video posted online, organizer Pat King laughed at residents’
inability to sleep due to the relentless sound of the Convoy⁶³. The charge that urban
residents were weak and too easily disturbed was captured in Lich’s testimony to the
Rouleau Commission during which she compared the noise and pollution of the Convoy
to oil rigs, suggesting that if oil and gas workers could endure such conditions on a
daily basis, surely Ottawa residents, who benefit from the labour of oil workers, should
stop complaining⁶⁴. Under cross-examination by lawyer Paul Champ, Bauder defended
his colleagues’ habit of referring to the Prime Minister as “Justine” Trudeau in the
following statement: “As an alpha male trucker, oil patch, farm boy kind of guy, and
seeing old little Miss Trudeau there in his boxing shorts, with his juice box water bottle
sort of things, yeah, we call him Justine”⁶⁵. Their ability to control the sonic
environment and inflict pain was a huge source of pleasure, and indicative of the
authoritarian impulses and disdain for care animating petro-masculinity⁶⁶. That the
liberal establishment in Ottawa – including the police, courts, and government –
appeared powerless to stop it was further proof of their dominance over a system they
characterized on one hand as feminine and weak, yet on the other hand as tyrannical
and autocratic.

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The Convoy's ability to stage a spectacular festival-like event in a downtown urban
center for over three weeks hinged on the virtual suspension of law enforcement on-
site, an affordance that demonstrators understood and exploited to the fullest extent.
This leniency is in stark contrast to protests for Indigenous rights, Black Lives Matter,
climate action, and other progressive movements in Canada, which are often met with
immediate and severe police violence⁶⁷. The Rouleau Commission revealed that neither
the municipal government nor its police force had prepared for the possibility that the
truckers might refuse to leave. In public hearings, police and municipal officials
claimed they had every reason to believe that the protest would be lawful (although
Convoy organizers never applied for permits, and none were issued); that the Convoy
would leave after the first weekend (although organizers repeatedly announced on
social media that they would not); and that the protest would not be violent. The
Interim Police Chief explicitly cited the white middle-class demographic of the Convoy
as “unusual,” and ignored the fact that some organizers were known far-right
extremists with histories of violence⁶⁸. Having allowed and assisted hundreds of semi-
trailer trucks and numerous far-right activists into downtown Ottawa, and having
failed to create a contingency plan should they refuse to leave, the police abandoned
by-law enforcement on the first weekend, claiming that they were unequipped to
handle the logistics involved, and to intervene forcefully might exacerbate an already
dangerous and unpredictable situation⁶⁹. Moreover, there was ample evidence of police
supporting the Convoy⁷⁰ – officers were filmed taking selfies⁷¹, high-fiving, and verbally
expressing their support online⁷².
## Singer-Songwriters

22

Singer-songwriters who performed at the Convoy typically sang with backing tracks, or accompanied themselves on acoustic guitar. The sub-zero temperatures were undeniably a challenge for acoustic instruments, and no full bands performed. Christian content was prevalent in the songwriters' original material, as were lyrics implicitly or explicitly denouncing the health mandates and Trudeau government. Several performers announced that they were giving a debut performance or presenting their latest single, using the Convoy as an opportunity for marketing and promotion. Others retained a level of anonymity, providing only a first name, pseudonym, or in some cases, no identification.

23

Trista Suke, a young, white, gospel singer from Toronto performed frequently during the first two weeks, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. Suke explained that her (debut) single "Smile" was inspired by the frustration of not seeing the smiles of people wearing masks, adding that God had taken Trudeau's evil mandates and turned them into something positive by bringing the Convoy together. Suke was also filmed playing a melodramatic version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" inside the Convoy's mess tent at the Coventry Road command centre, a space that was tightly controlled by occupiers<sup>73</sup>. Ironically, while this song has been superficially co-opted by the Christian right as a type of contemporary Christian hymn, the lyrics (written by the Jewish-Canadian Cohen) are decidedly secular and replete with sexual innuendos and references that this demographic routinely condemns as immoral, and attempts to legislate against. Two versions of the song were played at the Republican National Convention in August 2020 following Trump's acceptance of the presidential nomination, and it has been played at subsequent Trump rallies despite legal threats from the Cohen estate<sup>74</sup>.

24

Following Suke on the Crane Stage on the first Sunday was a short *a cappella* performance by a local Black artist singing the chorus from his debut single "Promising," a song he tried to teach the audience, hoping they would sing along: "There is only one race, and it's the human race." The theme of peace, love, and unity was echoed later in the afternoon when a Crane Stage DJ played a series of Bob Marley tunes, including "One Love," "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," and "Get Up, Stand Up," all of which appear on *Legend* (1984), the mass-marketed posthumous collection of Marley's Top 40 hits, and were played repeatedly throughout the occupation. Notably, *Legend* excludes Marley's more overtly political material and sharper sociopolitical critique in favour of love songs<sup>75</sup>. The commercialized Marley songs were easily co-opted to suit the depoliticized notions of peace and equality proffered by participants and emcees, who generally espoused a "colour-blind" ideology towards race while claiming to be part of an historic civil rights movement.

25

On the second weekend, a singer-songwriter on the Crane Stage announced that he had just written a new song inspired by the Convoy, called "Hey Mr. Prime Minister"<sup>76</sup>. He talked the audience through the lyrics of the chorus, asking them to sing along: "Hey, Mr. Prime Minister, pin a tail on a donkey with no heart, quit courting hell and sister sinister, tearing worlds apart, laughing, leaving people in the dark". He sang to a backing track in a country rock style. Later that evening, local Haitian-Canadian R&B artist Almyr Jules and DJ Acie performed a set. Although he often performs with a live band, Jules sang along with backing tracks at the Convoy. His original songs mixed pop,
funk, dance and R&B styles and were not overtly political until he played Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” and urged the crowd to stand up for their rights and for freedom.

26

The momentum of the second weekend spilled into the following week. On Tuesday afternoon, Pederson introduced another young, white, evangelical Christian singer-songwriter, Haley Lewis from British Columbia (BC). Lewis, who had performed at several “freedom” rallies in BC, sang a few original country rock songs with a backing track, including “(God Keep My) Head Above Water” and “Let Me Tell You About My Jesus”<sup>77</sup>. While her lyrics did not directly address the Convoy’s grievances, throughout the occupation, notions of “freedom through Jesus Christ” and “God-given freedoms” were readily translated into “freedom” from public health regulations, as Ottawa scholar-activists Chris Dixon and Alexis Shotwell remark<sup>78</sup>. Speakers and performers often referenced their Christian faith, and many claimed to have been directed to the Convoy by God, including Suke, Lewis, and organizer James Bauder. Evangelical Christian culture thus served as an important recruitment and organizing principle, with church services, baptisms, and testimonials taking place in the streets and on stage<sup>79</sup>. Tellingly, the only self-imposed ban on honking was on Sunday mornings to allow for church services on-site.

27

Cover tunes were popular on the Crane Stage, and performers played various rock, pop, and folk hits. Lyrics were readily stripped of their original meaning and reframed to bolster the Convoy, even when doing so involved a considerable conceptual stretch. For instance, references to freedom in the opening lines of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream it’s Over” (“there is freedom without, there is freedom within”) sparked the chanting of “freedom, freedom, freedom” by the crowd. After playing a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” the singer began chanting “break the silence, break the silence” and the crowd followed. While there was a sizable Québécois presence, most of the music, both live and recorded, was in English, as were the testimonials and announcements onstage. There were occasional performances in other languages, such as a French-language version of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a Changin’” (with significant artistic license taken). However, when the Québécois singer finished the Dylan song, he spoke to the crowd of a few hundred people in French, and had trouble engaging them. Their lack of response suggested a significant language barrier, since audience engagement was typically very high. He continued with an English version of “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers. On the third weekend, the Crane Stage host, Jason, taught an enthusiastic crowd a dance routine to Justin Timberlake’s popular hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” partly as a strategy for keeping warm in freezing temperatures. All of this helped to build a sense of community around the Crane Stage, and it became a principal place for demonstrators to socialize, exchange information, and express themselves.

## “Red Pill” Rappers

28

On the second weekend of the occupation, white rappers Mitch Murphy (known as The Red Pill Rapper) and RC the Rapper – both from Kelowna, BC – performed a series of their original antivaccine songs: “Friends,” “Just Say No,” and “The Truth”<sup>80</sup>. Music videos for each song were posted online, and they performed live with the studio recording, singing along with the lead vocal track or lip-syncing. RC performed the first two songs and Murphy joined in for the last, clad in the yellow Gadsden “Don’t Tread
on Me" flag, as he usually is for public performances<sup>81</sup>. As his moniker suggests, Murphy, The Red Pill Rapper, is heavily involved in the manosphere and far-right conspiracy groups online<sup>82</sup>. His views are virulently antiMuslim, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and white supremacist. While both RC and Murphy are devoted Christians, and this is frequently reflected in their lyrics, Murphy recently announced that he had converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity<sup>83</sup>. This denomination has been drawing in conservative Christians in North America, and Murphy interprets its doctrine as validating his bigoted and ultra-conservative views<sup>84</sup>.

29 "Friends," by RC, is about friendships that were strained or ended over unresolvable disputes about the severity of COVID-19, and public health measures that were implemented to mitigate its spread. RC pleads in the lyrical chorus: "I'm not your enemy, but you don't want me near, that don't make sense, we all got enemies, now what we need is friends". In the verses, he describes the dangers of COVID-19 as a matter of opinion, and decries that it has become a "crime to have an open mind and see it different". He victim-blames those around him who are concerned about catching the virus, suggesting that "the cost of never seeing a smile" (mask-wearing) may be worse. He blames an abstract and unspecified "they" (ostensibly liberal elites) who he insists are nefariously using the virus and health protocols to divide and control the population. For RC, the virus is benign and uncontrollable ("can we really control the virus with some arrows in an aisle?" he raps); he is skeptical of public health experts, and shocked and angered that he has become "the enemy for questioning what they tell me". RC raps the verses live, and then lip-syncs the melodic and sung chorus. The song has a mid-tempo generic hip-hop groove in standard 4/4 time. Over the last chorus, RC stops lip-syncing and shouts to the crowd, "we are peaceful, we are Canada, we represent the world!" – apparently projecting their status as the "silent majority" worldwide.

30 RC claims that he is performing the next song, "Just Say No," by popular request. It is another mid-tempo tune, with beats similar to "Friends," although this one has sampled classical synth strings layered overtop, which was popular in early-2000s New York boom-bap. RC's rapping is much angrier and more aggressive, defiantly calling the audience to "Just Say No!" to the COVID-19 vaccine. RC uses this advertising slogan from the Reagan-era War on Drugs, a campaign that ultimately targeted and incarcerated Black Americans at far higher rates than the white population, and had a devastating impact on Black communities<sup>85</sup>. The campaign (pioneered by Nancy Reagan) effectively created a moral panic to justify harsher drug-related penalties, notwithstanding that US government statistics suggested a decline in drug use in the early 1980s<sup>86</sup>. The slogan could be seen on signs at the Convoy, and was therefore already part of its discursive space; however, RC uses it while appropriating a form of Black cultural expression that sprang from the devastating consequences of those same policies and other forms of institutional racism. The lyrics perpetuate disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming that they are not fully approved, that they are a scam, that more people are dying from the vaccine than the virus, and that embedded microchips are involved. Again, RC raps along with the recording, however his vocals do not always match up, and there are audible discrepancies.

31 RC invites Murphy up from the crowd to perform "The Truth," a collaborative effort. This track deals with many of the same themes, although the emphasis is on telling people the "truth," and exposing the ostensible lies disseminated by the government,
mainstream media, education system, and medical establishment. There are several references to God and guns, and an explicitly transphobic line, claiming that transitioning is contrary to God's will. Murphy attempts a much more virtuosic style of rap with complex syncopations, triplet flow, and internal rhymes. However, he often cannot keep up with his lead vocal track. The producer for the track is listed as Jesse Glendinning, another white rapper and producer in Kelowna, and the beats are more complex with an oscillating TR-808 bass and classical string synth pads throughout.

32

Despite the global commercial success of hip-hop, and its popularity among white audiences – particularly young white men – it remains coded as an urban Black genre. White rappers – such as The Beastie Boys, House of Pain, and Eminem – have had to prove their skills and negotiate their racial and class identities to establish credibility and achieve success in African-American hip-hop scenes. This means negotiating issues of social marginalization in a genre where whiteness represents privilege⁸⁷. White rapper Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle) famously lost all credibility when his story about growing up in a lower-class urban Miami neighbourhood, and being involved in gangs and crime, was debunked and it was revealed that he had actually grown up in an upper-middle class home in suburban Dallas⁸⁸. Eminem honed his skills in African American hip-hop scenes, yet it is only when he explicitly reckoned with his whiteness, and placed it forefront in his music, that he was embraced by eminent Black hip-hop producers⁸⁹. RC and Murphy mix elements of gangsta rap – one of the most commercialized sub-genres, characterized by its hypermasculine bravado, references to violence, and its misogynist, sexist, and homophobic language – with social commentary, mobilizing the anti-establishment connotations of hip-hop, and claiming underdog status without explicitly situating themselves in terms of race and class. It is notable that they live in a small city in the interior of BC, and filmed their video for “The Truth” in a health-conscious bistro called The Fig, and on a motor boat, all of which connote a white middle-class suburban lifestyle. There is little to suggest they are victims of systemic oppression, disenfranchisement, and socioeconomic hardship.

33

Ultimately, RC and Murphy's songs are stylistically derivative with square rhythms that are easier to imitate than other hip-hop genres (trap and horror-rap, for example). They require studio production techniques to realize their performances given that their live rapping skills are limited. While lip-syncing and rapping over backing tracks has become more common in mainstream and commercial hip-hop, it still raises questions about authenticity and legitimacy, attributes that are already difficult for white rappers to establish⁹⁰. Displays of lyrical and rhythmic virtuosity earn respect in hip-hop scenes, and the literary strategies of signifying and intertextuality that characterize Black forms of cultural expression are integral to the genre⁹¹. Rap artists typically cite other rappers, reference other styles and specific locations to situate themselves historically and geographically within the genre and hip-hop culture more generally. Competition between rappers is also a defining feature of hip-hop, and legendary rap battles are part of the genre's lore⁹². These elements are noticeably lacking in RC and Murphy's performance. Their music and lyrics are entirely literal, lacking any double-voicing, references, innuendo, or ambiguity that would signal a sincere engagement with hip-hop culture.

34

Moreover, their performance suggests a dubious equivalence between their alleged social marginalization for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, and the measurably higher risks of dying from the virus faced by racialized communities. Black Canadians were
disproportionately exposed to COVID-19, and had higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and mortality due to systemic racism in the labour, health, and education sectors⁹³. The spread of disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and protocols exacerbated this situation, causing direct and disproportionate harm to Black communities. RC and Murphy appropriate the most antisocial, sexist, homophobic, and violent aspects of hip-hop – elements that are routinely used to discredit Black culture, to blame it for an array of social ills, and to demonize Black men as a group⁹⁴ – using it to posture as victims of oppression while perpetuating harm to historically marginalized communities.

## The Convoy Playlist

35

Between live performances and testimonials given on the Crane Stage, there was typically a DJ playing a mix of pop, rock, and dance music. While no single genre dominated the occupation, there were notable trends and songs that were played repeatedly. Songs that superficially referenced freedom, unity, and love were popular, and adapted to the context, as were those with rebellious and anti-establishment sentiments. Marley's anticolonial "Get Up, Stand Up" and Twisted Sister's irreverent "We're Not Gonna Take It" were equally useful in channeling occupiers' outrage and perceived sense of marginalization, and easily recontextualized for different political aims and propagandist activities.

36

A mainstay of the Convoy was The Beastie Boys 1986 hit, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)." While the song was written as an ironic commentary on the apathy, narcissism, and privilege of white frat boy culture, and not as a straightforward call to resist unjust authority – which, in the song, amounts to teenage rebellion against parents and school – this nuance is often lost on audiences⁹⁵. It is particularly ironic as a de facto anthem for the Convoy, which was in many ways akin to a stereotypical frat party given the binge drinking, loud music, and willfully dangerous activities taking place on site, especially on the weekends. Many of the grievances expressed by demonstrators amounted to asserting their right to dine indoors, resume indoor sports, get together in large groups, and generally return to normal social activities that public health experts determined were likely to spread the virus, prolong the pandemic, and increase its mortality.

37

Another song played repeatedly was the charity single "We Are the World" (1985), written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie to raise money for the famine caused by the Ethiopian civil war. The song was performed by United Artists for Africa, a conspicuously multicultural group of celebrity artists that included Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Dionne Warwick, and Tina Turner. The lyrics are ambiguous and platitudinous, lending themselves to multiple interpretations and applications. One can only speculate about the various meanings assigned to the song by Convoy participants, however, "We Are the World" makes numerous references to children, the presence of whom was routinely invoked to signal the righteousness of their cause and conceal its violence. According to Ottawa Police, roughly a quarter of the trucks parked downtown had families with children living in them⁹⁶. Demonstrators used them as evidence of the Convoy's family-friendly environment, yet also as human shields, warning that children might get in the way if authorities tried to intervene. The safety of children
on-site thus became a significant concern, and children were weaponized to protect the
occupation⁹⁷.

38

The intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive – near the Byward Market and a few blocks east of the Crane Stage – became another well-known party scene. The site was primarily controlled by a group from Quebec who consistently defied calls from both Convoy organizers and the police to leave emergency lanes clear and take other safety precautions⁹⁸. Open fires and barbecues were continually lit, and stockpiles of wood were kept near the intersection. Similar to the Crane Stage, the sound system at Rideau/Sussex grew each week. On the first weekend there was only a small system with a few speakers; however, by the second weekend, this had increased to at least eight large speakers and five bass bins strapped together running on three gas generators, all loaded onto a flatbed truck. A DJ station was set up on another flatbed next to the speakers, and was controlled by a handful of middle-aged white men in snowmobiling gear who generally did not speak to the crowd or act as emcees. It was typically high-energy, mostly Top 40 hits from the last forty years, or instrumental techno. Repeat plays included “Pump it Up” (2019) by Danzel, “Mr. Vain” (1993) by Culture Beat, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party),” by the Beastie Boys, “Uptown Funk” (2015) by Mark Ronson, “Without Me” (2002) by Eminem, and “I Like to Move It” (1994) by Real 2 Real.

39

The mainstream soundtrack was music one might hear at a typical pub, nightclub, or hockey game in Canada, and ostensibly signaled that the Convoy was not a niche group of far-right extremists, but rather a broad section of the population with more conventional sensibilities and political views. This is in keeping with a general trend that can be observed as far-right activists and organizations seek power in mainstream political institutions and spaces⁹⁹. While contemporary far-right movements have been variously associated with genres such as neo-Nazi punk, National Socialism black metal, and other white power music – genres characterized by their harsh distortion, dissonance, hate-filled lyrics, and overtly white supremacist content – musicologist Samuel de Boise remarks that as far-right movements attempt to infiltrate mainstream organizations, they have simultaneously shed their public association with more extremist political ideologues as well as extreme musical genres, embracing mainstream popular musical styles in their media and public events to broaden their appeal¹⁰⁰. For example, the playlists for Trump's rallies have been an eclectic mix of popular music that favours classic rock and pop hits from the 1970s and 1980s¹⁰¹. To a certain extent, this may be a reflection of Trump's boomer palette, as James Deaville remarks,¹⁰² yet it also evokes nostalgia for an era of American prosperity and dominance – one built on cheap and abundant fossil fuels – to which Trump pays homage and promises to reclaim. Music at the Convoy was much more decentralized, and undoubtedly reflected the tastes of those motivated to perform and DJ. While the emcees and managers on the Crane Stage generally heeded Jordan Peterson's advice to keep the atmosphere playful, fun, and light, the often inchoate mix and appropriation music was in many ways analogous to the contradictory rhetoric and demands expressed onstage, and throughout the Convoy.
Extracting Indigeneity at the Convoy

40

Aspects of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis culture and knowledge have been frequently
reconceptualized and remythologized as the foundation of a distinctly Canadian
identity, advancing a revisionist nationalist narrative that effaces the historic and
ongoing violence towards Indigenous peoples while recouping their contributions and
territories for the State¹⁰³. Indigenous music and dance are often incorporated into
national events and holidays in ways that bolster the notion of Canada as a peaceful
and multicultural society, and obscure treaty violations, human rights abuses, and
ongoing settler colonial violence and dispossession perpetrated by the State. In these
nationalist displays, Indigenous performances are inevitably stripped of traditional
protocols and presented in ways that do not disrupt the nationalist narrative. This
reinforces what Indigenous scholar Dylan Robinson (Stó:lō/Skwah) describes as the
"multicultural extractivist complex at the heart of Canadian exceptionalism"¹⁰⁴.
Canadian composers and musicians have routinely mined recordings and transcriptions
of Indigenous music, treating musical materials as "natural resources" that can
enhance and be assimilated into their work, without considering nation-specific
protocols or building reciprocal relationships¹⁰⁵. In this way, Indigenous cultural
practices become what Aileen Morton-Robinson calls "white possessions" that can be
extracted, decontextualized and appropriated to reinforce the settler colonial
project¹⁰⁶. This process of cultural extraction mirrors the violent seizure of land as
Indigenous territories continue to be mined, deforested, and desecrated to sustain the
fossil fuel economy. Petro-masculinity and settler colonialism are deeply entangled,
both relying on the simultaneous erasure and appropriation of Indigeneity to enforce
colonial racial hierarchies and relationships to land and resources. By naturalizing the
fossil fuel economy and settler entitlement to both land and cultural practices, they
make land theft and cultural appropriation two sides of the same extractive logic.

41

The appropriation of Indigenous round dance at the Convoy was a glaring example of
settler-colonial entitlement and cultural extractivism. Round dance is an intertribal
and intergenerational musical practice that is open to both Indigenous and non-
Indigenous peoples¹⁰⁷. While the practice has shifted within and across different
Indigenous communities, round dance typically involves people coming together in a
circle, joining hands, and moving in a clockwise motion to the beat of the hand drum,
accompanied by song. In many Indigenous nations, the drumbeat represents the beat of
the heart, evoking connections to community, ancestors, and the land. It is a communal
healing practice intended to unify and build solidarity¹⁰⁸.

42

There is a long history of round dance on Parliament Hill. During the Idle No More demonstrations of 2012 and 2013, round dance was performed by hundreds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on the Hill¹⁰⁹. Sparked by two proposed pieces of federal legislation (Bills C38 and C45), Idle No More was a grassroots response to the historic exclusion of Indigenous peoples from the legislative process, and the bypassing of consultation processes with First Nations, further restricting Indigenous rights to ancestral lands and waterways. In a show of solidarity, hundreds gathered to perform round dances in cities across Canada, organizing flash mobs and other events. The "Round Dance Revolution" that took place during Idle No More called for Indigenous self-determination and environmental activism, movements that were gaining traction internationally¹¹⁰. The use of round dance during the Convoy was an attempt to ground
the occupation in long-standing Indigenous strategies of activism and resistance, with participants similarly staging Indigenous drumming and round dances on Parliament Hill. While a few of these events were indeed led by Indigenous peoples (including Anishinaabe singer songwriter Tracy Bone), they did not follow protocol, and were firmly condemned by Indigenous leadership.

43 On the first weekend of the Convoy, Nêhîyaw (Plains-Cree) educator and advocate André Bear reposted a viral video on “X” showing a large group of people on Parliament Hill playing hand drums while engaging in primitivist imitations of Indigenous song and dance. Within minutes, someone in the crowd shouted the phrase “Yabba dabba doo” – the catch phrase from the 1960s Hanna-Barbera Flintstones cartoon about a comical “stone-age” middle-class American family – a refrain that rapidly turned into a rhythmic call and response pattern among the participants¹¹¹. It is perhaps unsurprising that a pop culture trope about cartoonish “primitive” peoples was readily connected to Indigenous people in the Canadian context where nationalist narratives have routinely portrayed Indigenous peoples as existing in an unspecified and ahistorical past, and where Indigenous sovereignty, cultures and cosmologies continue to be diminished and demeaned.

44 Another set of widely shared images and videos show organizer Pat King and a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants conducting a “ceremony” and singing hand drum songs in a nearby park (Figure 9)¹¹². Country singer Tracy Bone of Keeseekoowenin Ojibway Nation spoke at the ceremony, and was part of a small minority of Indigenous participants at the Convoy. Bone posted videos throughout the occupation, claiming the Convoy was about “love” and “connection,” and urged people to adopt New Age beliefs rather than getting the vaccine¹¹³. In response, the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg issued a joint press release stating that they “do not support the Truckers Convoy and the Confederation Park setup on the Algonquin Nation Land/Territory,” and furthermore that, “the Algonquin Nation did not give consent for these ceremonial practices [that] could cause more harm to who we are as First Nations/Algonquin people”¹¹⁴. Algonquin Elder Claudette Commanda firmly stated, “the Confederation Park interlopers need to go,”¹¹⁵ and broadly denounced the use of Indigenous cultural practices at the Convoy:

> It is a mockery of our spirituality and our ancestors and culture. These people come from a place of ignorance and racism, it is clear they have no respect for First Nations people because if they did, they wouldn't be conducting themselves this way¹¹⁶.

45 Despite being asked to stop, drum circles and ceremonies continued throughout the occupation¹¹⁷.
<figure><img src="image_11.png" /><figcaption>Figure 9, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants gather in Confederation Park for an unauthorized Indigenous "ceremony" during the Convoy.</figcaption></figure>

Photo by Matthew Lapierre.

46 Elder Commanda's remarks draw attention to culturally specific aspects of such practices that require deep responsibility, reciprocity, and respect. The Convoy's use of Indigenous cultural practices resonates with logics of extractivism. "The act of extraction removes all of the relationships that give whatever is being extracted meaning," explains Michi Saagig Nishinaabe scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson in an interview with Naomi Klein, "it is taking without consent, without thought, care or even knowledge of the impacts that extraction has on the other living things in that environment"¹¹⁸. Musical traditions became yet another resource to be mined, stripped of meaning, and used to bolster the Convoy's image and objectives.

Conclusion

47 After eighteen days of occupation, the federal government declared a Public Order Emergency on 14 February 2022 and invoked Canada's *Emergencies Act*,¹¹⁹ which gave the government sweeping powers to end the Convoy and seize control of their funds. The act was revoked nine days later, once the trucks had been removed from the downtown area, and organizers had been arrested. Many faced multiple charges, including mischief, intimidation, and obstruction, among other misdemeanors. Several have been convicted and sentenced, while a few court cases are still ongoing as of spring 2025.

48 Convoy demonstrators framed the protest as a populist struggle against a corrupt and tyrannical government, fashioning themselves as both underdogs fighting the status quo, and the “silent majority” representing the interests of most Canadians. They claimed to have widespread support from a broad cross-section of the population, including Indigenous peoples, racialized minorities, women, and the working class. In
many cases, they falsely claimed these identities for themselves, and co-opted music connected to Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty movements in an attempt to situate themselves within broader human rights struggles. In the Canadian context, petro-masculine discourses are often imbued with a pretence of multiculturalism, pluralism, and tolerance to broaden public support by appealing to Canada's national mythologies and self-image. This is evident in the notion of "ethical oil" propagated by the Canadian pro-oil movement, and in related petroturfing campaigns.

49

At the Convoy, music became part of a discursive struggle to present the Convoy's interests – primarily those of conservative white men, many with connections to oil and gas industries – as the general interests of Canadian society as a whole. The non-stop musical performances and dance parties drew people to the area and attracted international media attention, which helped to cast the Convoy as peaceful and popular, and undoubtedly helped to expand and embolden right-wing networks. The Crane Stage provided a participatory space for public speaking, playing music, and dancing together in the streets, all of which fostered a sense of community and solidarity among participants. Yet the soundscape was also violent and incoherent, and in many ways analogous to the confused demands of multiple groups, the cacophony of dis- and misinformation, and nebulous conceptions of freedom within the occupation. There was neither a recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples and residents in the area, nor a collective or coherent understanding of freedom within the Convoy. There was instead an antidemocratic proposal for a small group to take over the government (Bauder's "Memorandum of Understanding"), a sense of entitlement to occupy the area indefinitely, efforts to monetize the Convoy for personal gain, and conspicuous enjoyment of the harm the Convoy inflicted. The affective charge of loud sound was unifying, and afforded participants a sense of power and agency, particularly over the liberal establishment in Ottawa.

50

The Rouleau Commission identified economic marginalization, social anxiety, and distrust in political institutions as the most important trends fueling the recent wave of right-wing populism in Canada and around the world, and as significant factors underpinning the Convoy¹²⁰. These are legitimate and widely shared concerns; however, as political theorist Richard Seymour remarks, in the face of multiplying real catastrophes that threaten to exacerbate socioeconomic hardship – ecological devastation, pandemics, gross economic inequality, and rising authoritarianism, to name a few – far-right movements have been inventing even more irrational and apocalyptic explanatory narratives, such as the “globalist agenda,” “great replacement” theory, and threat of elite pedophile rings, all while denying the existence of real-world crises¹²¹. As such, Seymour observes that in these movements, “a vaguely insurgent energy has been unleashed, not against a decadent status quo but in defence of it, against fantasies inspired by the queasy sense of normality [e.g., fossil-fueled consumer lifestyles], catastrophically slipping away”¹²². The Freedom Convoy sprang from the Canadian pro-oil movement, and while the Ottawa occupation was galvanized by COVID-19 vaccine mandates, in many ways it was an extension of the fight for the right to continue the petro-party and fossil economy, with all its attendant hierarchies. It was a fight for the status quo, or “business as usual” in Canada, meaning the further development of fossil fuel industries despite the disastrous planetary consequences. Although Convoy participants relentlessly chanted that they stood for freedom, peace, love, and unity, the thunderous soundscape they cheered-on was an aggressive reassertion of petro-masculine dominance – a convergence of toxic
masculinity, fossil fuels, and authoritarianism – seemingly intended to drown out the
multiplying real catastrophes facing the Canadian population, in favour of a petro-
nostalgic fantasy.

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KINDER Jordan B, *Petroturfing: Refining Canadian Oil Through Social Media*, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2024.

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NOTES

1. LENNON Charlotte, "'You Can't Fight for Freedom if You Don't Have Enough Bacon Inside of You': A Feminist Analysis of the Gendered Spatialization of the 2022 Ottawa Freedom Protest," MA thesis, Carleton University, 2023.

2. Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC), *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, Volume 2, Hon. Paul S. Rouleau, Ottawa, February 2023, p. 194.

3. Li *et al.* v Barber *et al.*, [2022] ONSC 2662. https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca/files/exhibits/JCF00000097.pdf?t=1668552167, accessed October 2024.

4. Ottawa People's Commission (OPC), *Reports of the Ottawa People's Commission, Part I: What We Heard*, Ottawa, 30 January 2023, p. 55-56.
5. The Algonquins of Pikawakanagan, The Algonquins Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, "Press Release," 2 February 2022.

6. STEINKE Nathan, "Truckers' Convoy the Woodstock of Our Time," *Edmonton Journal*, 28 January 2022, https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-truckers-convoy-the-woodstock-of-our-time, accessed February 2025.

7. KING Adam D. K., "The Trucker Convoy is Not a Workers' Revolt," *The Maple*, 4 February 2022, https://www.readthemaple.com/the-trucker-convoy-is-not-a-workers-revolt/, accessed February 2025.

8. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 184-89; p. 196-97; OPC, *Reports of the Ottawa People's Commission, Part I: What We Heard*, p. 3-54.

9. OPC, *Reports of the Ottawa People's Commission, Part I: What We Heard*, p. 6.

10. DAGGETT Cara, "Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire," *Millennium: Journal of International Studies*, vol. 47, n° 1, 2018, p. 24-44.

11. *Ibid.*, p. 27.

12. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1-5, Hon. Paul S. Rouleau, Ottawa, February 2023.

13. OPC, *Reports of the Ottawa People's Commission*, Ottawa, 2023.

14. Government of Alberta, "Oil Sands Facts and Statistics," https://www.alberta.ca/oil-sands-facts-and-statistics#:~:text=Reserves%20and%20production&text=Alberta's%20oil%20sands%20proven%20reserves,AER%20ST39%20reserves, accessed November 2024.

15. BARNEY Darin, "Who We Are and What We Do: Canada as a Pipeline Nation," in WILSON Sheena, CARLSON Adam and SZEMAN Imre, *Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, Culture*, Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017, p. 78-119.

16. CHARLAND Maurice, "Technological Nationalism," *Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory*, vol. 10, n° 1-2, 1988.

17. NIKIFORUK Andrew, *Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent*, Vancouver, BC, Greystone Books, 2008.

18. LEAHY Stephen, "This is the World's Most Destructive Oil Operation-And It's Growing," *National Geographic*, 11 April 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/alberta-canadas-tar-sands-is-growing-but-indigenous-people-fight-back, accessed October 2024; see also, "Over 100 Leading Scientists Call For Moratorium on New Oil Sands Development," 2 June 2015, https://www.oilsandsmoratorium.org/pr/, accessed February 2025.

19. LEVANT Ezra, *Ethical Oil: The Case for the Canadian Oil Sands*, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 2010. Levant is the owner and founder of the far-right media website *Rebel News* (https://www.rebelnews.com/, accessed July 2025).

20. KINDER Jordan B., *Petrosurfing: Refining Canadian Oil Through Social Media*, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2024.

21. LEVANT Ezra, *Ethical Oil*, p. 14.

22. MITCHELL Timothy, *Carbon Democracy: Economy and Society*, vol. 38, n° 3, August 2009, p. 399-432.

23. KINDER Jordan B., *Petrosurfing*, p. 4-5.
24. *Ibid.*, p. 2.

25. DAGGETT Cara, "Petro-masculinity," p. 41.

26. GUENTHER Lisa, ""AbolishCanada: Breaking Down the 2022 Freedom Convoy," *South Atlantic Quarterly*, vol. 122, n° 3, 2023, p. 651-659; MCLAREN Patrick, "Some Thoughts on Canada's 'Freedom Convoy' and the Settler Colonial State," *Educational Philosophy and Theory*, vol. 54, n° 7, 2022, p. 867-870.

27. YUN Tom, "Donald Trump Voices Support for Truckers Convoy Protest in Ottawa", *CTV News*, January 29, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/donald-trump-voices-support-for-truckers-convoy-protest-in-ottawa/, accessed March 2025.

28. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1, p. 101-103.

29. SUBRAMANYA Rupa, "What the Truckers Want", *The Free Press*, February 10, 2022, https://www.thefp.com/p/what-the-truckers-want?hide_introTRUE pop up=TRUE, accessed
May 2025.

30. THOBANI Sunera, *Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada*, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2007, p. 4.

31. MACKEY Eva, *House of Difference: Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada*, London, Routledge, 1999, p. 14-35.

32. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 201-204.

33. SIMPSON Leanne, *As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance*, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

34. TEWKSBURY Doug, "Petro-Nostalgia and the Politics of the Yellow Vests in Canada", *Canadian Journal of Communication*, vol. 46, n°. 4, 2021, p. 939-959.

35. KINDER Jordan B., *Petrosurfing*, p. 189-190.

36. BERGEM Ingeborg Misje, "Leaving the Discursive Definition of Populist Social Movements: The Case of the Yellow Vest Movement", *Political Studies*, vol. 7, n°. 4, 2022, p. 1208-1225; DE CILLIA Brooks and MCCURDY Patrick, "No Surrender. No Challenge. No Protest Paradigm: A Content Analysis of the Canadian News Media Coverage of the 'Yellow Vests Movement' and the 'United We Roll Convoy'", *Canadian Review of Sociology*, vol. 57, n°. 4, 2020, p. 656-680.

37. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1, p. 135.
Given that these policies were first implemented by the US government, a removal of
the Canadian restrictions would not have resolved the issue, the details of which
Convoy leaders appeared to be unaware.

38. POEC, vol. 16, November 3, 2022, p. 165. A screenshot of Bauder's Facebook post was presented to the commission and entered into the record.

39. OPC, *What We Heard Part I*, p. 23.

40. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 94-97.

41. Mackenzie is the leader of an accelerationist militia group called Diagolon, which both the US and Canadian governments have identified as a far-right extremist group.

42. GILLIES Jamie, RAYNAUD Vincent, and MISNIEWSKI Angela, "Canada is No Exception: The 2022 Freedom Convoy, Political Entanglement, and Identity-Driven Protest", *American Behavioral Scientist*, vol. 13, 2023, p. 2.
43. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1, p. 96-103.

44. THOMPSON Michell, ""We Are Fed Up": Wealthy Business People Who Donated to the Far-Right Convoy Believe They are Oppressed", *PressProgress*, February 11, 2022, https://pressprogress.ca/we-are-fed-up-wealthy-business-people-who-donated-to-far-right-convoy-believe-they-are-oppressed/, accessed September 2024.

45. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 201.

46. KING Adam D. K., "The Trucker Convoy is Not a Workers' Revolt".

47. IBRAHIM Erika, "'Freedom Convoy' Organizers Discussed Playing 'Race Card' With Métis Heritage", *Ottawa Citizen*, July 9, 2022, https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/freedom-convoy-organizers-discussed-playing-race-card-with-metis-heritage, accessed December 2024.

48. Ibid.

49. POEC, vol. 16, November 3, 2022, p. 206.

50. GILMORE Rachel, "'Fringe Minority' in Truck Convoy with 'Unacceptable Views' Don't Represent Canadians: Trudeau", *Global News*, January 26, 2022, https://globalnews.ca/news/8539610/trucker-convoy-covid-vaccine-mandates-ottawa/, accessed September 2024.

51. Canadian Trucking Alliance, "Canadian Trucking Alliance Statement to Those Engaged in Road/Border Protests", January 22, 2022, https://cantruck.ca/canadian-trucking-alliance-statement-to-those-engaged-in-road-border-protests/, accessed September 2024; Public Service Alliance of Canada, "PSAC Condemns Truck Convoy Protests - Calls for Urgent Action", February 2, 2022, https://psacunion.ca/psac-condemns-truck-convoy-protests-calls-urgent, accessed September 2024; Teamsters Canada, "The Real Enemy for Truckers is Covid-19", statement by François Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada, February 7, 2022, https://teamsters.ca/en/blog/2022/02/07/the-real-enemy-for-truckers-is-covid-19/, accessed September 2024.

52. BULANT Jeanne, "Sondage BFMTV: 73 % des français soutiennent la mobilisation des gilets jaunes", November 14, 2018. https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/sondage-bfmtv-73-des-francais-soutiennent-la-mobilisation-des-gilets-jaunes_AN-201811140074.html, accessed September 2024.

53. Angus Reid Institute, "Blockade Backlash: Three-in-Four Canadians Tell Convoy Protesters, 'Go Home Now'", February 14, 2022, https://angusreid.org/trudeau-convoy-trucker-protest-vaccine-mandates-covid-19/, accessed September 2024.

54. Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. "Statement from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada on January 7, 2022," https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/01/statement-from-the-chief-public-health-officer-of-canada-on-january-7-2022.html, accessed September 2024.

55. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 181-183.

56. Parliament of Canada, "General Rules for the Use of Parliament Hill", May 3, 2023, p. 4.

57. Ottawalks, "RAW Footage: Freedom Convoy 2022 Day 19 – Emergency Act – Tuesday Feb 15", YouTube video, 13:45, February 15, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_S6-d_oiHA&list=PLO3-QZL_fvZpvziAiSPQAoFx4dj16TOrd&index=48, accessed September 2024.
58. PETERSON Tammy, "Fighting Back in Ottawa! [interview with Bethan Nodwell]", *The Tammy Peterson Podcast*, YouTube, November 23, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FMMLs8YyDw, accessed May 2025.

59. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 181-182.

60. *Ibid.*, p. 188-189.

61. Shepherds of Good Hope, "Statement Regarding Protest in Ottawa", X (formerly Twitter), January 30, 2022, 1:25 PM, https://x.com/sghottawa/status/1487854425368633344, accessed March 2025.

62. POEC, *Public Hearings*, vol. 17, November 4, 2022, p. 7.

63. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 195.

64. POEC, *Public Hearings*, vol. 17, November 4, 2022, p. 7-8.

65. POEC, *Public Hearings*, vol. 15, November 3, 2022, p. 260.

66. DAGGETT Cara, "Petro-masculinity", p. 34.

67. MAYNARD Robyn, *Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present*, Toronto, Fernwood Publishing, 2017.

68. POEC, *Interim Police Chief Steve Bell examined by Frank Au*, vol. 8, October 24, 2022, p. 31-64.

69. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 184-185.

70. FRASER David, "Police Grappling with Members Who Allegedly Donated to 'Freedom Convoy'", CBC News, March 2, 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/police-donations-convoy-givesendgo-1.6365184, accessed May 2025.

71. MOLINA Kimberley, "OPP Officer Lets Protesters Take Photos in Back of Police Cruiser", CBC News, February 11, 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/opp-cruiser-used-as-photo-booth-protesters-1.6348592, accessed May 2025.

72. DAVIDSON Sean, "Video Posted Online by Ontario Police Officer Supporting 'Freedom Rally' Being Looked Into", CTV News, January 24, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/video-posted-online-by-ontario-police-officer-supporting-freedom-rally-being-looked-into/, accessed May 2025; LAPIERRE Matthew, "Interim Ottawa Police Chief Considering Action Against Officers Who Allegedly Supported 'Freedom Convoy'", Ottawa Citizen, March 7, 2022, https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/interim-ottawa-police-chief-considering-action-against-officers-who-supported-freedom-convoy, accessed May 2025.

73. SUKE Trista, "Hallelujah – Live at Trucker Convoy", YouTube, February 20, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR0sAMFdXAM, accessed February 2025.

74. NOLAN Emma, "'Hallelujah' Meaning: Leonard Cohen's Bitter Break-Up Song Played Twice at RNC", Newsweek, August 28, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/leonard-cohen-donald-trump-hallelujah-rnc-1528260, accessed February 2025.

75. ALLEYNE Mike, "Marketing Marley: Commercial and Cultural Consequences", *Anales del Caribe*, 2017, p. 196.

76. Ottawalks, "RAW Footage: Freedom Convoy 2022 Day 8 – Parliament Hill – Friday February 4", YouTube, 1:17:30, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0MoF8txgDp0&list=PLO3-QZL_fvZpvziAiSPQAoFx4dj16TOrd&index=21, accessed May 2025.

77. Myke Nukem, "Freedom Convoy 2022 – Feb 8th – Hailey Lewis Sings – Let me Tell You About My Jesus", YouTube, February 9, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=desktop&v=loPmjZK9gGg, accessed September 2024.

78. DIXON Chris and SHOTWELL Alexis, "Ottawa, The Far-Right, and the State: Inside the Convoy Protests and the Unfolding Three-Way Fight", It's Going Down podcast, February 11, 2022.

79. For more on white evangelicalism and the far-right in North America, see DU MEZ Kristin Kobes, *Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation*, New York, Liveright Publishing, 2020.

80. Canada Walks, "Freedom Convoy Canada Ottawa – Truckers on Stage Rap Music Protest 2022", YouTube, February 12, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXM161hPzE, accessed September 2024.

81. This historical American flag has been adopted by right-wing libertarians to signify individual rights and limited government.

82. This popular trope references the science fiction film *The Matrix* (1999), in which the main character is offered the choice of two pills: a red one that will reveal uncomfortable truths about the world, and a blue one that will leave him blissfully ignorant. In various alt-right, men's rights, white supremacist, and conspiracist groups online, taking the "red pill" has been equated with an alleged realization that white nationalists – and white men in particular – are being oppressed by liberal and socially progressive movements.

83. MURPHY Mitch, "Converting to Orthodox Christianity", YouTube, February 15, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLyu7Mn-ReU, accessed September 2024.

84. RICCARDI-SWARTZ Sarah, *Between Heaven and Russia: Religious Conversion and Political Apostasy in Appalachia*, New York, Fordham University Press, 2022.

85. PROVINE Doris Marie, "Race and Inequality in the War on Drugs," *Annual Review of Law and Social Science*, vol. 7, 2011, p. 41-60; COOPER Hannah L. F., "War on Drugs Policing and Police Brutality," *Substance Use & Misuse*, vol. 50, n°. 8-9, 2015, p. 1188-1194.

86. HAWDON James E., "The Role of Presidential Rhetoric in the Creation of a Moral Panic: Reagan, Bush, and the War on Drugs," *Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal*, vol. 22, 2001, p. 419-445.

87. KAJIKAWA Loren, *Sounding Race in Rap Songs*, Oakland, University of California Press, 2015, p. 120; HESS Mickey, "Hip-Hop Realness and the White Performer," *Critical Studies in Media Communication*, vol. 22, n°. 5, 2005, p. 372-389.

88. KAJIKAWA Loren, *Sounding Race in Rap Songs*, p. 124.

89. Ibid., p. 120; KITWANA Bakari, *Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America*, New York, Basic Civitas Books, 2005, p. 15.

90. GREEN Kevin P., "Where the Rhymes at?": How Contemporary Artists are Transforming Notions of Liveness in Hip Hop," in BARBER James, BÜSCHGES Christian, MAUSFELD Dianne Violeta and SWEERS Britta (eds), *Remixing the Hip-Hop Narrative: Between Local Expressions and Global Connections*, Bielefeld, Verlag, 2024, p. 133-158.
91. GATES Henry Louis, Jr., *The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism*, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988; FLOYD Samuel A., *The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States*, New York, Oxford University Press, 1995.

92. PUTNAM Michael and LITTLEJOHN John T., "National Socialism with Fler? German Hip Hop from the Right," *Popular Music and Society*, vol. 30, n°. 4, 2007, p. 454.

93. OLANLESI-ALIU Adedoyin, KEMEI Janet, ALAAZI Dominic, TUNDE-BYASS Modupe, RENZAHO Andre, SEKYI-OUT Ato, MULLINGS Delores V., OSEI-TUTU Kannin and SALAMI Bukola, "Evidence Synthesis – COVID-19 Among Black People in Canada: A Scoping Review," *Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada*, vol. 44, n°. 3, 2024, p. 112-125.

94. ROSE Tricia, *The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters*, New York, Basic Books, 2008, p. 1-6.

95. KAJIKAWA Loren, *Sounding Race in Rap Songs*, p. 126.

96. BERGER Miriam and COLETTA Amanda, "Children With Protesting Parents Complicate Police Response to 'Freedom Convoy,'" *Washington Post*, February 17, 2022.

97. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1, p. 200; p. 232-233.

98. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 2, p. 237-242.

99. DUNKEL Mario and SCHILLER Melanie, "An Introduction," in DUNKEL Mario and SCHILLER Melanie (eds), *Popular Music and the Rise of Populism in Europe*, London, Routledge, 2024, p. 1-27.

100. DE BOISE Samuel, "Musical Metapolitics and the Alt-Right," *European Journal of Cultural Studies*, October 13, 2024.

101. DEAVILLE James, "Rocking the Delegate Rolls at the National Party Conventions in 2016," *Journal of Popular Music Studies*, n°. 29, 2017.

102. Ibid., np.

103. ROBINSON Dylan, *Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies*, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2020.

104. Ibid., p. 122.

105. Ibid.

106. MORETON-ROBINSON Aileen, *The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty*, Minnesota, MI, University of Minnesota Press, 2015; SMITH Sarah E.K. and TAUNTON Carla, "Unsettling Canadian Heritage: Decolonial Aesthetics in Canadian Video and Performance Art," *Journal of Canadian Studies*, vol. 52, n°. 1, 2018, p. 316.

107. CARTER-VOSEN Elyse, "Singing and Dancing Idle No More: Round Dances as Indigenous Activism," in LINDSAY Victoria Levine and ROBINSON Dylan (eds), *Music and Modernity among First Peoples of North America*, Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press, 2018, p. 92; MCMAHON Ryan, "The Round Dance Revolution: Idle No More," In Kino-nda-niimi Collective (ed.), *The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement*, Winnipeg, MB, ARP Books, 2014, p. 100.
108. FRIEDEL Tracy L, “Understanding the Nature of Indigenous Youth Activism in Canada: Idle No More as a Resumptive Pedagogy,” *The South Atlantic Quarterly*, vol. 114, n° 4, 2015, p. 888.

109. HOEFNAGELS Anna, “(Re)Presenting Indigenous Activism in the Nation’s Capital: Signifying Resistance Across Time and Place through Music in Alanis Obomsawin’s Trick or Treaty? (2014),” in JOHNSON Sherry, KLASSEN Judith and HOEFNAGELS Anna (eds), *Contemporary Musical Expressions in Canada*, Montreal, QC, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014, p. 476-501.

110. MCMAHON, “The Round Dance Revolution,” p. 98.

111. André Bear, “#FreedomConvoy2022 Desecrating Our Drums and Songs Yelling ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’ to Pretend Like They Have Support from Indigenous Nations @AFN_Updates @ITK_CanadaInuit @MNC_tweets Condemn This Now,” X (formerly Twitter), January 30, 2022, 1:55 PM, https://x.com/abearlaw/status/1487862160751538176?

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114. The Algonquins of Pikawakanagan, The Algonquins Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, “Press Release,” February 2, 2022.

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116. POWLESS Ben, “Indigenous Leaders Say Convoy is ‘Mocking’ Indigenous Culture,” *Nation News*, February 28, 2022, http://nationnews.ca/news/indigenous-leaders-say-convoy-is-mocking-indigenous-culture/, accessed October 2024.

117. SINCLAIR Niigaan, “Unacceptable Use of Indigenous Ceremonies.”

118. KLEIN Naomi, “Dancing the World into Being: A Conversation with Idle No More’s Leanne Simpson,” *Yes! March* 6, 2013, https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/03/06/dancing-the-world-into-being-a-conversation-with-idle-no-more-leanne-simpson, accessed March 2025.

119. Revised Statutes of Canada, 1988, c. 29 (passed into law on 21 July, 1988).

120. POEC, *Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency*, vol. 1, p. 28.

121. SEYMOUR Richard, *Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization*, London, Verso, 2024.

122. *Ibid.*, p. 2.
ABSTRACTS

In January 2022, a series of truck convoys organized by right-wing activists converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada's national capital, demanding that the federal government end all vaccine mandates and public health protocols related to COVID-19. While never a unified movement, opposition to pandemic-related mandates became a rallying cry that brought together an assortment of right-wing groups. Coalescing around ill-defined notions of freedom, the self-proclaimed "Freedom Convoy" occupied ten square blocks in downtown Ottawa for nearly four weeks. The sound of trucks honking, engines revving, air horns, train horns, and amplified music put many residents under extreme duress, yet also drew people to the area. Music and sound were key characteristics of the occupation. The Convoy's mainstage became a platform for a wide range of amateur singers, songwriters, rappers, and DJs, and supporters pointed to dance parties in the streets as evidence of the occupation's peacefulness and popularity. The constellation of beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes that produced the Convoy's thunderous soundscape is readily captured in Cara Daggett's concept of petro-masculinity. Petro-masculinity articulates the historic relationship between fossil fuels and white heteropatriarchy, and describes a hypermasculine identity based in racism, misogyny and climate denial that has become prevalent in right-wing movements in North America and elsewhere. This paper examines how music was used to provide a veneer of multiculturalism and widespread support, playing into nationalist myths of Canadian liberalism and tolerance while evincing a kind of cultural extractivism that resonates with the logics of fossil fuel capitalism and settler colonialism.

En janvier 2022, une série de convois de camions organisés par des militants d'extrême droite ont convergé vers la Colline du Parlement à Ottawa, la capitale nationale du Canada, pour exiger que le gouvernement fédéral mette fin à toutes les obligations vaccinales et aux protocoles de santé publique liés à la COVID-19. Bien qu'il ne s'agisse jamais d'un mouvement unifié, l'opposition aux mesures liées à la pandémie est devenue un cri de ralliement qui a rassemblé divers groupes d'extrême droite. Ralliés autour de notions vagues de liberté, les membres du « Convoi de la liberté », comme ils se sont eux-mêmes baptisés, ont occupé dix pâtés de maisons du centre-ville d'Ottawa pendant près de quatre semaines. Le bruit des klaxons, des moteurs vrombissants, des cornes de brume, des sirènes de train et de la musique amplifiée a soumis de nombreux habitants à une pression extrême, mais a également attiré des gens dans le quartier. La musique et le bruit ont été des caractéristiques marquantes de cette occupation. La scène principale du Convoy est devenue une tribune pour un large éventail de chanteurs amateurs, d'auteurs-compositeurs, de rappeurs et de DJ, et les partisans ont mis en avant les fêtes dansantes dans les rues comme preuve du caractère pacifique et populaire de l'occupation. La constellation de croyances, de comportements et d'attitudes qui a produit le paysage sonore tonitruant du Convoy est facilement saisie dans le concept de « pétro-masculinité » de Cara Daggett. La pétro-masculinité exprime la relation historique entre les combustibles fossiles et l'hétéropatriarcat blanc, et décrit une identité hypermasculine fondée sur le racisme, la misogynie et le déni climatique, qui est devenue prédominante dans les mouvements de droite en Amérique du Nord et ailleurs. Cet article examine comment la musique a été utilisée pour donner une apparence de multiculturalisme et de soutien généralisé, jouant sur les mythes nationalistes du libéralisme et de la tolérance canadiens tout en révélant une forme d'extractivisme culturel qui fait écho à la logique du capitalisme des combustibles fossiles et du colonialisme de peuplement.
INDEX

**Keywords:** popular music, petro-masculinity, Freedom Convoy, right-wing populism, cultural extractivism, Canadian studies

**Mots-clés:** musique populaire, pétro-masculinité, Convoi de la liberté, populisme de droite, extractivisme culturel, études canadiennes

AUTHORS

ALLYSON ROGERS

Allyson Rogers (she/her) is a music scholar whose research is situated at the intersection of music, media, and politics, with a focus on Canadian cultural industries, institutions, and policies. She received her Ph.D. in Communication Studies from McGill University, and is currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

GALE FRANKLIN

Gale Franklin (she/her) is a Ph.D. Candidate in Canadian Studies at Carleton University. Her dissertation, *Listening to White Supremacy: Race, Space and Belonging in Ottawa*, explores the sonic dimensions and embodied resonances of white supremacy in Canada's capital. Her upcoming chapter, "The Sound and Silence of Displacement and Resettlement: Listening to Narratives of Syrian Migration in Canada," will be published in *Critical Perspectives on Canada in the World* (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).