The Trucker Convoy descending on Ottawa had ignited a spirit of freedom in Canada. Many Cochranites, who had not travelled along to Ottawa or cheered them on by the side of the highway, hoped that there was some way that they could show some support for the Freedom Convoy. While many Cochranites over time had travelled to Calgary to attend the freedom rallies there, one Cochrane resident, Deborah Murphy, decided that that needed to change. It was time that Cochrane patriots and freedom fighters held a rally on their home turf.
Saturday morning, January 29th, Deborah sent out an email to a few contacts requesting a show of interest for a rally to be held in Cochrane at the Centennial Plaza on 1st Street the next day, the afternoon of Sunday, January 30th, planning not to go ahead with such an event unless at least a 100 were committed to attend, showing strength. The contacts were, in turn, asked to spread the word to their contacts. 40 had expressed an interest by Saturday afternoon and by early Sunday morning through word of mouth and through social media that number had risen to 150 including children. The rally was a go!
A rally poster was created by Mirella Vella to help publicize the event.
By Sunday afternoon the Rally was a roaring success with up to 500 adults and children jubilantly participating in the event, a testimony to grass roots action and the domino effect of spreading the word.
The event received coverage by local media, Cochrane Now, here and here, and front-page coverage by the Cochrane Eagle, here and here.
While media tends to minimize attendance at such freedom rallies, Cochrane Now described the crowd attending the rally as “massive”. A subsequent article by Cochrane Now reported on organizer Deborah Murphy’s afterthoughts.
After the event, Deborah Murphy sent out a note of thanks to those who had contacted her about the rally, “Thank you all for showing up today in our home town Cochrane Alberta, to support the truckers and stand for freedom. What a great afternoon we had. I thank each and every one of you for making it all happen, the tractor guy, the trucks, the kids that did their part, all of you present today were powerful, all of you who spoke, and on and on thank you… I am all for local and community action. Grass roots action and a domino effect from there. We have some awesome people in the community of Cochrane. Some families are without work at the moment due to not willing to revel their medical record, how crazy is that? This needs to stop!…We are not alone and it takes all of us in unity to keep our freedom, freedom for the future of our children and grandchildren.”
It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Below are a set of photos taken by local Cochrane resident Barry Blick which help to document and ‘speak’ to this historical event in Cochrane.
