Parliamentarians meet veteran trekking from Vancouver to Ottawa to protest COVID obligations

Ottawa — Army veteran James Top, who has almost completed a walk from Vancouver to Ottawa to protest the COVID-19 vaccine obligation, met MP in Ottawa on Wednesday.

So far, Topp’s journey has taken him to the Deep River, about 200km west of Ottawa. Before the House of Commons entered the summer vacation on June 23, he drove to the capital for a meeting with members of parliament.

Topp will officially complete the trek on June 30th, walking from the outskirts of Kanata to the War Memorial in downtown Ottawa.

“This trip was difficult and physically difficult, but at the same time I was able to connect with fellow Canadians in a way I didn’t think was impossible,” Topp said. I talked to a person’s conservative MP.

Combat veterans told attending MPs (all Conservatives) that they were seeing a “division” in a country that had only been seen in the war zone.

“We want to repair the divisions caused by imposing these missions and by the overall overwhelming nature of some of the policies that have been pushed down on us,” Topp said. ..

The MP shook hands with Topp and took pictures, some of them on the floor.

“Thank you for the nonpartisan bend you are taking here today. It’s very professional. In reality, there is one party here today represented around this table,” says Jeremy Patzer. I did.

Patzer recently (on June 6th) Petition At home to lift the mandate.

“You have support. You’ve been supported for a long time. It takes a lot of effort and effort to send that message because it’s a message that wasn’t popular in this Ottawa bubble.” Patzer said.

Topp is influenced by military missions due to his current reservist mission and the mission assigned to the RCMP where he works as a civilian.

Topp started walking from the Terry Fox statue in Vancouver on February 20th. A few days ago, he appeared in uniform in an opposition movement and after showing his views in a video.

Topp faces a count of two actions against order and discipline prejudice under the military code for these actions, in addition to pending administrative releases under the 5f code “Inappropriate for Further Services”. doing.

This type of liberation usually has other problems that develop “personal weaknesses”, “significantly undermine its usefulness” or impose an “excessive administrative burden” on the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Reserved for military personnel.

Currently used to release soldiers who refused to be vaccinated with COVID-19.

Philip Millar, a former CAF Combat Arms veteran lawyer, represents Topp and says it doesn’t make sense to release someone like Topp who is healthy and strong enough to walk in Canada.

“The man is healthy, but do you want to get him out? It blows my heart away,” Miller told The Epoch Times.

Millar says the military removed the charges and relocated them without the option of a military court, even though Topp chose to be court-martialed in the first indictment. This is what Topp is now “probably okay.”

At the Ottawa event by MPs, the top was adjacent to Tom Marazzo and Dr. Paul Alexander. Both were involved in Ottawa’s Freedom Convoy this winter.

Also a military veteran, Marazzo, a spokesperson for Optimus Prime, recently ran for the Ontario Party in the Ontario elections. He is currently working with an organization called Veterans for Freedom that helps coordinate Topp’s activities.

“We are a non-political organization and we are not interested in tipping the balance of one party to another. It is not our interest,” Marazzo said. “Our interest is Canadian repairs. We want you to be a partner. We want the Government of Canada to be a partner for that,” he told MP.

Epidemiologist Alexander, who worked on the COVID task force under the Trump administration, elaborated on how he said the pandemic was mismanaged by the government.

“There is no evidence to maintain emergency authority. COVID is done. It’s time to end and society moves forward,” he said.

Among the Tory lawmakers in attendance were Dean Allison, Cheryl Gallant, Kelly Lin Findley, Arnold Biasen, Resulin Lewis, Ted Falk, Octopus Van Popta, Warren Steinley, and Damian Klek. , Martin Shields, James Bezan, Ryan Williams, Gerald Soloka, John Barlow, Melissa Lantzman, Brad Bis.