Edmontonians and police in and around the city’s downtown are bracing themselves for another weekend protest convoy.
This week the city’s police chief has been calling for calm, hoping that leaders and people will step up to help bridge the divide.
“A divided community can be a dangerous community,” Chief Dale McFee said in a press conference Wednesday.
Chief McFee has described the apparent political divisions and rhetoric around COVID-19 measures as an ongoing “fire.”
“I’m asking and imploring political leaders, community members, everyone across the spectrum to help us put this fire out,” McFee said.
Measures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent overwhelming the health-care system were ostensibly the impetus for the occupation of Ottawa and blockades at Canada-U.S. border crossings like the one at Coutts.
And politicians of all stripes have expressed their opinions of public health measures during the pandemic.
University of Alberta sociologist Amy Kaler said it has been a long time since we’ve experienced this kind of a divide, pointing to the polarization around Canada’s role in the First World War.
“If you look at the dissent, divergent opinions and views around the First World War: conscription, the role that Canada should play or should not play,” Kaler said
Kaler said the good news here this time is the divisions might not be as deep. She said we hear from those most upset, but those voices represent a minority.
The bad news is all that noise could make it harder to find common ground.
“Seeing these things almost gives this sort of permission effect for them to continue because (they think), ‘Yeah, it’s real. I saw somebody can do it. We’ve done it, so lets keep doing it,’ and it will take a while I think for that to die down,” Kaler said.
Meaning, Kaler said some views need to change and like chief McFee said, so too does the rhetoric.
–with files from Adam Toy, Global News
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