A pickup truck decorated with a Confederate flag at the 鈥淔reedom Convoy鈥� in Ottawa early last year was driven by a local roofer who supported the protests, not by Liberal government 鈥減rovocateurs鈥� as convoy organizers alleged at the public inquiry into the invoking of the Emergencies Act.
Maurice Landriault told CTV National News that it was his Dodge Ram 2500 seen on Elgin Street and at a protest site at Confederation Square, but he denies the flag he mounted on the tailgate next to a Canadian flag was offensive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a sign of independence,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 look at it as a rebel sign. In the biker community, a lot of people have the Confederate flag because we鈥檙e rebels.鈥�
But to many, the flag is a racist symbol and a disturbing reminder of the U.S. Confederacy鈥檚 fight to preserve slavery. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced their display at the Ottawa protest, saying his government wouldn鈥檛 give in to 鈥渞acist flags.鈥�
Landriault says some protesters asked him to take it off his truck.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e telling me it鈥檚 racist. It鈥檚 not racist. You guys are making it racist.鈥�
At the Public Order Emergency Commission in November, convoy organizers brought a motion to compel evidence about Nazi and Confederate flags seen at the protest, claiming the Liberal government attempted to use them to wrongly portray protesters as racists and extremists.
Their lawyer, Brendan Miller, argued they had 鈥渆vidence and grounds to suspect that the flags, and purported protesters using them, were not protesters with the convoy at all, but provocateurs.鈥�
He asked Commissioner Paul Rouleau to order the Ottawa Police Service or the Ontario Provincial Police to trace the pickup truck鈥檚 licence plate to uncover the owner鈥檚 identity.
Rouleau declined the request, saying there is 鈥渘o proper foundation in the evidence to believe that the registration information for this vehicle would disclose the existence of an agent provocateur.鈥�
Miller also alleged that a man photographed holding a flag with a swastika near Parliament Hill was Toronto communications consultant Brian Fox, in an attempt to discredit the convoy movement, possibly at the direction of the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office.
Fox and his firm, Enterprise Canada, called the claim absurd and despicable, and are suing Miller for defamation.
Still, convoy supporters continued to promote theories that offensive symbols seen on Ottawa streets in January and February were the work of 鈥渁ntifa鈥� 鈥� short for anti-fascists 鈥� or other saboteurs working in league with the federal government.
CTV National News obtained Landriault鈥檚 name from the registration of the licence plate filed with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
He says he bought the Confederate flag in 2019 to take to a concert by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
He says he eventually traded the flag to another protester for a flag with a NSFW (not safe for work) slogan from a Frank Zappa song.
On the day Trudeau testified at the commission, Landriault attended the hearings dressed in a 鈥淏eetlejuice鈥� costume and wearing a Harley Davidson baseball cap adorned with a Confederate flag motif.
During a break in the proceedings, he says he approached Miller.
"I told him I'm the one who had the truck, and I didn't work for no government," he said.
Landriault, who is unvaccinated, is a motorcycle rider and helped organize fellow bikers to participate in a 2021 protest against COVID-19 measures.
He says he attended the convoy protest last year to send a message to the government about vaccination mandates.
鈥淲e鈥檙e fed up,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e taken too much control of people鈥檚 lives. You鈥檙e forcing a person to take a vaccine to go to a restaurant, to go to a movie, to travel, to go to school.鈥�
He says he used his truck and trailer to help bring fresh supplies of diesel fuel to keep the big rigs running.
The pickup truck he drove to the protest was totalled in a collision last year, he says.
