Veteran Marching To Ottawa To Protest And Help Heal The Country
By Robert Thomas
“This is the most important thing I have done in my life,” James Topp said to MJ Independent as he took a break just east of Moose Jaw on Monday afternoon.
Topp has been on a 4,293 kilometer march since February 20th from Vancouver to Ottawa. The march to protest the COVID - 19 mandates as well as help to heal the wounds dividing Canada is expected to reach Ottawa on June 22 and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Despite serving Canada for 28 years as a member of Canadian Army - where he served in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Afghanistan - Topp now sees himself suspended without pay from a civilian job with the RCMP and about to be kicked out of the Reserves.
His offense?
Declining to follow the federal government’s mandate to be vaccinated for COVID - 19. Something Topp personally believes there has not been enough and proper testing before approving the vaccine as well as people’s privacy rights have been breached in how it is being handled.
“No the issue of vaccination is secondary. It is the disclosure of private information I disagree with and the fact the vaccination is being pressed upon us without proper diligence,” he said.
Topp said he is not an anti-vaxxer and is not against vaccines.
He has personally been vaccinated for yellow fever a vaccine he feels there has been sufficient testing and study done on the side effects and potential harm it might cause. It is the COVID - 19 vaccine he has major concerns about.
James Topp marches with supporters just east of Moose Jaw on Monday afternoon - MJ Independent photo
Topp said he would like to get his job back.
“I am on leave without pay in a public service position I took after I left the regular army. So that public service job is a job I have with the RCMP. And I was placed on leave without pay,” he said when asked what his employment status at the present time.
He added “second to that I am in the Army Reserves and my release process is on-going. My issue with that this is not just a release under what is called an Item 5F…that means an unwillingness to change a behaviour. So my behaviour is not complying with the Chief of Defense Staff directive so that is why they are kicking me out.”
Asked by MJ Independent if he was being treated similarly to an intravenous drug user or someone caught up in the narcotics world Topp said it is similar.
“I thank you for pointing it out because as a young man I wasn’t being a model soldier but I did spend 20 years doing what I needed to do. Training troops, going overseas, doing the business and to be treated this way I feel insulted.”
Topp spoke about working his way up the military chain of command from a private to the position of Warrant Officer he achieved at the time of his retirement form the Canada’s Regular Army.
He said he could not give an exact number of military and civil service personnel who have reached out to his organization canadamarches.ca but there had been a number and their stories are on the website.
Asked what he would say to his critics that the mandates work to control COVID - 19 Topp said he is not an anti-vaxxer but does not believe there has been enough research on COVID vaccines to prove they are safe and effective.
“My response would be to this because this is something I have heard in the Armed Forces community. So we are required to have vaccinations before going overseas. I agree. There are vaccines I have already had as part of my service but however they have had multi-year and multi-cohort studies assessing their side effects and effectiveness.”
“The issue with this particular one (the COVID - 19 vaccine) is I felt it was rushed to market and I wasn’t quite confident in the fact they were studies to the point to where they should have been...I just don’t feel at that level the government has the right to tell me how to be healthy.”
Asked if he felt he was not just march for his own rights but also others such as people who medically cannot be vaccinated or suffer from PTSD or psychological trauma and cannot wear a mask Topp said he was marching for them as well.
“Absolutely. This is a host of issues I am marching and protesting against,” he said adding his march was not just about protesting but bringing Canadians back together.
“ I will say to this is also a mission to try to bring people back together because I feel over the last couple of years with the imposition with these mandates and procedures and protocols we have kind of become divided as a country and a society. I want to try to reach across that.
As part of his march Topp has reached federal MPs, Ministers as well as the Senate to start a discussion.
Asked if he felt it necessary to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he said it was unnecessary as the individual MPS and Senators are the people who can make a difference as they make the decisions.
He said although he has received support from some MPs for his march and message he would like to speak to legislators who are on the other side of the issue in order to start a dialogue to help bring Canadians back together.
“Absolutely (I want to meet with the other side) as that didn’t happen at the protest earlier this year.”
Asked if he worries some may see him as just a part of a fringe minority Topp says that does not describe him or what he wants to accomplish with the march. Critics of people opposing COVID mandates have often alleged there are connections to more extremist elements.
“Absolutely not I am not a fringe minority. I am a Canadian and human being. I, we have been approached by all shapes, all sizes, all colours and all creeds since I started this thing. So there is no way would I categorize myself as some fringe minority as somebody who does not get along with people.”
Topp said the divide COVID - 19 has had on society is not just political. He has heard from families where COVID - 19 vaccination status has placed stress and divided families.
“Grandmothers have come up to me that they are not allowed to see their grandkids. Their grandmother has not been vaccinated and they worry that their grandkids…it is going to make them sick. So definitely I am hearing these kind of stories.”
Topp has his own beliefs when it comes to COVID and it is on the lines of what he described as common sense. He said he was in favour of practices used to stop the spread of cold and flus. Things such as frequent hand washing, stay at home when sick and covering your mouth when sneezing of coughing.
“I am in favour of that…I don’t see why we would not take the same precautions as we do with colds and flu.”
Asked if the march is tiring (there are events along the way) he said the march is but just what is needed to accomplish his ultimate goals.
Topp continues to march towards - with his 30 pound pack - Ottawa at a pace of 50 kilometers a day accompanied by supporters and the honking of car horns in support.