A combat veteran of 28 years, James Topp was discharged from the military for refusing the experimental COVID-19 vaccines. Seeing the federal Liberal Government’s shameful treatment of the Freedom Convoy and refusal to engage with Canadians, he decided to create his own protest: a 4,297km march from Victoria, BC to Ottawa, Ontario with the purpose engaging governments on the mandates’ impacts.

James founded Canada Marches and for 130+ days he walked across Canada. Through mountains and fields, across hills and around lakes, James marched with dignity and purpose. Thousands of Canadians came to see him on the road, sharing their stories and giving him encouragement. Through Canada Marches, James was able to get the word out and quickly began attracting support from all over Canada.

TBOF was among the first to answer his call and commit our resources and networks to amplifying his message and ensuring government would listen. One of our key contributions was mobilizing TBOF supporters to repeatedly contact their MPs with focused messages, urging them to meet with James.

And it worked. On June 22, twenty-five MPs met with James. MP Dean Allison even courageously hosted James on Parliament Hill, making the parliamentary committee rooms available which lent further credibility and gravity to James’ message.

TBOF senior personnel were also present with James at Parliament, supporting him with navigating the insincere communications environment that is Ottawa politics.

TBOF supporters also made large donations to Canada Marches to cover a large portion of the A/V costs needed to livestream the meeting across Canada.

All along James’ march, he was vilified and denigrated by the mainstream media, framed as a seditionist or otherwise trying to undermine democracy. But James pressed forward with courage and commitment and through his integrity began winning over MPs who recognized the sheer magnitude of what he was doing and that, at the very least, James deserved the respect of being listened to.