Across from Parliament Hill, two very different men reflect on the flag and Canada Day

Akram Slim sits across from the Parliament buildings amid tourists, demonstrators and a heavy police presence. He speaks quietly about his fight for citizenship as demonstrators chant “freedom” behind him.

To his right, Randy Moodie stands holding a large Canadian flag. He speaks with a small group of protesters, lamenting the police presence and security checkpoints people have to pass through to enter the Parliament Hill grounds.

The day before Canada’s national celebrations, Slim and Moodie both talk about rights and how Canada has failed them as a state. Slim, who arrived from Tunisia 12 years ago to study aerospace assembly, says he is heartbroken thinking about his unreciprocated commitment to Canada as a home. Moodie speaks about how his vaccination status (he is unvaccinated) and views on the pandemic have divided his friends and family and expresses his anger toward the Trudeau government.

Both men present a portrait of angst, frustration and sadness under the jubilance of Ottawa’s first Canada Day celebrations in three years.

As Canada’s National Observer spoke to the two men, more demonstrators began to amass in downtown Ottawa. The group grew slightly in size but remained a pale comparison to the crowds who gathered back in January when a convoy of protesters opposing public health mandates rolled into the capital.

On the first night of the month-long occupation, Moodie says he slept in his car in -35 C weather. After, he says, he spent thousands of dollars on hotel rooms, both during the convoy protest and at the Rolling Thunder demonstration that took place in the capital at the end of April. The protests, Moodie says, brought his Canadian pride back after Justin Trudeau took it from him.

“If someone asks me, ‘What are you,’ I honestly didn’t want to tell them I was Canadian,” he says.

Moodie points to the Liberal government’s scandals, particularly the WE Charity scandal and the India trip where the Trudeau family was accused of cultural appropriation.

“Reading up on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the only thing I see I have on my side is that I’m promised good governance, and with all the scandals, one after the other, we’re not getting good governance,” Moodie says.

“So it’s all about protesting the bullcrap going on over here.”

Moodie’s grievances around the flag and national pride are a stark contrast to Slim, who says after more than a decade in the country, he is just trying to live a dignified life.

“I came here to this, how this place on Canada Day celebrates, but inside my heart, I feel heartbroken and very disappointed,” Slim says. “At least nobody bothered me, came to my door, [took] me by force.”

“You asked me before, the flag, what does it mean — I don’t know,” he says. Ever since his student visa expired, Slim has been in limbo. “I have a family here, they are Canadian citizens, but I can’t live like this.”

If he had his citizenship, Slim says he would be proud to be Canadian. He has friends who came to the country as refugees with little money; they’re now citizens, he says. Reflecting on the reasons for national pride, he says he feels Canadians are happy on Canada Day because they feel safe and secure.

“For me, it’s very different. I sometimes cannot even compare myself to a dog. Any other animal has more of a right than me,” he says.

Slim has applied for citizenship through humanitarian and compassionate considerations, and now he waits — sitting across from the Parliament buildings, with police all around and chants of “freedom” in the air — to see if he will be able to stay with his nieces and sister in Canada.

After Slim speaks with Canada’s National Observer, he enters a Tim Hortons and orders a double-double with honey instead of sugar. Outside, a car drives by — flags waving on each window, the hood with a Canadian flag decal — headed for the Hill.