Danielle Johnston of Griffin took three of her seven children this morning to White City to watch the trucker convoy, as the trucks made their way from Balgonie to eastbound on the TransCanada Highway into Manitoba.

As this convoy is likely to break the Guinness world record for longest truck convoy set in Egypt in 2020 with 485 trucks, we asked Johnston to describe the scene.

"It's huge. You hear about it, you know, over the news and whatnot, but you don't realize how big it is till you see it. It's so inspiring," she shared. "There's so many people, everybody shouting 'freedom!' and honking horns. And there was a huge turnout there, too. Just people like myself, you know, cheering on, supporting the whole convoy."

She said she went this morning because the truckers didn't arrive in Balgonie, a route which was to bypass the City of Regina and avoid traffic congestion, until about 9:00 p.m. last night. 

"I just wanted them to see the whole convoy in the daylight, so they can get a perspective of what is going on in Canada right now, and so we took a field trip," said Johnston. 

"We parked, and you could hear it before you could see it, and it's beeping and honking, and then you see it, and there's all these trucks decked out," she noted. "It is just so incredible, and everybody is just cheering on everyone. It just really makes a person proud, because this is the common man, right? This isn't somebody paid to do this or anything like that. These are people just like you and I, and it's just incredible."

She shared why it was important for her to bring Kate (12), Samuel (9), and Luke (6), to witness the convoy.

"I don't ever recall any protests of this magnitude in my life, and we follow current events and I've tried to explain what's happening in the world, and it's important for them to know."

"I really wanted them to see how many Canadians, the true Canadian people, how they are banding together and basically just spreading love," she noted. "This is not a hate protest or anything like that. This is about about freedom."

Photo Danielle Johnston

As during this wide show of support last night and this morning, an extreme cold warning was in effect from Environment Canada, Johnston noted the kind of weather that usually makes many just stay indoors was not going to stop the show of support. She said she is also encouraged by so many who aren't part of the convoy being supportive in whatever ways they can. The GoFundMe is sitting at nearly $5 million.

"The Hutterites in Eli, Manitoba, are making them sandwiches and feeding them. And Federated Co-op is supplying some fuel," said Johnston. "For something, regular common folks to put money in a GoFundMe and it get to 4 million like that, you know, I think that speaks for itself. A lot of people want something to change."

Johnston said it was an indescribable event to witness.

"I'm not gonna lie. It is freezing, and for so many people just come out and stand beside their vehicles, and wave on the convoy, there was young and old, it was all sorts of people, it was just unbelievable."

Another anonymous witness in attendance last night outside of Regina told Discover Weyburn, "There were spectators as far as you could see, all along the sides of the roads. The whole gas station parking was packed. You couldn't walk into the gas station without seeing smiles from every direction and hearing 'hello' yelled out vehicle windows!"

"People were finally happy again. It was super emotional, I've never felt so safe.  All of the people there would have anyone's back at any point, true humans, all wanting freedom for every single one of us! It was so great."

The truck convoy was aiming to be passing through Brandon, MB today, with a goal of reaching Ottawa by the weekend.

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