Greg Wycliffe - Canadian Legion wants to CANCEL James Topp

00:00:00.000 I had the honor to be invited to speak and do live comedy at a James Topp event in Montreal

00:00:06.960 at the first Royal Canadian Legion branch that was going to allow him to speak there,

00:00:12.800 but it got canceled. How are we supposed to truly create unity in this country

00:00:18.620 if we can't even create unity amongst Canadian veterans? The good news is I still will get the

00:00:24.500 honor to speak with James Topp at the event on Friday here in Toronto. This is one of the final

00:00:30.880 meet and greets for James Topp on his journey. I'm going to get to do live comedy there and it's an

00:00:36.080 absolute honor and I can't wait. Limited tickets are available. More information link in the

00:00:41.340 description. Now back to the Royal Canadian Legion. This is not the first time this has happened to

00:00:46.340 James Topp. He has been banned or his events have been canceled throughout his journey. I believe

00:00:51.740 in Newfoundland last time it happened and I think this meme best puts it in perspective and the

00:00:56.240 quotation from this meme comes directly from the legion.ca website. The Royal Canadian Legion is

00:01:01.620 one of the most vocal supporters of Canada's military community. For nearly a century we have provided

00:01:06.220 essential services to veterans when they need it most. Advocated for veterans needs and helped

00:01:10.440 Canadians honor the sacrifices of those who serve. Hey I'm a veteran can you help me? Not you! James

00:01:16.640 explains in this video that this legion branch was under tremendous pressure from the national

00:01:22.940 headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion. Because of the pressure that he's facing he's actually been

00:01:28.240 threatened with closure and or loss of affiliation. This is how bad this situation here is in this

00:01:35.100 country. The Royal Canadian Legion as opposed to reaching out to me directly to have a conversation

00:01:42.080 about why I'm doing this has chosen to listen to um innuendo rumor and outright lies and adopted this um

00:01:54.400 wall of silence and blocked me and and the team actually from speaking to the public about what we're

00:02:01.120 doing. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Someone refusing to talk to you, refusing to engage with you

00:02:07.200 with any conversation whatsoever. And after all once you engage with a protest that has a reasonable

00:02:14.160 request to end the mandates and restrictions, well it's it's pretty hard to disagree with that.

00:02:20.400 And especially considering the government has followed suit with the trucker convoy for example.

00:02:25.600 And similarly with James Topp, once you actually listen to what he has to say and what his simple

00:02:30.800 request is, well it's really hard for any politician to disagree with him. He wants to end mandates in the

00:02:36.800 military as he explains here. To make it clear to everybody is we are lobbying, that's right, we are

00:02:43.120 carrying to the federal government and our representatives the case of employees of the armed forces

00:02:50.480 who have been wrongfully released from service under a release item code called 5F because they are

00:02:57.120 unsuitable. They have been told they have been unsuitable because they will not participate in the

00:03:02.720 vaccination policy put in place there. And they have reasonable grounds to do so. I am one of those

00:03:09.520 people. James is one of those people and to represent all the others who are being discriminated

00:03:14.000 against in this country with existing mandates that exist in various places, he has marched across

00:03:20.240 the entire country. He is representing and trying to draw attention to the many other Canadians who are

00:03:26.960 out of a job or nurses who can't go back to work because of these unjustified mandates. This is a

00:03:32.560 very worthy cause that pretty well most of the country seems to be on board with but we're you know

00:03:37.840 it's just not permeating the mainstream because I guess that's not part of the conversation right?

00:03:42.080 Being forced to take an injection or lose your job is not a choice and now many of these restrictions

00:03:48.640 and mandates have dropped so we know that these mandates weren't justified to begin with. But I was

00:03:53.360 checking out the Royal Canadian Legion's Twitter and I just wanted to see how many times they've

00:03:57.920 tweeted about freedom. I wear my poppy as a visual pledge to never forget those who sacrificed for our

00:04:03.600 freedom. We wear a poppy to remember all veterans who have served and sacrificed for our freedom. Show

00:04:09.920 your support and get your poppy to honor the courage of those who sacrificed everything for our

00:04:14.480 freedom. But when it comes to James Topp marching across the entire country sacrificing his time and energy

00:04:21.200 and body to protest these unjustified mandates he gets the silent treatment from an organization that

00:04:28.960 is supposed to represent veterans and the Canadian military more than anyone? Where's the unity there?

00:04:35.680 Where's the understanding there? Where's the compassion there? And it's the same thing as the

00:04:39.840 Trucker Convoy. If you would just have a conversation this wouldn't have to be so painful and awkward and

00:04:46.160 just unreasonable. And of course like the Trucker Convoy when they refuse this hard to have a

00:04:51.840 conversation about this it leads people to think that there's something else going on. And speaking

00:04:56.640 of the Trucker Convoy the Royal Canadian Legion tweeted this, veterans saddened by use of Canadian flag

00:05:02.800 by convoy protesters. The iconic Canadian flag symbolizes hope, pride, and peace and represents our

00:05:08.720 country's unity and strength. Its use as a symbol of protest is not its intended spirit. I'm sorry,

00:05:15.360 do you speak for all veterans Royal Canadian Legion? Because I interviewed plenty of veterans down at

00:05:21.280 the Trucker Convoy and I can assure you they would not agree with this sentiment whatsoever. And I think

00:05:26.480 the harsh reality to the situation is this, in order to unite the country and to unite Canadian veterans,

00:05:33.040 well we need to decide upon shared values. And over the past two years, what it means to be a free Canadian,

00:05:39.760 those values have been completely distorted. Because it's not about being a free Canadian anymore,

00:05:44.640 there's this huge sentiment about being a safe, safe Canadian. And for me personally,

00:05:50.960 I choose the side where Canadians and Canadian veterans value freedom more. Why? Because I don't

00:05:57.040 know, I've seen people pepper sprayed in the name of safety, beaten, arrested in the name of safety,

00:06:03.040 businesses shut down and business owners persecuted by the government in the name of safety. Because

00:06:08.640 freedom becomes an afterthought in the name of safety. It's crazy what you can justify in the name

00:06:14.320 of safety. And while we're talking about the Legion, I wanted to bring up how they treated the Don Cherry

00:06:19.200 situation. Mr. Cherry's personal opinion was hurtful, divisive, and in no way condoned by the Legion.

00:06:25.280 We do remain appreciative of his passionate support for veterans. This sounds a lot like doublespeak,

00:06:31.520 doesn't it? I mean, we don't really agree with his opinion. It was divisive, but you know,

00:06:35.200 thanks for your support as well, man. Don Cherry was your best spokesperson. And then you just threw

00:06:40.240 him under the bus, Royal Canadian Legion. And they probably made this tweet about Don Cherry for the

00:06:44.880 same reason they shut down the James Topp event. Someone at headquarters put pressure and said,

00:06:50.240 no, we can't, we can't condone this. We need to say, where's the bravery? Where's the conviction?

00:06:56.960 Where's the courage? Where is the values of freedom in being a Canadian? And this Don Cherry

00:07:03.440 example is important because essentially the way it was dealt with, it said, hey,

00:07:07.040 people who aren't wearing the poppy, potentially offending those people, we need to make that a

00:07:12.880 priority over honoring our veterans during Remembrance Day. Are you kidding me? It says all

00:07:20.160 over their website, these people made the greatest sacrifice. Oh, but we don't want to,

00:07:25.680 we don't want to hurt someone's feelings and pressure them into wearing a poppy. Why not?

00:07:30.880 We are forgetting. Lest we forget, we are forgetting. At least the Canadian establishment is certainly

00:07:36.000 coaching its citizens to forget. But hey, I'm not a veteran. So let's hear what James Topp has to say

00:07:42.720 on the issue. So what I have to say to the Royal Canadian Legion is there was 28 years where I served

00:07:48.480 in the regular armed forces where I went to a Legion branch every Remembrance Day and stood outside

00:07:56.160 at attention, rain or shine, and I honored the memory of our veterans. And you are not going to

00:08:02.320 even do that for our recent veterans who have been 5F'd. So Royal Canadian Legion, if you have anybody

00:08:10.480 working in your establishment who has any honor or courage, then reach out to me at canadamarches

00:08:16.880 at protonmail.ca and let's have a conversation. Just asking for a conversation, guys. That's exactly

00:08:22.320 what people were asking for at the Trucker Convoy. But if you're a Canadian veteran or a Legion

00:08:27.360 member watching this, you need to unite on the right side of this issue. Do you want to unite on the side

00:08:35.360 that's all about being safe and all about listening to whatever headquarters has to say?

00:08:42.800 Or are you going to be on the side that is about freedom? The side that is about honoring veterans?

00:08:48.400 The side is about debate and conversation, which is fundamental to a free society. We need to unite

00:08:56.560 on the right side. Because guess what? The people on the freedom side are not saying we don't care about

00:09:02.160 safety, okay? And I would argue that simply the people who are stuck on the safety side

00:09:07.840 are believing in the propaganda that is designed to divide us on a very straightforward issue.

00:09:14.880 If you're in Toronto, come out this Friday for the final meet and greet with James Topp.

00:09:19.280 You'll see me perform live comedy. You'll get to shake hands with the man himself. It should be a lot

00:09:23.840 of fun. It's at Louis Cypher on the Danforth. Tickets are very limited right now for Friday,

00:09:29.280 but if people buy enough tickets, then there's going to be a meet and greet as well on Saturday

00:09:33.120 at the same location. And thank you to James Topp and his team. I'm very honored to be able to speak

00:09:38.000 at his event on Friday. I'm going to leave you with a clip from the trucker convoy from a veteran

00:09:42.960 named Alex, who has some choice words. And division is key for any, any dictatorship,

00:09:48.720 authoritarian style government to divide everybody and keep everybody from joining together.

00:09:52.880 So terrorist, racist, misogynist, whatever you want to say, those are words that they slam at you to

00:09:58.320 stop any conversation and to get public opinion to pull away from that person. And that's actually

00:10:03.120 disgusting. Without freedom of speech and without, without freedom of speech, there is no democracy.

00:10:07.920 There is no debate. But when it comes to James Topp marching across the entire country

00:10:14.800 to protest mandates, unjustified mandates, he gets the cold soldier.

Greg Wycliffe - September 28, 2022

Canadian Legion wants to CANCEL James Topp

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript