A North Battleford man who was a truck driver for 23 years and refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine says he has lost everything, including his job and young daughter because of his decision to exercise autonomy over his body.
Two years later, he hasn't got his trucking job back, struggles financially, and misses his daughter.
“I’m a completely broken man,” he said.
Now, as groups of protesters from across Canada return to Ottawa, he is considering joining them again. He had joined the protesters, which was dubbed the Freedom Convoy, in January 2022 and was with the protesters when the Emergencies Act was invoked.
“When the time is right, I’m going to head back that way,” he told SASKTODAY.ca in a phone interview. “I’m just watching everything unfold.”
Ewanchuk said he had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine because just before the COVID-19 pandemic was announced, he and his friends that he lived with in Lashburn had caught a nasty chest flu virus.
“Not one of us went and seen the doctor,” he said, adding that they took vitamins, drank lots of water, got rest, and “sweated it out a couple of days.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic was announced a vaccine was soon made available and Ewanchuk said he questioned how fast the “record-breaking vaccine” was released.
Before COVID-19, Ewanchuk had lived a relatively sheltered life growing up on the farm and graduating high school in Mayfair alongside 11 other grads. He said he never really bothered with politics or social media.
“I never even knew about political parties and never paid attention to politics. When I left the farm, I started trucking in the oilfield. I figured I paid too much taxes but whatever.”
After COVID-19 hit, he said he went down the “rabbit hole” looking for answers and evidence. He ended up having a disagreement with his ex-wife over whether or not their daughter should be vaccinated. He said his wife made the decision to “go behind his back” and get their young daughter vaccinated.
“I threw my phone across the house and put a hole in the drywall I was so upset,” he said. “The cops showed up and charged me for uttering threats.”
He added that previously, he and his ex-wife, “had a good co-parenting relationship,” but COVID-19 had destroyed that.
“It came to a screeching halt.”
He admits that in the heat of the moment he said things to his ex-wife, which caused him to be charged. He eventually accepted a plea deal. He is on probation until the end of November.
Ewanchuk also admits to being arrested for harassment of Premier Scott Moe and his family. He said that he had gone to the premier’s home in April 2022 and had the door slammed in his face.
“I left a note with my full name, address, phone number, email and social media. Six months later I was charged with harassment.”
He said he had wanted to talk to the premier “man to man, heart-to-heart” about issues facing the province during COVID-19.
Ewanchuk said that COVID-19 had opened his eyes to what he called corruption within the system so he had joined the truckers Freedom Convoy to Ottawa in January 2022, but not driving his truck.
“I jumped on with the convoy in my beat-up car and the $200 I had left to my name," he said adding that's all he had left because he wouldn’t “comply with this sh**.”
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