Shaun Newman Podcast - #258 - James Topp

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

He's been in the Canadian Military for 28 years until mandates changed all that. Now he is marching across Canada, a 4000+ km journey, which will end in Ottawa at the war monument.  Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500 Support here:⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ShaunNewmanPodcast

This is Zubi. This is Brett Wilson. This is Brian Peckford. This is Keith Morrison. This is Tim McAlloff of Sportsnet. This is Dr. Peter McCullough. This is Daryl Sutter and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Tuesday. That's right. Tuesday. Happy Tuesday to you all. I sat down, well, I didn't sit down. James was walking and Day 65 as he makes his cross-country tour. And I just thought, you know what, I could sit on this for a few days, but by that time, he's on day 70, et cetera.

So I thought it pertinent to get it out as quickly as humanly possible. So buckle up here for a Tuesday installment. Before we get there, let's get on to today's episode sponsors. The team over at Borgo Tildiltern Tools, well, the main man, Joseph Borgo is running for conservative leadership, and I thought it prudent to let everybody know here in Lloyd Minster, Wednesday, April 27th, Joseph Borgo and Theo Flurry will be a lot of, at the Vic Juba Theater here in town.

It's $20 at the door. I'm twisting his arm to get him in the studio as well. So we'll pick his brain. That'll probably be out either later this week, early next week. Either way, you can see Joseph Borgo and Theo Flurry, like I say, here in Lloydminster at the Vic Juba, $20 at the door. If you're interested in support in the podcast, of course, the Patreon account is in the show notes.

You can tell me a flag type. That's totally fine. But if you're wanting to support, that's the financial way to do it. So appreciate all your time. And if there's any hard-earned dollars, you want to throw my way, by all means. Like I say, either way, I'm not hurt. Now, onto the Ram Truck Rundown, brought to you by auto-clearing Jeep and Ram, the Prairie's trusted source for Chrysler, Dodge Jeep, Ram, Fiat,

and all things automotive for over 110 years. He's been a part of the Canadian Armed Forces for 28 years. He's currently doing a 4,293-kilometer trek from Van Gogh. Vancouver to Ottawa. I'm talking about James Topp. So buckle up. Here we go. Hi, it's James Topp. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Hello. How's James doing? Good. How are you? I'm doing well. This is Sean Newman talking to you had to you had, Laude Minster, Alberta, Saskatchewan, right on the border. Hey, Sean. How are you doing? Doing well, sir. Whereabouts you at this morning? Well, we're coming up on Broadview,

Saskatchewan. Broadview, Saskatchewan. By, by following, you along. It looks like Saskatchewan's been rather fun for you. We're having a rare sunny day. I got to admit, with no wind blowing in my face. And I feel like, I feel like a new man. Well, my last name's new man. So I know what you mean. I'm curious, you know, for a lot of people, if they've never heard of James Top, who is James Top? So that's where we're at. So I'm James Toppe. I'm a former service member.

Well actually, not really former, I'm still in the reserves. I spent 28 years in armed forces, regular army transferred over to the reserves in 2019. And I got, I obtained a service job. So I was working as a civilian with RCMP as of 2021 after a lengthy application process. So my armed forces career basically goes back to about 1990. I joined in late 1990.

I got out, got back in again. My base trade is infantry, army. Spent most of my time in Ontario. I spent time in Prince Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and also the Royal Canadian Regiment. And then towards the end of my Reg force career, I went back to the Princess Patricia's. I was living in Chililuac, British Columbia, working with the RCMP as a civilian. Had a great job there. And, you know, along with everybody else, we experienced,

a lot of pain over the last two years with the imposition of various mandates and requirements. It affected my ability to work with the RCMP and I was placed on leave without pay as of November of 2021. About a week later, I was informed by the armed forces that my failure to comply with the Chief Defense Saff Directive on a certain medical procedure would also result in my being released from the armed forces now under what's called an item 5f so an item 5f is also known as a it's not it's not also known as it's defined as an inability or unwillingness to change a behavior my behavior was my failure to follow that particular order mainly because i have an objection with that kind of government overbearing policy and you know privacy issues that i have with medical procedures and so forth and so on.

So that's basically where I was in end of November last year. And sometimes the audio isn't that great. You're getting all this? No, I'm getting all of it, James. I'm letting you. Okay. I think for a lot of us, you know, I come from the oil field and agriculture and things like that.

And to hear your story a little bit about it, you seem like a very decorated military man and to realize that our Canadian armed forces suffered the same persecution over the last two years as pretty much every other industry under the sun right now is a head scratcher. You know, I think of the health care workers. I think of some people I know that work for C&RL resources that comes to mine as they're suing. And just to hear you start off the way you are, Yeah, I think a lot of Canadians can relate. It's just, I don't think, you know, it's not like, I don't know, that's a tough one when it comes to the Canadian military letting you go for a choice once again. But I feel like once again, all so many Canadians understand that because they've had to make the same choice with wherever they currently reside.

Well, this choice I don't believe is necessary, and I think it's a means of coercion. That's another problem I have with it. So the whole thing doesn't sit well with me, mainly for reasons I already stated, even though I'm in the federal government, it doesn't mean I have to forego my right to protest certain things. and ask questions and things like that. So this is what has become. So comply or lose your paycheck. Yeah, yeah. We certainly all know a lot about that.

The listeners certainly have their stories, and I'm sure you've heard a lot of them. This is Day 65, correct? Day 65, that's right. Now, where does this, like I'm watching right now, and I'm going, you got a full pack on. You're walking anywhere between 30 to 50K a day. Where did this idea come from to start in Vancouver and in Ottawa,

go over 4,000 kilometers? Like, I tell you what, I've walked on a highway for 49K for one day before, and the end of it, my feet were a little sore, let's just say, a little tender. How did you come about this idea? to, you know, a peaceful protest, essentially. Well, I was inspired by what the truckers did. And with the, with the Freedom Convoy, I was, you know, so there was a group of people.

They had the same concerns I did. They wanted to make their voices heard. They were subsequently, that inspired me. And then I was outraged at how they were treated. And so that was the start of it. Seeing that example, I meant, you know, because this is a federal government issue, that's where the heart of the matter lies with the federal government in Ottawa and at the seat of power there in the House of Commons. So they went there and that kind of gave me an idea. Well, I knew of other veterans going to Ottawa to support them and what they were doing. and

you know to see other veterans standing alongside those the thing was what ended up happening was I got a job after I was let you know plate down leave without pay I couldn't turn to the military

for any kind of income so I got a job as a tow truck driver and I was employed as a tow truck driver while I was watching the protests and that kind of opened my eyes in a number of different ways to a number of different things too and not, you know, really, it's the truckers, it's the working people who are keeping this country

functioning. And, you know, as a federal government worker, I was being paid by them, by you. So it was one of these things. So my cameraman got a rock in a shoe. Well, for the, for the listener, James's walk, and you can see the highway, you can see everything. it looks like a beautiful day in Saskatchewan. And he's got a cameraman walking in front of him. I'm wondering, James, is he walking backwards right now? Or has he got some system? No, no.

He got this gimbal thing. He's just here, give it to me for a second. I'll show you. So that's, yeah. So that's Christian. Hey, Christian. He's holding a camera on this gimbal thing, and he's not walking exactly backwards.

He's just kind of holding it over his shoulder. It's a team effort. How many, how many, How many on your team, James? How many people are with you? There's nine of us. There's nine of all. Yeah.

Nine of us and we all started. But just to back up how I got started, it was seeing that development in Ottawa. It was seeing the way the heavy-handed cards that were being played by the government. And my concern at the time was one of the things that compelled me to kind of, because I'm not sure a lot of your folks are aware, I went out, made a very public statement in four uniform because I was concerned that the military is going to get called in. I had a huge issue now with the Canadian Armed Forces being caught up in that mess.

So I kind of thought I'll go out of my uniform. This will be a very strong statement and, you know, tell them what my plans were. And I just, I'm not sure, you know, what can, What gave me the idea is probably a number of different things. I mean, I did set off the Terry Fox statue. And not that I'm comparing myself to Terry Fox because he's a human being of a greater, much higher standing than I am. And, you know, I guess there's a number of things like at protest. I just thought, how can I stand up? How can I make my voice heard?

And I can protest. Well, I know I can march. I can carry a pack. That's what I've been doing for basically my entire adult life. So I thought I'll go to Ottawa and I'll go there by foot because I sure couldn't fly there. I think what you said there is very important for people to hear. You went, what can I do? And you went, well, I can march.

And I think for a lot of people, they looked at Ottawa and went, I can't get there. And so they, you know, it gave them a ton of hope. And then they went, but what can I do? And there's a ton of things you can do in your community. You don't have to be James Topp and march across a country. If you can do it, by all means, right? But there's everyone has a part to play in this. And, you know, I got to go and witness Ottawa.

Ottawa was a pretty powerful place. But a lot of people couldn't go there. And yet the power resides in the people. And I think everybody saw that on clear display. when all the videos came back from from Ottawa, when you saw all the people lined on, people lined on the highways, everything like that. And so I think that's an important thing for people to hear, James,

is that, you know, what can I do? And I think that's a pretty powerful statement for a lot of people. Yeah, and I would reiterate that. And I would also say, because what distresses me on this trip is that, and I mean, when I say that, that it's not in any way a counterbalance to, you know, what I'm experiencing on the other side is that folks are coming together to support me

and this team and what we're doing. And it's amazing to see all these different groups and all these different communities come rushing out and you know to support us in the way of food and lodgings and stuff like that. Donations, it's incredible. Like I mean, Um, I, I, this thing has exceeded my wild expectations by leaps and bounds, but the one small thing that distresses me is when I, I, you know, occasionally I'll count their folks who they're not entirely sure why I'm doing this and they can't, you know, it's a head scrapper for them.

And then it's the other folks who, they just don't believe that there's anything that they can do. And so they're kind of fixated on what can't be done. Yeah, the fixating on what can't be done or that rabbit hole is one we all got to pull ourselves out of. Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at the beautiful country you're walking through right now. The fact, you know, it was only like two days ago, maybe even yesterday where basically you're in the middle of a giant snowstorm. And now, you know, the sun's shining. And all we got to do is I'll walk out, put her phones down for a little bit and realize we got a lot of, you know, a lot of, you know, a lot of, you know, a lot of.

a road to walk if we want to and we can do it with a smile on her face and there's pretty cool people along the way that are all thinking the same thing as us we just don't realize now yeah exactly now i got to know how heavy is the pack well i actually streamlined it because uh right now is about 25 30 pounds just because i i've been whittling it down as the weather gets warmer and stuff like that and because i want to make up some distance for what are we lost yesterday and the day before. So I got to lighten it up. But when we were going through the mountains,

it was probably a good 40 pounds. I mean, we had a sleeping bag and everything we needed to stay warm and survive should we get on our own somehow. So that's, that's, the whole point of the pack is to have something that you carry that has the gear you need to survive so that you can be self-suffer. efficient and it's a kind of demonstration of, you know, determination and resolve and just,

you know, having preparedness, right? It's, you know, we're not just doing this. It's not a, it's not a hike, a Sunday hike or anything. It's, we're marching across the country. Yeah. Once again, with your military background, everything like that, I look at you walking. It's an impressive sight. I just see the pack and I go for, I've never been in the military, right? I don't have a military background. I don't have relatives for the most part that went and joined the armed forces. And so I watch and I'm going, you know, walking is like is, I'm not going to say crazy.

I've been across the country before, but that's a daunting task. To do it with a heavy pack on your back, I just feel like that takes daunting and makes it, well, it's adding a couple levels on to it for sure. Well, like I said, it's achievable and it's not that heavy. But really, it's just, that's what I'm, I was kind of hoping to demonstrate to folks that, you know, you can do it. You can put your mind to it. And this can be done. Like, when I, when I had, first the germ of this idea, I planted on being a one-man show.

But not long after I, that video went out. where I announced this, you know, folks were, where they wanted to, they wanted to be a part of it. And, you know, it turned into a team effort. And when it's a team effort, it's, it's something that's, that we can do. Like, I mean, if, if I had tried to do this on my own and just suck it up and sleep on the side of the road and, I'm, I know I would have still been able to do it. I wouldn't have been making it to Ottawa on the time that was required. And the fact is that if I hadn't had the help of the people on my team and the help of the communities that were passing through, that we wouldn't have made it this far, this fast. So basically, you know, we're getting kilometers in because we're able to eat good at night and sleep well.

And then the next day pound out the kilometers. Oh, yeah, to me, that makes a ton of sense. sense. How are your feet been holding up through all this? Like, are you doing anything in particular to make sure that, you know, because I think I understand and I hope the listener understands, like a little blister confessed her into like something that is, you know, you're on your feet all day long. So what have you been doing? Are your feet just tough as nails at this point? Well, they're getting there. But I mean, I got to say that The whole team, those of us marching, we got, you know, we encountered physical difficulties along the way.

It wasn't, you know, just something we jumped right into and didn't experience any difficulties. We got a conditioning phase at the beginning for the first few weeks. One of the reasons why we're a little bit behind in our kilometers right now. But, you know, the first few weeks, well, what am I talking about? The first month was probably a conditioning exercise in which, you know, all of these things came out. You know, blisters, twisted ankles, swollen feet, you know, it was all there. But you just, this is, we're like, we're on a mission here. We got a goal.

We got to achieve it. And you work through the pain. As long as you're not grinding bones together, you know, I'm crippling yourself. That's what it's about. It's about getting the job done. So we still get blisters here. there because like the footwear I'm wearing right now, I hope as it are called.

And the maximum cushioning shoe. And every time you change a shoe, you got to get this. Now you got your foot got to conform to it and you get a new blister here or there. But I'll, you know, we're used to it by now, right?

How many, how many sets? You know, I, so years ago, I biked with my brother across Canada, opposite way you're going. So we went from Newfoundland.

all the way to Vancouver. Oh, wow. And one of the things that I had no clue about was some of the funny things that were going to happen to a bike over that stretch, right? Like I had to change out a chain. And I was like, you know, I've never ran, rode a bike long enough to ever have to do that. With footwear, have you had to be constantly changing out shoes or do you get one that gets cut?

You mentioned the hokas. Like, is that something that you've been doing quite regularly or does one shoe last quite some time? Yeah, no, I got this thing going on where it's kind of funny. I don't know what happened to me. Like I started this thing. It was like the Grinch that stole Christmas. I just I stopped hating myself and my heart grew three sizes and then so did my feet.

So my foot size went up and then I had a smaller shoe and then I think what happened was my foot was trying to get, you know, it was confined now to a smaller shoe. So I had a bunch of issues. And then typically I was always used to wearing a combat boot, like a tactical boot. And I just, it was just too small. And I ended up, you know, switching various footwear. So I kind of got this musical, musical chairs kind of thing going on with my footwear. It's the things like that, James, that give this.

some color, you know. I'm watching it. I'm like the message for me, I fully understand. I think where you're coming from, even the purpose of what you're doing. You mentioned it being you have a mission. To me, like that's some serious purpose, right? That gets you out of bed in the morning. And I assume you're meeting. You could probably share some light with the listeners on some of the stories you've seen and heard from people coming out to meet you along the way. Because I mean, that must be pretty special to you. I don't know, like you said, I don't know if you could dream that in your wildest dreams.

No, no, I didn't. Like, I mean, we got a gentleman. He's coming up to meet us here. He marched with us the day before yesterday in Howling Wind. He works for SaskTel. He got a health issue of his own that he's battling with, but he's out here doing it. He's doing the business.

He believes in what we're doing. And some good footwear right there. I'll tell you what. Zach and Natanya were under daughter. So she just, they were in Ottawa. She's, they've joined us for a couple of days. And they're also believing in what we're doing here. And, you know, like the folks that we want to engage with,

are people that we want to come and talk. to us like about the you know the triumphs they've had but also like you know the it's also the i want to take the personal accounts of people who were who were negatively impacted i want to take that to ottawa i want to have uh conversations with our members of parliament with our public health officials, I want them to understand exactly what is going on with the folks that are suffering from this, you know, kind of government overreach. So I do hear those, those personal accounts of job loss and families breaking up and stuff like that. And what I'm trying to do that's part of this mission,

is to capture that and take that to Ottawa. This is one of the reasons we're going to reestablish contact with our government because this is where I think we're at is that we've lost the ability to communicate with our own government. I think our public servants have forgotten who they work for, and I think it's a real problem. You think, you know, I know the truckers hope. for the same thing. They hoped that, uh, you know, a meeting with Trudeau or, or whoever from the government for that matter, what happened? Do you think James that by the time you're there,

they're going to entertain you? Because I mean, I, I can't speak, I can just talk about what I've seen. And even on your story, I don't know, maybe you can tell a listener, uh, obviously the first part is, is, is do you think they're going to sit with you? The second is, have you been getting any coverage from mainstream, from the CBC, from CTV? Have they been talking to you? Because that's one of the things I really noticed on the trucker convoy was the lack of transparency of actually it was going on. They kind of framed a narrative and didn't let go of that the entire time. Yeah, I mean, what happened was we have sent out invitation letters basically to every member of parliament where I clearly stay who I am, what happened to me as a result of mandates.

Why I'm doing this and I have asked them to participate with me in a discussion. So as you're aware, you know, you have these public servants who are members of parliament. And when in the member of parliament, they frequently have their part of a committee or they're also a shadow minister or they're also a minister. So are they going to have a conversation with me? I would say that it's going to be fairly bad optics for them and their party to completely ignore somebody or a group of people who have marched across the country for four and a half months, including when you might have hundreds of thousands of veterans also who have demonstrated interest in joining me when I get to Ottawa. So if that's going to be something they're going to ignore, they're going to ignore veterans who are,

wanting their voices heard feel the same way i do and they're in support of what we've done i think the optics are going to be significantly bad for for federal government and if that doesn't open up a lot of people's eyes that's the state of the country then i don't know what will but um the invitation is out there for them i have we had a good response um from two members of parliament and the rest are tentative or outright negative negative negative responses. However, they are responding, but there is a back and forth that has to be had. It's a little bit of a table tennis game that goes on.

Emails are sent, mails are sent, phone calls need to be made, agendas need to be sent out. So there's a little bit of back and forth going on there. but ultimately whether they show up or not what's going to happen is that we're going to have a public venue booked we're going to have agenda items on the table and we're going to have a time and space for folks to come and tell us what has happened to them as a result of these mandates so will deign to you know

they won't see us but the rest of the Canadian population will you seem like a pretty strategic guy why leave on February 20th and why June 22nd as the target of this trip

was there any significance well no actually it was it was the date surrounding that it was February to 20th when I went out in uniform and made my intentions known to march across the country. And that was actually my dad's birthday. And then June 20th is my mom's birthday. So June the 22nd was, I think, a date that was chosen.

And that's going to be, it's something that we're trying to communicate to the members of parliament, is that that's going to be a flexible date. because I may not make it there in time. I have a no later than date of June 30th, but June 22nd was an arbitrary date. Then we knew that there was potential for the members of Parliament to take their summer vacation. And we just kind of had to pin a number down.

And that turned out to be the one. So June 22nd has no real significance. June 20th is a real significant date for me personally. But I'm realizing now that we're more than likely, I'll not make that particular gate window. But if I can get there by June to 30th, then we'll have accomplished something and we'll also have gotten a group of veterans together

in Ottawa preparation for Canada Day. Well, you never know. You pretty much, Saskatchewan is throwing pretty much everything it can do here in April at you. I mean, from snowstorms to our lovely wind that we seem to never escape year round. Hopefully here, James, as you continue your journey, the sun will shine. And, you know, the sun might just reinvigorate you and put a little more giddy up in your step, so to speak. You just never know. Definitely, yeah.

It's definitely doing that already. Yeah, absolutely. Well, before I let you go, I do appreciate you talking about. Like, this is, you know, I've been doing the podcast now for, for a little over three years. This is maybe one of the most interesting interviews I've ever done. As far as like where you're sitting at or well, where you're walking from, you know, like it's a, it's, I've been following your telegram channel and I certainly hope that people go there. And I mean, you got Instagram. You got all of the social media. And Canada marches.com. for people who want to get the full scope and kind of tag along and see where you're at and all that good stuff. I do a little segment at the end. It's the final five brought to you by Crude Masters. Shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald. They've been supporters of the podcast since the very beginning. I'm curious, James, what on earth do you do to fill up your time as you walk? Are you a music guy? Are you paying attention to the NHL playoffs? Well, not playoffs. NHL as we slowly get closer to the playoffs. Are you a guy who listens to Audible? What on earth

are you filling up your hours with 65 days of it i know there's a lot of people who come but uh that's a lot of time on the road um thinking talking maybe whatever you got yeah well uh none of the above unfortunately um because it's you know what i used to do is you keep your head and eyes up and you scan on horizon and you keep uh maintain situation awareness and uh while you're doing that you kind of, it's necessary given the fact that we're walking down the highway. And, you know, you have to be aware of what's happening around you at all times. So if I, I don't usually listen to music or audio books or anything like that. I have, you just get into this state of mind of keeping your, you know, your mind awake to what's going on around you. So occasionally, though,

You do have some thoughts about various things with regards to the future and the future of what I'm doing and the future of what's going to happen afterwards. Well, if they could play you a song on June 22nd as you roll in Ottawa, would you have a pick? Sorry? If they could play you a song in Ottawa on June 22nd as you stroll in, as you march in, what would you have? have a song? Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not really,

I'm not really, what do you call it, a music, a spectacle kind of guy. You know, I just play some drums, I'll be good. Sounds good, James. I appreciate you giving me some of your time. Stay safe on the road.

And hopefully I can twist Christian's arm and checking up with you maybe once you're in Ontario. As I recall, Ontario seems to go on. forever. So I think there'll be plenty of highway there to see how things are going, but safe travels and hopefully the weather holds up for you. Awesome. Thanks, Sean. Appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Hope you enjoyed it. We're back again tomorrow with an archive episode. So it's busy, busy, busy this week. Regardless, whatever you're up to this week, go on, kick some mass, enjoy some of the

warm weather that's going on and we will catch up to you tomorrow.