I am grateful every day for the National Citizens Inquiry (https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/commissioners-report/)
Spokesperson Michelle for the NCI: Spiritually, it was the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
DRUTHERS NEWSPAPER (info at bottom) published Michelle’s tribute. I find it inspiring.
You will find it more satisfying to read from the original:
https://druthers.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/druthers-september-2023-resized.pdf (Druthers On-line. Sept 2023 Edition, scroll down to Page 10. It’s a tribute to Canadians.) Below is a back-up copy, with no photo!
By Michelle Leduc Catlin
“Would you consider being the spokesperson
for the NCI?”
When National Citizens Inquiry lead council, Shawn Buckley, asked me the question in our first phone conversation together, I was gobsmacked. Would I consider volunteering as the voice of a national organization dedicated to finding, recording, and pre-senting truthful evidence about Covid mandates and their impact on Canadians?
There was no other answer for me but yes.
In a matter of days, I’d arranged my life to travel across the country for 2 months. It was, as it turns out, just the beginning of a growing and historical movement to out the truth and unite the country. And it took more than any of us had bargained for.
Physically, it was punishing.
We sat in windowless hotel rooms, hearing horrifying and heartbreaking testimony for 9-12 hours a day, listening to over 300 people during 24 hearing days in 8 different cities from coast to coast. On the “breaks” I interviewed witnesses and at the end of the hearing days I recorded “sit-down” summary videos of the day’s testimony that couldn’t possibly do justice to each and every witness. I’d then rush out for a late dinner and head back to the hotel to review stories from the day before, answer any urgent texts, calls, and emails, and get into bed by midnight, only to be up at 7am to start all over again.
On non-hearing days, I wrote stories, gave interviews, and travelled to the next city. There was no time for reflection or introspection, no walking or exercise, no daylight, no downtime.
Mentally, it was taxing.
I understand why people would rather watch. It takes nothing. In fact, it dulls our senses nd lulls us into a kind of self-numbing trance that allows us, for a short while, to forget the real tragedy and horror happening in the real world.
Comprehending complex scientific evidence necessitates full attention and alertness. Listening to legal issues and economic assessments can be challenging. And there is only so much information one can absorb hour after hour, day after day. But the commitment to honour each witness’s contribution overrode any desire to step out or miss just one witness.
Emotionally, it was draining.
When I took on this role, what encouraged me most was not the lineup of superstar scientists, valiant doctors, and other expert witnesses. What gave me hope about the Inquiry was the prospect of ordinary Canadians hearing the stories, the real lived experiences, of fellow Canadians. It would be difficult, but this, I believed, would connect us once again with the kindness and compassion we are known for. Because we had lost our way during Covid.
What I witnessed was a degradation of natural human response to the suffering of others that could only have been usurped by the implementation of the greatest psychological assault we’ve ever experienced.
In the darkest days of Covid, we not only allowed but encouraged the medical segregation and shaming of our own families, as well as the loss of livelihood of friends and colleagues, and, most shockingly, the harm to our children through the traumatic sacrifice of their freedoms for the supposed protection of the health of their elders. An obscene reversal of roles from which they will spend a lifetime recovering. Some never will. Some never did, as self harm and suicide went way up.
We have yet to feel the societal impact of thousands of kids who permanently dropped out of school. We have no idea what a generation of children subjected to psychological warfare will have on the future of this country or any country. We cannot begin to know the physical impact of an experimental medical intervention that is already causing sudden death in the young.
And then there are the injection injuries. Those who experienced the most physical harm were the people who were coerced, pressured, or just trusted the government’s assurance of a “safe” and “effective” “vaccine.”
And as Dr. Mark Trozzi testified, all three words turned out to be a lie.
It was the testimony of the “vaccine” injured that was among the hardest to hear. Those of us listening to a daily litany of tragic outcomes of political decisions that ruined lives took solace in each other. We hugged and cried. With the witnesses and with each other.
Psychologically, it was traumatizing.
Hearing this direct experience of physical, emotional, mental, and financial hardship took something more than just listening. It required a willingness to experience a full range of human emotions. But this was the real gift of the NCI.
In the clouds of despair, there lay a silver lining — the mechanism by which we could reestablish our reputation for kindness and compassion. Bearing witness.
As we heard these unimaginable stories, the false division of vaxxed versus unvaxxed began healing. The testimony of those who took the shot served to disintegrate the “us versus them” narrative that the government tried so hard to push.
We have all been misled. We have all been victimized by a government-sanctioned, government-promoted, culture of fear and blame. But no more. We have each other and we have each other’s stories. And it is these stories which must continue to be heard.
Watching and sharing the testimony of the witnesses of the National Citizens Inquiry is a means to awaken those who suspect that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, but don’t yet know what is happening or how to stop it. This is why we were inspired to start the #ThisIsCanada campaign, encouraging people to put flyers into mailboxes asking others to watch and share.
Because we know, I know from personal experience, that you cannot watch a day of NCI testimony without being changed.
Spiritually, it was the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
The National Citizens Inquiry was, and is, a part of history that has the potential to make us who we were born to be. To encourage, embolden, and empower us to be our greatest selves, and to take responsibility for what we allowed to happen here. It was, and is, an olive branch between cleaved communities and colleagues, fractured friends and families. It was, and is, an opportunity to begin a new conversation with a clean slate.
We can honour the courageous men and women who testified by ensuring their stories are seen, and never forgetting that this was allowed to happen in Canada. As word spread of this unprecedented event, a Canadian family was created. A vast network of volunteers, most of whom don’t even know each other but share a commitment to truth, justice, personal responsibility, and accountability.
While the NCI’s stated purpose was, “to listen, to learn, and to recommend,” it has become about so much more. It is the mechanism by which we can awaken the power of each of us to create the country, the society, the world in which we want to live. It has become a new muscle to exercise our democracy.
The Commissioners report will be released this fall, making many recommendations based on the evidence heard. But it is up to each of us, the citizens of Canada, to ensure that something is done with it. We must be willing to face the truth and to be the change. To rekindle our kindness and compassion, to admit our mistakes, and then to stand together to hold those responsible to account.
Because that is who we are.
And this is why I feel proud and privileged to be a part of the National Citizens Inquiry.
In the words of Shawn Buckley during his closing statements in Ottawa, “Canadians don’t cower.” It’s time for all of us to stand on common ground. Because history is calling and THIS is Canada.
Please go to nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/testimony and find out how to participate in #ThisisCanada.
The Common Ground of Covid: My Journey with the NCI
Michelle Leduc Catlin
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