A B.C. participant in the Ottawa convoy protest organized a pot luck barbecue and some parking lot hockey games for kids in a Langley recreation centre parking lot on Saturday, Feb. 26.

John Bancroft, an excavator operator who lives in Langley鈥檚 Brookswood neighbourhood, said he would like the event to lead to other, similar in-person meet-ups, to start a process of reconciliation and help heal divisions in the country.

鈥淚t鈥檚 bringing the community together,鈥� Bancroft told the Langley Advance Times.

鈥淛ust getting everyone shaking hands again and talking. Once we get that going, it will all fix itself.鈥�

The George Preston get-together was not, he stressed, about the anti-vaccine-mandate protest that he took part in.

鈥淚t鈥檚 completely separate [from that],鈥� said Bancroft.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 my personal thing.鈥�

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Bancroft said he left Ottawa before the police moved in and began making widespread arrests.

鈥淚 had a gut feeling,鈥� he recalled.

His memories of the Ottawa event were positive.

鈥淢y experience was nothing but community coming together,鈥� Bancroft remarked, adding he did not personally witness any of the reported incidents of bad behavior while he was in Ottawa.

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Another convoy participant, , drove in to bring the 鈥淯nity Cup,鈥� an improvised replica of the Stanley Cup created by convoy participants, to the event.

Fortin explained the cup was created from a 鈥済arbage can and a mop bucket鈥� after he and fellow convoy participant Ron Rotzetter decided to put an an empty stretch of street to use.

鈥淚 said, let鈥檚 start some hockey, here,鈥� Fortin recalled.

鈥淔or about two and half, three weeks, we went down every day with it and played hockey and got people to sign it,鈥� Fortin related.

The cup was completely covered with names.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how many signatures are on there, but there鈥檚 a few,鈥� Fortin said.

鈥淎 small fringe minority, let鈥檚 go with that.鈥�

Like Bancroft, Fortin left Ottawa before police began making wholesale arrests.

鈥淚 wanted to leave with that experience of the unity. That鈥檚 what I saw, the whole time I was there, the unity.鈥�

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The event was held without permission from Langley Township, but Mayor Jack Froese noted that while the municipality generally doesn鈥檛 rent out parking lots, they also don鈥檛 prevent people from meeting up in an empty lot, as long as there are no violations of laws or regulations, such as liquor laws.

鈥淧eople use our parking lots for meetings all the time,鈥� Froese said.

- with files from Matthew Claxton