Canadian truckers stay put in Ottawa with thousands of protestors pledging to continue create chaos

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A ‘Freedom Convoy’ of trucks joined by thousands of demonstrators brought Ottawa to a virtual standstill for a second day on Sunday as they protested Canada‘s vaccine mandates, as other sympathetic truckers blocked a border highway into the United States.

The truckers say there is no ‘end date’ in sight and plan to stay in the capital ‘for as long as it takes’ and until the Canadian government flips and withdraws its policy on vaccine mandates.

The chaos clogged the capital’s downtown near parliament throughout the weekend and brought criticism from officials, including Ottawa’s mayor who said residents were ‘prisoners in their own home.’

But the demonstrators say they intend to stay and that their aim is to ‘create chaos’ and a ‘logistics nightmare’ for the Justin Trudeau’s government.

‘Right now, yeah, it’s really cold, but we hang in there, the days are going to get longer and we take this block party and put it into overdrive,’ BJ Dichter, one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy, said at a press conference. ‘We’re in this one for the long haul. We don’t have a time limit.’ 

The boisterous protests are now threatening to interrupt business on Monday, with authorities stating that City Hall will remain closed, traffic will be disrupted and some other services stalled.

Canada’s House of Commons plans to be at work on Monday. 

‘The House will reconvene at 11am tomorrow, as planned, in accordance with the Standing Orders,’ the Speaker’s office confirmed on Sunday night.

No comment has been made on what security arrangements will be in place with thousands of protesters still on scene. 

‘This afternoon, a large presence of police continues throughout the downtown core and the movement of protestors and trucks continues to be managed,’ the Ottawa police said in a statement.

‘These high-risk situations were de-escalated and resolved with no arrests,’ the authorities said, adding that ‘police resources are fully stretched’ in dealing with the obstruction, which appeared to involve hundreds of trucks.

The protest originated last week in western Canada, where dozens of truckers organized a convoy to drive from Vancouver to the Canadian capital to demonstrate against Covid-related restrictions, particularly a recent vaccination requirement for truck drivers crossing the long US-Canada border.

Multiple convoys began arriving in Ottawa on Friday, and were joined by thousands of other anti-vaccination protesters.

In solidarity with the convergence on Ottawa, truckers on Sunday staged what police described as a ‘complete blockage’ of Highway 4 in Canada’s western Alberta province along the US border. The road is a major artery for commercial goods between the nations.

‘As of right now… the port of entry remains open technically speaking, however nobody would be able to get to them except on foot,’ Curtis Peters, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Alberta said, noting that some 100 trucks were blocking the roadway.

In Ottawa, the desecration of a war memorial and harassment of some city officials and NGO volunteers sparked an angry response, and the police said they had launched ‘several investigations.’

‘I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial,’ Wayne Eyre, chief of the country’s Defense Staff, said on Twitter.

‘Those involved should hang their heads in shame.’

Barricades were installed on Sunday to block vehicle access to the area around the war memorial, after several illegally parked vehicles were towed away.

And an organization advocating for the homeless, Shepherds of Good Hope, said its workers had been ‘harassed’ by protesters demanding meals on a particularly cold weekend.

It said it had briefly given free meals to some demonstrators in an effort to defuse tensions, but added, ‘This weekend’s events have caused significant strain to our operations at an already difficult time.’

With protesters gathering, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family were moved Saturday to an undisclosed location in Ottawa, Canadian media reported.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson fumed over what he called ‘threatening’ behavior by some of the protesters, particularly against the media.

‘Stop the bully tactics and show some respect to fellow Canadians,’ he said on Twitter.

Later, in an interview with the CBC, Watson said it was time for protesters to ‘move on’ so Ottawa can return to normal.

‘Quite frankly, residents feel they’re prisoners in their own home,’ he said.

Earlier in the weekend, former President Donald Trump gave vocal support for the Canadian truck drivers telling a rally in Texas that he was with the drivers ‘all the way’.

Trump praised the convoy participants for ‘doing more to defend American freedom than our own leaders by far.’

‘We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way,’ he told a crowd of supporters in Conroe, 40 miles north of Houston. 

Trump also slammed President Joe Biden for his administration’s vaccine mandates affecting federal contractors, large businesses, health workers and the military. 

Last week, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr had also expressed support for the convoy, saying: ‘We need to see more of this here in the U.S.’ 

On Friday, police in Nova Scotia announced there would be fines of up to $10,000 CA ($7,800) for anyone blocking the highway, as more truckers converged on Ottawa from across the country. 

Ottawa police on Sunday confirmed they had opened an investigation after some of the protesters were filmed dancing and drinking on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Some reports suggested people had urinated on the memorial. Vehicles were parked on the Cenotaph, in what police said was a sign of disrespect. 

A statue of Terry Fox, a Canadian athlete and cancer research activist, was adorned with a placard against mandates, sparking widespread revulsion.

‘The Terry Fox Foundation is proud to continue Terry’s mission of funding cancer research. Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others,’ the Terry Fox Foundation said, in comments retweeted by Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.  

Ottawa police said no arrests were made during Saturday’s protests, despite ‘several challenges with demonstrators, including sporadic road blockages by trucks, which officers worked to clear.’

They added: ‘These high-risk situations were de-escalated and resolved with no arrests.’

The police also asked people to make reports, rather than flagging social media to them. 

‘Several criminal investigations are underway in relation to the desecration of the National War Memorial/Terry Fox statue, threatening/illegal/intimidating behavior to police/city workers and other individuals and damage to a city vehicle,’ the police tweeted. 

‘Illegal behavior will not be tolerated and will be fully investigated.

‘We have investigative and evidence-gathering teams in place to support the management of the demonstration.’  

The protest has been condemned by the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a major industry group.

They said the vast majority of the country’s truck drivers are vaccinated, with officials saying over 80 percent are inoculated. 

It has ‘strongly disapproved’ of the gathering in Ottawa.

Nationwide, 90 percent of Canadians are vaccinated. 

The truckers are protesting a vaccine mandate for their industry brought in on January 15, which means that unvaccinated Canadian drivers returning to their homeland must take a COVID test before crossing the US-Canada border, and quarantine on arrival.

Unvaccinated Canadian drivers cannot now enter the United States, and unvaccinated American drivers cannot enter Canada, after previous exemptions expired.

Hundreds of truckers have driven their giant rigs into Ottawa as part of a self-titled ‘Freedom Convoy’. 

Trudeau called the truckers headed for the city a ‘small fringe minority’ before the convoy of hundreds of vehicles grew up to 45 miles long, as it made its way to the capital. 

The movement received an endorsement on Thursday from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who tweeted, ‘Canadian truckers rule’. 

The movement has become a cause celebre for many on the right of politics in the United States.

But Catherine McKenney, a councillor representing Ottawa, said that her constituents wanted the truckers to leave. 

‘Centretown residents have had enough. All-night honking; music; swastikas; public urination & defecation. 

‘I have asked @OttawaPolice remove protestors from the QED & out of all residential areas. Residents deserve peace and relief from these disgusting acts. #OttNews’ 

Flying the Canadian flag, waving banners demanding ‘Freedom’ and chanting slogans against Trudeau, the truckers were joined by thousands of other protesters angered not only by COVID-19 restrictions but by broader discontent with the government.

There was an enormous clamor as hundreds of big trucks, their engines rumbling, sounded their air horns non-stop.

Closer to Parliament, families calmly marched on a bitterly cold day, while young people chanted and older people in the crowd banged pots and pans in protest under Trudeau’s office windows.  

‘I want it all to stop – these measures are unjustified,’ said one demonstrator, 31-year-old businessman Philippe Castonguay, outside the Parliament building.

He had driven seven hours from northern Quebec province to make his feelings known.

‘The vaccination requirements are taking us toward a new society we never voted for,’ he said. 

Trudeau said Friday that the truckers’ views – which he described as anti-science, anti-government and anti-society – posed a risk not only to themselves but to other Canadians as well.   

Police said they were expecting eight convoys, totaling several thousand vehicles, and perhaps 10,000 demonstrators. 

Stephen Penderness, an unvaccinated 28-year-old trucker from Ontario, said he was protesting for all Canadians, not just his fellow drivers.

‘It’s actually for every single person… everybody on the road,’ he said. ‘It’s all about your free choice.’

Quebec resident Louise agreed. 

‘We shouldn’t be forced to get vaccinated, regardless of the vaccine.’

She said vaccine passports ‘represent an intrusion in our personal lives.’

There was a strong police presence around the federal capital, amid fears the protest could turn violent.

Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly described the situation as ‘unique, fluid, risky and significant.’

‘Let me be very clear,’ he told reporters on Friday, ‘we are prepared to investigate, arrest if necessary, charge and prosecute anyone who acts violently or breaks the law.’

He urged local residents to stay off the roads.

The zone around the Parliament was closed for the weekend. 

While their trucks were parked in front of the parliamentary buildings, protestors marched carrying copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, while others carried signs reading ‘God keep our land glorious and free,’ ‘Make Canada great again,’ and ‘we are here for our freedom,’ the Toronto Sun reported.   

Ottawa Police were at the scene warning truckers that any vehicles blocking emergency lanes or other locations that must be kept clear for public safety reasons would be towed.  

At the protest was Tom Pappin, 53, who came from just outside Ottawa. 

‘I can travel freely through the border, and not be in contact with anyone. Yet I’m locked into my own country right now,’ he said. 

‘I can’t go on a holiday. I can’t go to a restaurant, I can’t go bowling. I can’t go to a movie. You know, these are things that it’s just gotten out of control.’ 

Pappin told the Toronto Sun that attendees are likely to stay parked by Parliament until vaccine mandates are lifted.

Other protestors were more realistic about what the protest would accomplish.   

‘It’s a nice thought, but I don’t think anything will happen immediately,’ Phil Powers, a truck driver from Oshawa, Ontario told the Toronto Sun.  

‘This is the Canadian space to have the debate, so that’s why we’re here.’ 

Truckers from the US – who are only allowed into Canada if they are vaccinated – have also joined the massive convoy.  

The longest convoy in history was just five miles long, consisted of 480 trucks, and took place in Egypt in 2020, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.   

In a list of demands, the organizers of the Freedom Convoy are calling for an end to vaccine passports and for the federal government to respect the rights of the unvaccinated.  

Trudeau hit the brakes on their demands. 

‘What we are hearing from some people associated with this convoy is completely unacceptable,’ he said.

‘We know the way through this pandemic is to get everyone vaccinated. 

‘The overwhelming majority, close to 90 percent of Canadians, have done exactly that.’ 

But supporters of the convoy disagree, with one driver saying that ‘the amount of trucks involved and the amount of people showing up here, this shows the frustrations of Canadians and it’s going to continue to grow.’   

Canada has enacted some of the most strict COVID-19 protocols worldwide. 

Ontario will only closed its restaurants, gyms and movie theaters early this month, and will only reopen them at the beginning of February. 

Vaccinations were mandated in for federal workers last year, and the premier of Quebec announced plans to penalize unvaccinated residents that don’t have a medical reason not to get the shot.