Canada faces second week of mass virus rules protests
OTTAWA — Protests against coronavirus public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau entered their second weekend here with much of the downtown core of the country’s capital blockaded by trucks in what officials are calling an “occupation.”
Demonstrations in solidarity with the self-described “Freedom Convoy” also popped up in several other cities across Canada, including Toronto and Quebec City. In Alberta, the blockade of an important U.S.-Canada border crossing also continued. Some protests drew counterprotests.
In Canada’s capital, big rigs and other vehicles — emblazoned with signs blasting Mr. Trudeau in obscene language and reading “Mandate Freedom” — blocked main arteries and intersections. Several demonstrators, who included families with children, waved Canadian flags affixed to hockey sticks.
As of midday Saturday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly reported a thousand vehicles, roughly 5,000 protesters and at least 300 counterprotesters in his city’s streets. That was fewer people than there were in last weekend’s protests but a large increase since Friday.
“This city is under siege,” said Chief Sloly. “This is a threat to our democracy. There’s a nationwide insurrection,” he added. “This is madness.”
One man rode a horse down Wellington Street, the main road in front of Parliament, waving a “Trump 2024” flag, while diesel fumes and the soundtrack of the protests — a cacophony of deafening horns, revving engines and chants of “Freedom!”
— filled the air on a sunny and chilly afternoon.
The convoy was initially started in response to U.S. and Canadian rules requiring cross-border truckers to be fully vaccinated to enter either country. But they have ballooned into a movement against all public health measures, which are mostly imposed by the provinces, and Mr. Trudeau, who was reelected in September.
In a “memorandum of understanding,” Canada Unity, one of the main groups behind the convoy, called for the governor general, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada, and the Senate to override the public health measures or to topple the government — measures far outside their constitutional powers.
“Let me assure the people of Ottawa that we have no intent to stay one day longer than necessary,” Tamara Lich, one of the convoy’s organizers, told reporters this week. “Our departure will be based on the prime minister doing what is right: ending all mandates and restrictions on our freedoms.”
Robert Torteous arrived in Ottawa on Friday from Flesherton, Ontario, a community some 322 miles away. He said he planned to stay for the weekend. He declined to say if he was vaccinated, characterizing the question as “discrimination,” and said he was opposed to mandates.
“When you don’t give people choices about what they do with their own bodies, it’s a big problem,” he said.
Jeff, a truck driver in Toronto who does not drive cross-border routes, said he has been out of work since October because he is not vaccinated.
“There’s no reason for them to force this inoculation on me,” he said, declining to give his last name.
The demonstrations — which have drawn praise from Fox News personalities, Donald Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk — have left residents on edge.
The deafening sound of horns is almost constant. Police say residents have been the targets of intimidation and racist vitriol.
As Ontario began a planned loosening of coronavirus restrictions this week, many businesses shut down or delayed reopening, citing safety concerns. The Rideau Center, a major downtown shopping mall, has been closed for the past week after it was swarmed by protesters who refused to comply with a provincial mask mandate.
“It’s not a protest anymore,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said this week. “It’s become an occupation.”