Trucker convoy rolls into Ottawa

Maan Al Hamidi

Canadian-Syrian journalist. He holds an MA in Journalism and works in Toronto. 

Members of Parliament in Ottawa are being asked to follow the best security practices as a large convoy of trucks started arriving in the capital to protest the federal government’s recent COVID-19 vaccine mandate for drivers crossing the border to the United States.

The convoy that began in British Columbia on Sunday has attracted many more participants from across the country. They arrived this morning at the parliament building. 

Security concerns

The Sergeants-at-Arms of the House of Commons Patrick McDonell sent an email advising parliamentarians to avoid contact with the protesters and close and lock their doors if protesters showed up outside their constituency offices or homes. 

“If the situation becomes volatile and your security is at risk, call 911 and consider evacuating your location,” McDonell said in his email. 

McDonell warned the MPs of people seeking to find and publish their addresses and personal information on the internet in a process known as doxing. 

Most social media platforms don’t allow doxing under their terms of service and remove the personal information when it’s reported, he said. 

Meanwhile, Ottawa police were working with the RCMP and intelligence agencies to get ready for the protest during the weekend. 

Police had estimated earlier that up to 2,000 trucks and other vehicles could arrive in the capital, which will have a significant impact on the traffic in the city. 

They say residents and visitors should expect to see a large police and emergency services presence downtown and on major highways throughout the weekend. 

Far right activists leading the movement

A national anti-hate group is warning that the movement organizers are known figures in Canada’s far right and tried to incite violence before.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network said COVID-19 conspiracies have helped far-right groups to come together in protests against pandemic restrictions. 

The group said members of the People’s Party of Canada, a group called Canada First, and a third known as the Diagolon Network have all been protesting together against the government’s COVID-19 policies. 

Most of the convoy supporters probably don’t believe the movement is a far-right protest, but the organizers have a different view, the network said. 

“Some convoy supporters, like the Diagolon Network, are even saying that they want this to be Canada’s very own January 6th, referring to the attempted insurrection in Washington, DC (last year),” the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said.

The trucker convoy, also known as “the Freedom Convoy,” is similar to the “United We Roll” convoy that was organized in 2019 by associates of the Canadian Yellow Vest movement, under a narrative that oil and gas workers in western Canada were calling on Ottawa to protect their jobs. 

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network said Yellow Vests Canada was largely founded by individuals already associated with Canada’s far right and those same activists are now organizing the truck convoy. 

Tamara Lich of Medicine Hat, Alberta is one of those organizers. She recently started a GoFundMe campaign for the trucker convoy, raising $6.5 million as of Thursday evening. 

Lich served as an organizer for Yellow Vests Canada and as a regional coordinator for the separatist Western Exit or “Wexit” movement in Alberta. She is now the secretary for the Maverick Party, which is another separatist party in Alberta.

“Attending and boosting Yellow Vest events starting in 2018, Lich’s social media posts from the time show her, in one moment, calling out some hateful rhetoric within the movement, while also posting Islamophobic articles of her own, like conspiracies about the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Canada,” the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said. “She shared posts from The Clarion Project – an organization that advances anti-Muslim content through its web-based and video production platforms.”

Independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier, who is one of the convoy supporters, referred in a tweet to Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, who is Muslim, as a “terrorist” who has “condemned Canadians to starvation in the name of public safety.”

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino called on Twitter to remove the tweet because it’s Islamophobic and includes hate speech that should not be on the platform. The tweet, however, was not removed as of Thursday. 

Increasing support for the convoy

A large group of protesters gathered in Vaughan Mills mall north of Toronto on Thursday to greet the truck drivers who were joining the convoy and heading to Ottawa. 

Max Fray, who has family members working as truck drivers, said the movement is not only against the vaccine mandate that’s targeting truck drivers but also against all COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

“People are losing their jobs if they are choosing not to get vaccinated,” he said. “That’s the whole issue why we are here.” 

He said getting vaccinated should be a personal choice for individuals and governments should not force people get the shot. 

Fray said the convoy is not concerned the protest will become violent in Ottawa.

“It’s been a peaceful rally since day one. I believe everyone is going to be in their best behaviour,” he said. “We just want to get back to our normal lives.”

Mike Fabinski joined the convoy from Barrie, Ontario on Thursday. 

He said the vaccine mandate is preventing him from working after driving his truck for 20 years. 

“I don’t think the mandates should be enforced by government,” he said.  “It should be freedom, people’s choice… they should dismiss all the mandates.”

Several Conservative MPs publicly expressed support to the convoy including Alberta MP Martin Shields, Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis and Saskatchewan MP and former party leader Andrew Scheer who met with the convoy in Regina.

Conservatives Leader Erin O’Toole said he would meet with the truckers when they arrived in Ottawa on Friday. 

Meanwhile, most of the truckers are fully vaccinated and don’t support the convoy. 

The Canadian Trucking Alliance has denounced the protest and said more than 85 per cent of the 120,000 Canadian truck drivers who regularly cross the border are vaccinated. 

The organization said about 16,000 may not be able to work cross-border due to the new restriction which could exacerbate supply chain problems.