Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ march in front of Parliament Hill in protest of the vaccine requirements

A large crowd of Canadian truck drivers packed Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday to protest against vaccine mandates for drivers.

On Saturday morning demonstrators marched up and down the streets in front Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s office waving flags- including the Canadian flag, the Quebec flag and American flag- to rally against the vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-U.S. border. 

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.  

As many as 10,000 protesters are expected to participate in the weekend-long rally.  

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.

Officers planned to remain downtown until crowds disperse, but hundreds more vehicles from Western Canada, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are expected to arrive in the next few hours, the Toronto Sun reported. 

Since January 15, all Canadian truck drivers who are unvaccinated must take a COVID-19 test and quarantine when driving back from the United States.

They are not allowed into the U.S. unless they are vaccinated, and American drivers are not allowed into Canada unless they show their certificate.

American drivers returning to the U.S., however, do not need to take a test and quarantine.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has dismissed the protest from the truckers as a disgruntled few, pointing out that almost 90 percent of his country is vaccinated. 

But truckers in the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ are angry at his mandate, and plan on using this weekend’s rally to show the strength of their sentiment in the Canadian capital.

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,’ Powers, who parked his trailer truck in front of Parliament Hill on Wellington Street for the weekend, said. 

The convoy assembled in British Columbia on Sunday, and were joined by other protesters driving from the east and the south of the country. 

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

Canadian Trucking Magazine publisher Dave Mackenzie, who is a working long-haul trucker, told West Standard Online that some U.S. truckers were driving from North Dakota to Portal Saskatchewan, where they intend to cross the border and join the group.  

Some of the group’s leaders are calling for a peaceful event, but statements from some associated with the group have included threats of violence.  

Ottawa police said they would be out in force and ready to arrest anyone who breaks the law. 

They said on Friday that they have also called in ‘reinforcements’. 

A top Parliament official warned lawmakers to avoid the protest and to lock their doors amid reports their private homes may be targeted. 

‘It’s 70 kilometers long,’ Benjamin Dichter, a spokesman for the Freedom Convoy 2022, told the Toronto Sun after it passed Calgary heading west on Wednesday. 

‘I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive.’   

Elon Musk also tweeted praise for the truckers, saying: ‘If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny.’

He’d earlier tweeted that ‘Canadian truckers rule’. 

In September 2020, the Tesla CEO said that he and his family would not be getting vaccinated because they are not at risk.    

As many as 32,000, or 20 percent, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers may be taken off the roads due to the mandate, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) estimates.   

The convoy has picked up steam and supporters as it traveled along the snow-filled TransCanada Highway.

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. 

The Toronto Sun estimated that up to 50,000 trucks could be participating – which would exceed the existing record by 10 times if it stays intact until its intended destination. 

The convoy is not considered a record, however, because it has not been strictly monitored to comply with the Guinness World Records criteria. 

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.’   

‘A lot of people are trying to say that these type of things are done out of anger, but this is actually being done out of frustration towards the things the government is imposing upon Canadian citizens,’ a man named Trevor told Global News when the convoy passed through the Balgonie area, declining to give his surname. 

The Canadian government ended the truckers’ exemption to the vaccine mandate, meaning Canadian truck drivers need to be fully vaccinated if they want to avoid a two-week quarantine and pre-arrival molecular test for COVID-19 before crossing into Canada.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign national truck drivers who do not have a right to re-enter are turned away at the border and directed back to the United States. 

The U.S. now also requires Canadian truckers to provide proof of vaccination to enter.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance has disavowed the protest and said more than 85 percent of truckers are vaccinated. 

Many truckers have also posted on social media they continue to do their jobs and that the convoy does not speak for them.  

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.