'This is a siege': Canadian convoy stirs concern as Republicans in US offer support

WASHINGTON (TND) — As hundreds of truckers shut down streets in Ottawa for a second week, their defiance of vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions is threatening to spread to other countries, with activists in the United States and elsewhere eager to follow the example of the “Freedom Convoy.”

"It’s a violation of your human rights to be mandated to take this vaccine,” Brian Brase, co-organizer of a planned convoy to Washington, D.C., told Fox News. “If you want it, go get it, but being mandated to get it, we’re standing up against that. We think it’s wrong."

Facebook removed a page promoting the U.S. convoy, alleging repeated violations related to QAon, but the group had nearly 140,000 supporters when it was shut down. Brase planned to release details on the demonstration Tuesday, promising it would be at least as big as the one in Canada.

Truckers in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe are attempting to organize convoys, as well, seeking an end to all COVID-19 restrictions and the resignation of government officials. Similar demonstrations have spread to other provinces in Canada, although they have been smaller and more easily dispersed.

“The disruptive potential of an urban occupation by large vehicles and intransigent drivers is now obvious,” said Richard Johnston, a Canadian politics expert at the University of British Columbia. “I just don’t think it occurred to anyone before. Social media may have lowered the cost of organization and amplified the benefits.”

Truckers rolled into Canada’s capital city on Jan. 29, angered by rules requiring drivers crossing the U.S. border to be fully vaccinated or submit to onerous quarantine rules. Their cause has since broadened to include other COVID-19 policies and the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in general.

According to Johnston, the hostility behind the demonstrations is partly driven by long-standing trends toward political polarization in Canada, as well as more recent frustration with pandemic-related restrictions. Most of the country has supported public health measures, but even the vaccinated began to grow weary as mandates caused disruptions during the omicron variant surge.

“As we moved closer to near-universal vaccination, the residual of unvaccinated comprised increasingly hardcore resisters,” Johnston said. “As omicron swept in, moves were made to extend vaccination mandates for access to more essential services and occupations. This started to produce labor shortages and then resistance.”

The mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency Sunday, although officials acknowledged the protesters remained largely peaceful. Police warned anyone providing gasoline or other material support to the truckers could be subject to arrest.

“The situation at this point is completely out of control,” Mayor Jim Watson told a local radio station Sunday.

Ottawa police announced Monday seven people had been arrested, more than 60 criminal investigations had been opened, and hundreds of tickets had been issued for activities related to the demonstration. Police cited criminal mischief, property damage, hate crimes, excessive honking, and other offenses.

"This is a siege. It is something that is different in our democracy than I’ve ever experienced in my life," said Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly Saturday. "We do not have sufficient resources to adequately and effectively address this situation."

Trudeau has dismissed the protesters as a “fringe minority,” accusing them of desecrating war memorials, spreading disinformation, and displaying Nazi symbols. Experts say much of the country is frustrated with the protesters, even if their patience for COVID-19 restrictions is also wearing thin.

“They’re all pretty angry this is happening and pointing out how 90% of Canadians are vaccinated, and why is this small minority disrupting life and refusing to leave,” said Cecil Foster, a Canadian author and a professor of transnational studies at the University at Buffalo.

In a poll conducted last week by Abacus Data, 32% of Canadians said they had “a lot” in common with the protesters. Most respondents said the convoy was offensive and inappropriate, although more than half also disapproved of Trudeau’s response.

The protest has drawn increasingly vocal support from conservatives in the U.S., though, with many Republican lawmakers and former President Donald Trump speaking out on the truckers’ behalf. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sought an investigation of GoFundMe by the Federal Trade Commission after the fundraising site shut down the convoy’s page.

“God bless these Canadian truck drivers,” Cruz tweeted Sunday. “They’re defending Canada, America, and they’re standing up for freedom!”

As prominent Americans endorse and encourage the Canadian convoy, experts see the anger and energy of the American right being echoed on the streets of Ottawa. Foster believes there are some parallels to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, and he said many Canadians he has spoken with are puzzled by the interest their neighbors to the south have taken in the protest.

“The argument seems to be this is something that really began in the United States,” he said.

Conrad Winn, a political scientist at Carleton University and author of several books on Canadian politics, said some Canadians closely follow politics in the U.S. and have seen a public backlash against President Joe Biden over his COVID-19 policies. It is not surprising, then, that they would voice similar sentiments, and the convoy may serve as a warning to both Biden and Trudeau of the strength of the political forces aligning against them.

“I think the prime minister may not be as aware of what’s going on in the United States as he ought to be,” Winn said.