OTTAWA, Canada — Seated in an 18-wheeler, Tyler Armstrong vowed Monday that he would not vacate his coveted parking space in front of Canada’s Parliament building until COVID-19 vaccination mandates and other pandemic restrictions were lifted.
His big rig is among scores of trucks and other vehicles that have been parked on Ottawa’s so-called Parliament Hill for more than two weeks as part of a protest against government measures meant to contain COVID-19.
“We’ll stay here as long as we have to,” said Armstrong, 25, as his girlfriend, Ashley Wapshaw, 26, nodded in agreement. “This is about freedom.”
The self-styled “Freedom Convoy” has largely paralyzed the Canadian capital and — along with allied blockades on Canadian border crossings to the United States — become a worldwide symbol of the backlash against pandemic constraints. Critics say the demonstrations disrupt commerce, ignore science and intimidate opponents.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, under intense pressure to do something about the mounting crisis, invoked emergency powers in a bid to help dismantle the blockades. Among other steps, the federal Emergencies Act — invoked for the first time since its passage in 1988 — could bolster police ranks and powers, compel towing firms to cooperate in removing vehicles, and facilitate the cancellation of licenses and insurance linked to trucks deployed in blockades.
“We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue,” Trudeau told reporters. “These blockades are illegal and the time to go home is now.”
The seeming ultimatum raises the stakes to new heights in what has become an increasingly tense standoff between the boisterous protest movement and the Trudeau government. Canada requires that unvaccinated Canadian truckers quarantine upon returning to Canada, and provinces across the country have varying rules in place mandating mask-wearing and showing proof of vaccination before entering restaurants and other venues.
A blockade of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and the Ontario city of Windsor was finally broken and traffic began flowing anew on the crucial commercial artery late Sunday after police moved in, arresting some demonstrators and towing away vehicles. President Biden had spoken to Trudeau two days earlier about the importance of reopening the Ambassador Bridge, a key span for auto manufacturers in both nations.
But Canada faces a much more daunting challenge in Ottawa, where hundreds of vehicles — many of them big rigs — anchor protests that sometimes include thousands of participants, dwarfing the gatherings along the border in Windsor, some 500 miles to the southwest.
The well-organized rallies in the capital feature stands offering free food and water, a stage where supporters extol the cause of “freedom” and regularly denounce Trudeau’s Liberal government, and high-powered speakers blaring out rock and other music.
The capital protesters have vowed repeatedly not to leave until vaccine mandates, mask-wearing requirements and other rules are lifted permanently. Trudeau’s tough talk did not seem to faze them.
“We’re not going anywhere until the mandates are gone and protections are in place so this kind of violation does not happen again,” said Benita Pedersen, 43, a protest organizer. “People have suffered for too long.”
The demonstrators say they do not object to those who want to be vaccinated, wear masks or take other protective measures. But they assert that being forced to take such steps is coercive.
“It should be up to the individual what they do, whether they get vaccinated or not,” said Brooke West, 31, an office administrator who was among several hundred demonstrators gathered Monday outside Canada’s ornate Parliament building. “That’s our choice.”
The protests have tapped into a worldwide fatigue with the restrictions meant to tame COVID-19.
“Of course, people are tired, frustrated, sick of the pandemic,” Trudeau said Monday. “They want it to be over.”
