Canada convoy protest



The Canada convoy protest or the Freedom Convoy was a series of protests in Ottawa and provincial capitals such as Toronto and Edmonton, as well as blockades at Canada-US border crossings against COVID-19 restrictions, especially vaccination requirements and vaccine passports during January and February of 2022. It became a cause célèbre of the far right in both Canada and the US, and over time the protests' goals morphed from ending COVID-related restrictions to a generic airing of right-wing grievances, for example, several protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Background
During 2021, several provinces implemented "vaccine passport" laws requiring people to show proof of vaccination to participate in various activities in public spaces, such as indoor dining. These laws remained in effect at the start of 2022. In addition, the federal government required unvaccinated travellers entering Canada to quarantine for 14 days. On January 15, Canada began applying this quarantine requirement to unvaccinated truckers crossing the border. The convoy formed in opposition to these restrictions.

Protesters began arriving in Ottawa over the weekend of January 28th. Around this time, convoys also began forming blockades along parts of the Canada-US border. The Windsor-Detroit blockade did not form until more than a week into the protests, on February 7th.

Disruption
101. OMG I'M LAUGHING SO HARD: Paul from California writes that…you ready? "Without truckers there would be no Western Civilization." The protests blocked border crossings between Canada and the US, including major crossings such as the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The blockades prevented both travellers from passing and obstructed shipments of goods between Canada and the US.

The protests in Ottawa were intentionally loud because of truckers honking their horns, even at night, which disrupted the lives of Ottawans who lived or worked near the protests. Many Ottawans complained that the protests prevented them from sleeping and distracted them from work.

Despite the protesters' claims to be on the side of the people, and fighting for everyone's freedom, protesters and supporters of the protests often revelled in the harms that the protests caused to Ottawans. One protester said that he honked in order to "make other people suffer the way he had already suffered." An internet meme relating to the protests, "the honking will continue until freedom improves," circulated in far-right circles, referring to a quote by a protester confronted by an Ottawan complaining that the protests prevented him from sleeping. These memes (and other alt-right memes related to the protests) often referenced alt-right memes such as Honkler.

Convoy protesters in Ottawa also deliberately overloaded 911 lines.

Vandalism
Members of the Ottawa convoy vandalized a statue of by making the statue appear to be holding a sign in support of the convoy. They also vandalized the National War Memorial.

Ottawan resistance to the convoy
Some Ottawans infiltrated Zello (voice chat) channels used by the Ottawa convoy to communicate. One infiltrator even became a moderator in some of the channels, and later created his own that became the main one used by the convoy. He used this position to encourage some of the more tired protesters to go home. On February 12th, he invited several opponents of the protests to the channel who blasted "Ram Ranch", a (very NSFW) song about gay cowboys, in the voice chat, rendering it unusable for communication.

Law enforcement response
Ottawa Police declare protest peaceful so long as public avoids it for their own safety.

During the first few weeks of the protest in Ottawa, the police did little to control them despite the complaints of city residents. Prior to the arrival of the convoy, the police emphasised the importance of respecting the right to protest, and mobilized few resources to controlling the protests. After the convoy was established, they avoided ticketing protesters on the basis that it would escalate tensions, and suggested that attempting to control the protests would be too dangerous.

The police handling of the convoy protest in Ottawa stood in stark contrast with their treatment of other protest movements. Historically, Canadian police, including the Ottawa police and the Ontario Provincial police, have often swiftly and violently suppressed indigenous protest movements, and charged protesters with crimes rather than opt for "de-escalation".

Police Chief Peter Sloly resigns
The Chief of the Ottawa Police Service at the start of the protest, Peter Sloly, resigned on February 15th amid criticism from lower-ranking leadership within the Ottawa police force blaming him for the ineffective initial response to the protest, and suggesting that he "bullied" his subordinates by criticising them in front of coworkers. Notably, Sloly, who was the first Black chief of the Ottawa police, had a reputation as a reformist when he took the job, developed from his previous work in the Toronto Police. Several leaders of NGOs concerned with the interests of Black Ottawans and Canadians argued that he was used as a scapegoat by officers who resented him because they opposed reform and even outright didn't want to work for a Black chief.

Trudeau declares state of emergency
On February 14th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the unprecedented step of declaring a national emergency on the basis that the Ottawa police were incapable of restoring order. This allowed him to send the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (i.e. federal law enforcement) to enforce local laws.

Ottawa
On February 17th, the RCMP began arresting the organizers of the protest. Around this period, law enforcement was more successful at clearing protesters out of downtown Ottawa, finally succeeding on February 20th. During this period, supporters of the convoy spread rumours that a police horse either seriously injured a woman or trampled her to death, but an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (which is responsible for overseeing Canadian law enforcement) concluded that it was a hoax.

Border blockades
The Windsor-Detroit blockade was cleared by a combination of Windsor, Ontario Provincial, and RCMP police, and the Ambassador Bridge fully reopened on February 13th.

Far-right ties
The organizers of the protests sought the resignation of the entire federal government. One organizer was affiliated with an Albertan separatist political party, and another was a supporter of the People's Party of Canada.

Some protesters displayed white supremacist symbols, including Confederate flags and swastikas, although some of the swastikas were intended to compare Justin Trudeau with Hitler. Symbols from Classical antiquity were also seen at the protests, including a misspelled Molon labe flag and a hoodie that depicted a Spartan helmet.

Protest organizers used the platform GiveSendGo to fundraise after getting banned from GoFundMe on February 4th. GiveSendGo describes itself as a "Christian crowdfunding site" and has a reputation for facilitating fundraising to far-right causes such as to pay legal fees. GiveSendGo refused to comply with an Ontario court order to stop sending funds to protesters. Hackers leaked data on donors to the convoy through GiveSendGo on February 13th. The hacked data showed that there were more American donors to the convoy via GiveSendGo than Canadian donors, although Canadians donated more total money.

After the federal government cut the protesters off of crowdfunding services, some protest supporters attempted to use Bitcoin to send funds. Proponents of Bitcoin often argue that it is "censorship-resistant", meaning that it can circumvent government restrictions on sending and receiving money because governments lack the means to control it.🇱🇮 However, the federal government was able to block protesters who had received donations in Bitcoin from being able to use any of the donations they had received by ordering cryptocurrency exchanges to prevent them from moving any of the funds in their wallets, proving that Bitcoin isn't so "censorship-resistant" after all.

Right-wing media in Canada such as Rebel News encouraged the protests, as did American pundits such as Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro.

Among international sites covering the protest, the Russian state media outlet RT covered the Freedom Convoy far more than any other international media outlet", and was also covered by other Russian state proxy sites (SouthFront and Global Research). Based on previous analyses of Russian media's relationship to the Russian state, "it is reasonable to infer that RT's extensive coverage of the convoy may be just the most visible sign of a broader influence campaign encompassing other actors and activities including proxy sources, cyber operations, social media accounts/engagement, and involvement in activism/organizing."

Ripple effect
The convoy protests in Canada inspired protests in several other countries elsewhere, such as France, Australia, and New Zealand. In March, a trucker convoy protest in Washington, DC was brought to a crawl by a single bicyclist making an impromptu counter-protest. In April, a trucker convoy protest was turned back by some well-placed eggs in Oakland, California.

At the end of April, some of the former convoy protests returned to Ottawa and held a rally they called "Rolling Thunder", but they were quickly removed after only a couple of nights; it did not lead to a resurgence of the convoy protest.