Protesters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other public health measures are holding demonstrations in cities across the country on Saturday, with some organizers saying they will continue the rallies until the federal government lifts all pandemic restrictions.
Municipal officials and police, meanwhile, say they have worked to ensure the protests remain peaceful and away from legislative buildings and hospitals.
Protesters in a convoy of trucks and cars have paralyzed Ottawa’s downtown core and rattled nerves with constant horn-blaring since they arrived in the capital about a week ago.
Since learning of plans to escalate the protest, police forces say they have developed strategies designed to maintain order, public safety and access to critical buildings.
What’s happening across Canada today
Police in Ottawa say they’re expecting as many as 400 more trucks and up to 2,000 people on foot to arrive this weekend to join the protest that has been rebranded by critics — including a lot of frustrated downtown residents — as an occupation.
Late Thursday, federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the RCMP had approved the mayor’s request for the national police force to support city police.
Ottawa’s deputy police chief, Steve Bell, said he understands residents’ frustration and their “need to speak out,” but he asked them not to hold counter-protests. He said up to 1,000 counter-protesters are expected.
Tamara Lich, a co-organizer of what those behind the Ottawa protest call Freedom Convoy 2022, has said protesters plan to stay in the city’s downtown until the mandates and restrictions end.
Weekend protests in solidarity with the Ottawa event were being organized near provincial legislatures in Toronto, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Regina and Victoria.
In Quebec City, a heavy police presence is expected to prevent demonstrators from parking near the provincial legislature. In addition, large street-cleaner trucks have blocked the street in front of the building.
Drivers in a convoy of semi-tractor trucks who arrived in downtown Toronto on Friday evening for the weekend rally blared their horns as police blocked them about 200 metres north of the provincial legislature. The Toronto Police Service said a number of streets near Queen’s Park will be closed to most traffic on Saturday to ensure access to five nearby hospitals.
At least one counter-protest is also expected, co-organized by a longtime Toronto physician. Dr. Philip Berger told CBC News on Friday that he wants to “create a street presence somewhere in the area of Queen’s Park” to send a message that health-care workers must be free from harassment as they head to work on what’s known as Hospital Row, along University Avenue.
Authorities in Winnipeg are also blocking vehicles from parking close to the provincial legislature.
In Regina, more than one convoy is expected to converge on the Saskatchewan Legislature, despite a provincial plan to soon lift all COVID-19 restrictions. Protest organizer Tamara Lavoie said her plan is for truckers to remain in place until that happens. Cement barriers have been installed near the main entrance to the legislative building.
On Friday afternoon, the provincial capital commission that oversees the legislative grounds converted all of the roads to pedestrian use only, for at least the weekend.
In Calgary, additional security measures are being brought in for health-care workers at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in the city’s downtown, in response to protests over public health measures, including a rally planned for Saturday afternoon.
In Alberta, protests aren’t limited to major cities. A week-long, on-and-off blockade continues at the Canada-U.S. border crossing near the near the village of Coutts. Protesting truckers and their supporters are periodically allowing trucks through, before blocking the southbound lanes again.
Some protesters moved on from the border at Coutts to a second location on Thursday, near the town of Milk River, 20 kilometres north, and plan to demonstrate at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton and other pop-up protests around the province this weekend.
In a statement issued Friday ahead of a weekend protest in Victoria, Mayor Lisa Helps said there are reports of homes with signs supporting health-care workers being pelted with eggs, as well as reports of racist language and people entering businesses without masks.
She said people can “exercise their democratic right to gather and express their views,” but added that “this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.”