The Decibel - 2022: A look back on the year of the ‘freedom convoy’

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

What started as a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers turned into a catch-all occupation of pent-up pandemic grievances. By the time it was over, hundreds of people were arrested, Ottawa’s police chief resigned, and the Emergencies Act had been invoked for the first time ever.Today, we look back at how this story dominated headlines throughout the year, from the first rumblings in January to the hot tubs and honking in February, the 21-year-old who won against the convoy in court, to the testimony from the Prime Minister in the fall.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

I'm Anika Raman-Wilms, and you're listening to The Decibel, from The Globe and Mail. What we started calling the Trucker Convoy was definitely one of the biggest news stories of the year. In this final episode of our look back at the news in 2022, we wanted to go all the way to the start and remember how the story developed beginning last January. Back then, The Globe's Christy Kirkup explained why protesters were heading for the nation's capital. the federal government made an announcement, which was that specifically truck drivers who had been previously exempt during the pandemic from specific quarantine measures, that they were now going to be subject to those measures and vaccination requirements and that this was going to be ushered in in January. And so Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he was really defending the move, saying that it was really important. He explained that for the first time in Canadian history, at the beginning of the pandemic, the Canada-US border was shut down, and that was a really big deal. So in order to allow for the free flow of essential goods like medicine and food, they needed to have those exemptions in

place. Why? Well, chapter one of the pandemic, we didn't know when there would be a vaccine, right? So it wasn't like they were going to introduce a vaccination mandate then because there wasn't an approved vaccinations in Canada. And then we saw, of course, vaccinations roll out last year. So again, kind of Canada having this plan that as of January that this was going to be kicking in, Trudeau saying we're doing exactly what the United States is doing. They have a vaccination mandate in place. And so saying that in order to keep the supply chain safe and different people along the supply chain safe, that it was necessary for truck drivers at this very moment in the pandemic, now that there are approved vaccines and that there has been some runway that this needed to be ushered in.

However, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which, by the way, is supportive of vaccination, they mentioned that this was going to cause problems, Menaka, that about 10 to 15 percent of drivers they suspected were not vaccinated. And they said that this was essentially on par with what the numbers were for other parts of the Canadian population. There are a lot of people right now who are upset about these rules being put into place. Who doesn't like these rules? The industry did flag to the government that this was going to create problems because there's also the issues that have been going on in the trucking industry.

And that includes a shortage of drivers, available drivers on the road. And so the Canadian Trucking Alliance had said that they were worried about the number of drivers and how this vaccination mandate was going to, again, reduce the number of available drivers that could be out on the road. However, the Canadian Trucking Alliance has made it very, very clear that they are not in support of the recent convoy that we have seen where this is drivers from different parts of the country making a pledge that they're, you know, making a big trek to Ottawa, and they're going to be vocalizing their very strong opposition to vaccination mandates. So I want to be very clear that the Trucking Alliance does not agree with this approach and they have most certainly tried to distance themselves from it. But there are drivers who are part of this convoy really organizing on social media in Manukau and that's kind of the window into this kind of protest,

if you will, that we're seeing. And we're also seeing people from different walks of life who are supporting the truck drivers that are at the center of this convoy. According to a GoFundMe page, some $4.3 million has been raised in the way of donations for the truckers who are part of this specific protest. So I think that just gives us an indication as to the degree of support that they are getting. speaking out in support of this convoy, namely former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, suggesting that the Prime Minister is essentially infringing on people's liberties.

And hence, this is kind of part of the messaging of this convoy, if you will, that this is a freedom convoy and the truckers are making their way to the nation's capital to vocalize their opposition to what the government is doing here. And once the convoy got to Ottawa, they made that opposition loud and clear. The Globe's Marika Walsh and Janice Dixon were there, speaking to people in the crowd. My name's Tyler, T-Y-L-E-R. And your last name? Armstrong, A-R-M-S-T-Y-L-E-R. And your last name? Armstrong, A-R-M-S-T-R-O-N-G.

And where are you from? Hamilton, Ontario. And what are you here for? Fighting for freedom and to end all mandates Canada-wide for every single person. You can't cross the border, you can't go to a restaurant, you have to wear a mask everywhere you go, it's not right. And what have you been doing since the mandate? Just kind of hanging out because i can't

really i can't do anything right so and are you on ei then i'm not allowed to collect di because i'm an owner operator so how does that affect your ability to afford things um well not sound like a deuce but like i kind of set myself up for this because i had a feeling it's going to happen so i'm okay for a little while but yeah just like why do you choose not to be vaccinated uh because it's forced i just don't think anything should be forced it's not not right i am okay i'm peter ravensbergen yes i'm here with my two oldest boys how old are they they are 12 and 14 14. i think the government just needs to stand up and actually listen to the people of Canada. It's, we want the choice, the freedom to make our own choices.

And then on the flip side, there were people who seemed to be there just to create trouble. That's Marika Walsh. We spoke just after the first weekend of the protests in Ottawa on January 31st. Doing things like defecating on the war memorial, dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier, harassing people at a homeless shelter, demanding free food from a soup kitchen at that homeless shelter. some people who were there really just to protest and to have their voices heard on Parliament Hill as we've seen so many times before in Ottawa, and others who were there for much more unsettling reasons. Well, what's the mood like today? So this is Monday now, kind of away from the main protest that was happening on Saturday. But what's going on now? I would say that the mood has shifted as we've kind of narrowed down or winnowed down the number of people on the Hill still protesting to, I would say, the core group of protesters.

Really, the people who say they are here in it for the long haul was the quote the organizers used over the weekend to express their opposition to the vaccine mandates and to demand that they be ended in order for them to leave Parliament Hill. So I would say that the mood has become a bit angrier. And at the same time, Ottawa residents and people living in Ottawa, working in Ottawa businesses are also becoming angrier because the disruptions are immense, especially to businesses who have already really struggled in the last two years now to be closed for a third day in the downtown because of safety reasons. So there is, I think, a more entrenched feeling from the people left protesting and at the same time more frustration from the rest of Ottawa who are trying to sleep through honking horns and partying and dealing with people

defecating on their lawns or drunk driving in the streets. And I should say, I'm in Ottawa too, so I'm hearing a lot of this as well. Can you, I guess, walk us through what has been closed as a result of these protests still ongoing? Really, the downtown core is empty. So it crosses all types of businesses. Some parking lots are closed because they're trying not to encourage protesters to come down. They're trying to make sure there's nowhere for them to park. And so from restaurants that were supposed to be able to open their restaurants today to indoor eating again, they're closed. Bars, cafes, gyms, they're closed. The Rideau Center, Ottawa's biggest mall in the downtown, is also closed because on Saturday when they were open, they were deluged with people who refused to wear masks, who made it unsafe for others.

And so they've been closed now for a third day. The question is what's open, really? Meanwhile, separate protests had popped up at two U.S. border crossings, one in Windsor, Ontario, and one in Coutts, Alberta. We'll be back in a moment. As the Ottawa occupation stretched into its second week, residents became more and more critical of the police response. They're incredibly frustrated. I've heard abandoned several times. The Globe's Janice Dixon. You know, I think they're looking to the police force to protect them and protect their neighborhoods. And, you know, they don't

want to walk outside and see, you know, an ambulance struggle to get through or see offensive signs, you know, laden with swear words and some overtly hateful. I think they're feeling really uneasy and they want to see these people go home. And so they want to see the police act and get them out of here. And as time went on, more details emerged about the people organizing these protests.

As Colin Fries reported. It is a broad assortment of people from a variety of causes that have converged here. But the three people whose names you keep seeing over and over are Tamara Leach, Benjamin Dichter, and Chris Barber. They are the people who generally, you know, who put their names to the leadership of the convoy memos. On February 6th, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency. And on February 7th, the Ontario Superior Court granted an injunction to stop the incessant honking that plagued the city for over a week. The plaintiff seeking that injunction was a 21-year-old Ottawa resident named Zexi Lee. She spoke to The Globe's Erin Anderson in February.

What made you decide to put your name on the suit, on the claim? So, as you might know, I didn't seek the suit out. The suit kind of found me. Like I said, I love my community and I love my neighbors. And it was hurting me so much every single day seeing everyone suffer because of the situation and see that the people that were supposed to be protecting us turn a blind eye. When Paul called me and presented the potential of what the suit could do, I immediately understood where he was going with it. And I immediately saw that, wow, maybe we can make a difference here.

Maybe we can sort of shake everyone and say, hey, this is serious. Please, please look at us. And I honestly think that's exactly what we did. I'm not naive. I 100% knew that there would be backlash towards me personally just for having my name on it. And that was a sort of bullet I was

willing to take because I genuinely just wanted an avenue to try and help my neighbors and give everyone in my community some peace. And while the honking definitely improved, the protesters continued occupying downtown Ottawa. A week later, on February 14th, the prime minister invoked the Emergencies Act. Well, it's the successor to the War Measures Act, which Justin Trudeau's father, Pierre Trudeau, invoked in the October crisis with the famous quote, just watch me. That's the Globe's Jeff Gray. It's a little different now. It gives the government sweeping powers to tell people

not to go places, to commandeer resources. But it is subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And you'd have to get Parliament to ratify it at a certain point. It's not dissimilar from the other levels of government with emergency legislation, except that I think, you know, in this case, obviously, we're looking at the possibility of the military being involved. I mean, this is the kind of thing you would invoke in a flood or some sort of natural disaster, where there isn't time to go to parliament to get permission to do a variety of things. You would give the executive the power to do all that right away. But, you know, it does allow for the government to ban, say, public assembly. That would be a direct

measure aimed at these protests. While using the Emergencies Act itself was controversial, one of the measures that proved the most contentious was the ability to freeze individual bank accounts. As The Globe's James Bradshaw explained. On the one hand, one of the things they have said is that from now on, all the financial institutions under this order, which is a very wide range, when they discover that they've got accounts that are holding funds tied to these, you know, acts that have been declared illegal, when they find out that they've got transactions they have to stop, they now have to report that to either the

RCMP or CSIS, which presumably are going to be trying to keep a pretty comprehensive list of, you know, who's been affected here and how the money was flowing. In the other direction, this new emergency order also gives pretty broad authority for the federal government and governments and their agencies, which could include law enforcement, to share information with financial institutions if it helps them carry out the order. And normally, there are pretty strict rules around information sharing. People trust their banks because there are extraordinarily strict rules about what personal information a bank can share about them or their finances. Some protesters hung on. But on February 18th, police began moving in.

And by the 21st, the streets were clear. Hundreds were arrested, including Tamara Leach and Benjamin Dichter. The Emergencies Act was revoked on February 23rd. Thirteen of the protesters in Cootes, Alberta, were arrested. Four of them have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Their trials are scheduled for June. Using the Emergencies Act automatically triggers an inquiry to find out if it was justified.

That played out this past fall with senior government officials, including Prime Minister Trudeau, testifying before the committee. My motivation was entirely about ensuring the safety of Canadians. My secondary motivation was making sure Canadians continue to have confidence in their institutions and in our society's ability to function and enforce the rule of law when it's not being respected. Politics was not a motivation at all in the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

The findings of the inquiry must be submitted to Parliament by February 20th, 2023. February 20th, incidentally, is when a reported Freedom Convoy 2.0 is scheduled to take place. That's it for today. I'm Mainika Raman-Wilms. Our producers are Madeline White, Cheryl Sutherland, and Rachel Levy-McLaughlin.

David Crosby edits the show. Kasia Mihailovic is our senior producer and Angela Pachenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening and I'll talk to you next year.