‘Freedom convoy’ protest in Park Extension and Villeray
The streets of Park Extension and neighbouring Villeray hosted thousands of anti-mandate and anti-vaccine protestors last Saturday morning, who marched in support of trucker convoy protests taking place across the country.
People began to gather at 9 AM in the Jarry Park parking lot before walking east on Villeray. Protestors were first met by a small contingent of counter-protestors as well as a heavy police presence.
Many voiced their disapproval with continued vaccine and health mandates related to COVID-19 and their support for continued occupations efforts in Ottawa and across the country.
Counter-protestors called out the groups’ conspiratorial and anti-scientific beliefs as well as their association with several far-right and white-nationalist extremist groups.
Some protestors later met with other convoys in Québec before heading to Ottawa to join the protest and occupation there. According to the SPVM, the protest remained peaceful and no arrests were made.
Tired of mandates
Although the tone of the protest was generally happy, most who were present were in complete disapproval of continued government mandates and vaccination passports related to COVID-19. Protestors waved Canadian and Québec flags as well as placards reading ‘Freedom’ and ‘F*ck Trudeau’.
Protestors demanded that both the provincial and federal governments remove all mandates related to the pandemic, as they see them as no longer necessary and as negatively affecting people’s mental health.
“We want our life back, we are sick of everything,” said protester Cindy Mbayel, as originally reported by Global News.
The march went through commercial and residential streets before eventually making its way back to its starting point. Speeches were given by organizers before the leader of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier took to the stage.
“This is very much my neighbourhood, this is my park. And for me, I’m here because I saw what was happening in Ottawa, in Toronto, at the borders, in Alberta and across the country, and I saw people not just protesting about the vaccines, it was about anger,”
‘Tyrannical government’
Others held more radical viewpoints, with one protestor comparing health mandates to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust. Marcelo Castelani wore a sign that compared the QR code used in the vaccine passport to the yellow star of David used to identify Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
“I’m here today because I believe that’s an obligation to fight against tyranny. Because when you only let the government do whatever it pleases, they have no limits,” said Castellani.
“The only thing that can be done is to force the politicians, at least the ones that have a minimal amount of humanity, to depose these tyrants,” continued Castellani, referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who was democratically re-elected in September.
Many analysts have pointed out that some of the movement’s objectives go further than removing mandates, with some demanding the illegal dissolution of parliament and the removal of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister.
Counter demonstration
A group of counter-protesters also voiced their disapproval behind a heavy line of riot police. The riot squad seemed to have been deployed to kettle counter-protestors and not for the main protest, which was instead followed by bicycle police. According to organizers, they were there as a community antiracist response to a far-right and conspiratorial event in their neighbourhood.
“This is very much my neighbourhood, this is my park. And for me, I’m here because I saw what was happening in Ottawa, in Toronto, at the borders, in Alberta and across the country, and I saw people not just protesting about the vaccines, it was about anger,” said counter-demonstrator Danielle.
“Among the leadership of the people organizing these convoys, I see a lot of people associated with the alt-right, associated with white supremacy and they’re not ashamed of it,” continued Danielle.
Many analysts and experts have pointed to right-wing and white nationalist extremist groups instrumentalizing the protest for their cause. “I don’t want those ideas to feel welcome in my neighbourhood, I don’t want them to be welcome in my city,” said Danielle.
Emergencies Act
After a border blockade of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont. to Detroit Michigan and a third consecutive week of occupation in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday he would enact the Emergencies Act.
Replacing the War Measures Act in 1988, famously used during the 1970 October Crisis by the Prime Ministers’ father Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the law gives extraordinary powers to the federal government to help deal with a crisis.
The federal government announced that trucks participating in occupations or blockades could have their corporate accounts frozen and have their insurance suspended. The act also allows the federal government to compel towing companies to remove trucks and can ban public assembly at certain designated locations such as parliament hill.
