Truck convoy protesting vaccine mandates crosses Ontario's northeast en route to Ottawa
CBC
Hundreds of people showed up as a convoy of Canadian truckers against COVID-19 vaccine mandates rolled through areas of northeastern Ontario on Friday en route to Ottawa for a national protest.
This convoy is part of a larger protest, called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, that includes transport truck operators from across Canada. On Thursday, it made its way through southwestern Ontario, and is destined to arrive on Parliament Hill on Saturday.
As the convoy trucked through Ontario's northeast, those who showed up in support included Theresa Paradis and her daughter Sam Laforest.
The two stood on the side of Highway 17 in Thessalon in the bitter cold with a cardboard sign reading "Freedom of Choice." Both said they're double vaccinated, but don't believe in government mandates.
"We're in Canada. We're living in a free country. We should be able to choose," said Paradis.
"That is what our country is built on," said Laforest, a retired Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan.
"Obviously I believe in vaccination and doing whatever we can do to end the pandemic ... That's our choice though."
Stewart Holman, who recently retired to the Thessalon area after driving a truck for 42 years, said "unfortunately it takes a guy with a 100,000-pound vehicle to make a point."
He said he recently lost his wife. He did get three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so he could visit her in hospital, but is skeptical of how the government is handling the pandemic.
"Time to do something about this and get it straightened out," Holman said, watching the convoy go by on Highway 17.
"Something's wrong. Something needs to be re-looked at."
Kaija Nordgren was standing on the side of the highway in the hamlet of Sowerby, holding her son Zeke, who is "almost two and loves trucks."
The Sault Ste. Marie woman said she didn't want to get vaccinated, but it was required to keep her job as a social worker.
"I had to take that jab for my family to keep food on the table, keep our bills paid," Nordgren said.
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