Trucker protest against cross-border vaccine mandates hits southwestern Ontario

A convoy of truckers opposed to cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates will make its way through southwestern Ontario on Thursday, bringing predictions of traffic headaches while drawing scorn from some and praise from others. 

"I worked for two years to bring goods and services and toilet paper and everything to everyone. We went through having no showers, no bathrooms, no food — we starved sometimes for days on end on the road — and nobody cared about us then, and now all of a sudden, they care," said convoy trucker Bridgette Belton, who owns and operates her own rig running food products and containers between Canada and the United States. 

"My husband and I spend 269 days a year away from each other, away from home, working for Canada to bring their goods and services to market and to bring goods and services to Canadians."

The protest is being organized by Canada Unity, a group that opposes COVID-19-related measures. Its organizers want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to drop the vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border and do away with other public health protections.

Belton, of Wallaceburg, Ont., said she and other truckers will meet in Sarnia and Windsor before making their way via Highway 401 to Ottawa, with stops in Chatham, London and other municipalities along the way. She said the truckers will be in London at around 11 a.m. ET, with a stop at the Flying J truck stop on Highbury Avenue.

Truckers heading for Ottawa from other parts of the country have been met with supporters, and organizers believe the same will happen in southwestern Ontario. 

The Ontario Provincial Police say they're aware of the protest and plan to make sure truckers, supporters and other drivers are safe.

"The OPP's role in a situation like this is simply to keep the public peace," said OPP spokesperson Derek Rogers.

"We want to keep demonstrators safe. We want to keep motorists who are sharing the road with the demonstrators safe, and if anyone gathers to watch the convoy roll through, we want to ensure that those folks are safe, too."  

One planned meeting point for supporters is the Wellington Road South overpass overlooking Highway 401 in London at 10 a.m. ET. The convoy is expected to leave the Flying J at noon, Belton said. 

WATCH | Support shown for truckers:

Since the convoy of trucks and other vehicles left B.C. for Ottawa, extremists and fringe groups have taken to social media to encourage followers to descend on the capital and destroy property and threaten elected officials, which has been denounced by the organizers.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance and the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) have both come out against the convoy, saying that 90 per cent of cross-border truckers are vaccinated. 

"The Government of Canada and the United States have now made being vaccinated a requirement to cross the border. This regulation is not changing so, as an industry, we must adapt and comply with this mandate," said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. "The only way to cross the border, in a commercial truck or any other vehicle, is to get vaccinated."