Is Ottawa about to implode? One thing is certain, the capital of Canada, has been on fire since January 29, the date on which heavy truck drivers in the country began a movement of revolt against the vaccination obligation imposed on truckers crossing the border with the United States. . This “freedom convoy”, declared as “peaceful” from its first hours, turned into a general questioning of the Trudeau government’s policy and extended to the entire civilian population. State of emergency, official declaration and first arrests, 20 minutes takes stock of a demonstration that no longer seems so pacifist as it did in its early days.
News of the day
This Thursday, three weeks after the start of the “freedom convoy” movement, the Canadian executive raised its voice. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was nothing “peaceful” about this challenge during a historic debate in the House of Commons on the implementation of the Emergency Measures Act. This exceptional provision was then invoked for the second time in Canada’s peacetime history.
The objective of all measures, including the financial measures provided for in the Emergencies Act, is to meet the current threat and bring the situation under full control,” added Justin Trudeau. In a letter sent the day before to the Premiers of the provinces, the Prime Minister had already considered that the movement “threatened democracy” and undermined “Canada’s reputation abroad”.
Also Thursday, the police deployed en masse in the streets of Ottawa. For the first time since the start of the movement, hundreds of police have positioned themselves against the protesters and the trucks blocking the streets. Large gates and barricades have also been erected by the security forces to protect the Parliament buildings. Police warned protesters to leave the area “immediately”.
The origin of the conflict
It all started in western Canada, with a few dozen truckers who organized themselves into convoys to rally Vancouver to Ottawa. Their objective: to demonstrate against the vaccination obligation put in place in mid-January by Canada and the United States to be able to cross the border. After occasional blockages, the convoy, which had grown in the meantime, arrived in Ottawa on January 29. The truckers then landed in front of the federal parliament.
Almost three weeks later, they haven’t moved and have taken up residence (tents, food stalls, children’s games, etc.). And other demands were quickly added to this movement. Some 400 trucks were installed on the streets of downtown Ottawa and many removed the tires from their vehicles to make them more difficult to remove. In the demonstrations that now accompany the “freedom convoys” that have spread to several cities in the country, the call for the resignation of Justin Trudeau comes back with force.
The trend of the day
Initially minimized by the authorities, the movement has spread in recent weeks and no longer has the peaceful dimension of its beginnings for many demonstrators who firmly reject the government of Justin Trudeau. The city of Ottawa, the province of Ontario and Canada are now under a state of emergency. Powerless and with very little presence on the ground for days, the police now claim to have the police forces necessary to put an end to this “illegal occupation”. Different levels of law enforcement are now present: officers from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), the provincial police, the police service of the city of Ottawa or from other cities in the province.
The first arrests took place on Wednesday morning: Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the convoy, was arrested, indicated in a tweet the official account of the movement, video in support. A little earlier, another leader, Chris Barber, had been arrested, a calm arrest there also filmed and posted on social networks by members of the movement.
The demonstrators, determined to stay “until the end”, received an ultimatum on Wednesday from the police, who went around the trucks to distribute a leaflet ordering them to “leave the premises”. Steve Bell, the new Ottawa police chief, who notably fears the presence of “radical elements” in the rally scheduled for Saturday, said he was ready to “employ certain techniques that are not commonly seen in Ottawa”. It must be said that with the implementation of the emergency law, the police have a very developed arsenal of legal tools: the demonstrators risk up to one year of imprisonment, fines of up to 100,000 Canadian dollars (70,000 euros), the freezing of bank accounts, the suspension of their driving licenses, etc.
For experts, this management of the crisis by the police will inevitably leave traces. “The problems we don’t have are not resource or staffing problems, it’s a question of leadership, management and governance,” points out Christian Leuprecht, professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and specialist in the police.
According to him, this event demonstrates that an overhaul of the architecture of the national security system, which has become obsolete in the 21st century, is more than necessary. In the meantime, describing the situation as “precarious”, the Minister of Public Security Marco Mendicino estimated for his part that “the illegal blockades at the borders” had cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars.