What began as a “Freedom Convoy” of a small group of truckers driving to Ottawa to protest against the Jan. 15 mandate that Canadian truckers need to be vaccinated to cross the U.S. border quickly escalated into a weeks-long rally in the downtown core of the nation’s capital.
Even before the trucks arrived groups looking for a reason to demonstrate their disdain for what they believe is a federal government that had over-stepped its authority. But demonstrations quickly attracted, and were then hijacked, by more than just those fed up with federally-mandated COVID-19 public health mandates, but those affiliated with the racist far right and those wanted to outright overthrow a democratically-elected government.
Implementing a vaccine mandate nearly two years after the first federally mandated lockdown was ordered, and when nearly 90 per cent of the country is already vaccinated, understandably many truckers were outraged. Until Jan. 15 they were touted as “unsung” heroes of the pandemic, ensuring Canadians had food and other basic goods needed to survive in isolation.
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I agree that mandate does seem non-sensical and could be argued as unnecessary since there is no evidence to show trucking was spreading COVID-19 across the country or between Canada and the U.S.
It also doesn’t make sense financially. Inflation is skyrocketing, and according to Sylvain Charlebois, an expert on Canadian food supply chain issues, the cost of U.S. truck freight from Florida to Canada has increased between 25 and 100 per cent over the past month, depending on the destination.
The mandate also adds an additional burden on an already fragile supply chain.
So does blocking Canada-U.S. border crossings, which was the ripple effect of the Ottawa protest. Within days of the Freedom Convoy’s arrival in Ottawa, separate convoys were organized by groups across the country, headed to border crossings in Manitoba, Alberta, and Ontario and prevented traffic, mostly transport trucks, for many hours, and even longer – earlier this month, the crossing in Coutts, Alta. left trucks and travellers stranded for several days.
No matter what your personal feelings are regarding vaccines or other public health measures provincial and federal governments ask us to do in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, these protests are unlikely to achieve their goals.
In fact, for the agri-food industry, they only exacerbated supply chain problems and movement of goods, animals, and feed ingredients.
It was disappointing to see many farmers joining in on the protests across the country. Not because they don’t have a right to be angry about vaccine mandates and other restrictions, but because like truckers, they were seen as heroes during the pandemic. Food is essential to life – and farmers were still able to produce food for a very thankful public.
Why attach yourself to a movement that has crippled cross-border trade, and could make doing your job harder and affect your livelihood, as well as public trust? When consumers are faced with sparse, or empty grocery shelves after food costs have gone up nearly 10 per cent in the past year, protestors will receive little sympathy and support.
It’s a matter of optics, and credibility. Agriculture faces enough criticism, so let’s pick our battles wisely.
