The Anti-Vaccinators Trucker Protest

Fayah Estrand (G6)

Current Events

Published Issue 5 2021-2022

Almost all Canadians were shocked when they looked out their windows to see thousands of truckers and other protesters walking down the street fighting for the right to continue working without getting vaccinated. A few weeks ago, it was announced that there is a new rule that all truckers must be vaccinated to cross the US border. Those who were unvaccinated are required to quarantine when crossing borders.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “It’s unacceptable, and the protesters are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens ‘daily lives’.” Most citizens of Canada agree with this opinion and are quite annoyed by the protesters and what they are doing, seeing how they drove all the way to Ottawa to try to convince the Prime Minister to let them continue working as normal without vaccines. Many people had signs comparing the Covid-19 restrictions to World War II, some even compared Trudeau to Hitler.

The protesters stayed in Ottawa for over three weeks and were honking their horns for prolonged periods of time, making the local citizens unable to sleep. This element, and others like it, was not a peaceful protest, and this protest could have been stopped sooner. What the Ottawa protesters wanted was to be able to avoid quarantining even if they weren’t vaccinated and to get that they knew they needed to do more than just ask for an exemption from the existing mandate and to try to make that happen they ended up going to Ottawa attempting to lift the restrictions. Some people have been fired for not having the vaccine. When truckers found out about the new restrictions, they got mad and started the protests to attempt and get their jobs back. Another reason that some participated in the protests is because they believe statements like: “something is wrong with the vaccine!” or they have been wondering “ how are vaccines going to affect my health.” There have been other rumors about vaccines like this and how the government may be lying to us.

The protest did end and the protesters did not achieve their goal and are still unable to cross the border without quarantining - if they are unvaccinated. In conclusion, these protesters have not been successful and will most likely not be permitted to travel across the border without quarantining, unless the restrictions are lifted or they get their vaccines.