Freedom Convoy protests disrupt traffic at U.S.-Canada border for third day in a row 

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Freedom Convoy truckers protesting the Canadian government’s vaccine mandate continue to block the busiest border crossing with the US – which carries 25 percent of trade between the countries – for a third day in a row as a growing list of provinces start to lift COVID restrictions and the General Motors plant in Delta Township, Michigan is forced to cancel a second shift due to lack of supply for production.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has smeared the truckers as ‘swastika-wavers’ and refused to budge on his mandate, saying he ‘doesn’t listen to people who illegally block borders’.  

For a third day in a row, trucks and vehicles lined the main trade route leading to Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, which typically sees about 8,000 trucks pass through daily and accounts for 25 percent of trade between the two countries.  

The bridge blockade is now causing problems in the US, and the General Motors plant in Delta Township, which is 92 miles from the border, has canceled their second production shift due to supply chain issues.

‘We are working closely with our logistics providers to mitigate any potential impacts to our production and operations,’ Erin Davis, a communications representative with GM, told WLNS. 

Another major key trade route to the U.S. became snarled due to protests. About 20 protesters with about 15 tractors bearing Canada flags blocked traffic on a section of Highway 402 that leads to Sarnia’s Bluewater Bridge. 

The protesters gathered around parked tractors, portable toilets and agricultural equipment on the highway and in an adjacent farm field. 

On Wednesday, conservatives leaders called on Trudeau to set a date to end the restrictions. But Trudeau said the decision is based on science and said conservatives should be there for Canadians by ending the protests and barricades.   

Trudeau was accused by the Opposition Leader Candice Bergen of politicizing the pandemic and dividing Canadians. ‘It seems like the Prime Minister wants to live in a permanent pandemic,’ she said.

He then hit back and said that he doesn’t ‘listen to people blockading our streets’ and doubled down on calling for the Opposition to condemn the truckers.   

‘The support of the conservative party for barricading our streets and border crossings is harming businesses and driving up prices, uncertainty and stability,’ he said. 

‘The Ambassador Bridge is critical for trade and this blockade poses significant risk to our supply chains. Illegally blocked trade routes means empty shelves and higher prices. They have a right to protest, but they don’t have a right to illegally block roads and harass residents.’ 

The White House has also weighed in on the blocked Ambassador Bridge, saying that it risks hurting the auto industry for the United States.

‘We are watching this very closely,’ White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said at a news briefing. ‘The blockade poses a risk to supply chains, for the auto industry.’

Psaki said a White House Homeland Security adviser convened a meeting on the issue and officials are talking with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office and automakers.

‘There are a number of steps we have proactively taken,’ Psaki added.

U.S. customs officials have helped reroute some commercial travel to the Bluewater Bridge that connects Port Huron, Michigan, to Canada, allowing a trickle of traffic to get through, but as of Wednesday morning, trucks were also backed up for several miles in Port Huron. The bridge is completely blocked for those exiting the bridge and entering Canada from Michigan. 

The city’s Mayor Drew Dilkins called for extra police along the border to help plan for a ‘protracted protest’ and said ‘every hour this protest continues our community hurts’. 

Protesters have also been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for more than a week and a half. About 50 trucks remained there Wednesday. Truckers have been protesting along the border and in the capital city Ottawa for nearly two weeks calling for an end to the government’s vaccine mandate.

But so far, their demands have been ignored by Trudeau and the liberal media who they slammed for smearing them and for their coverage of the demonstrations.  

‘I think it’s disgusting for any leader of a country to vilify people for exercising their democratic rights, their right to protest, the right to demonstrate peacefully,’ one trucker, Andy Wing, told Fox News.  

In response to the protests though, a rapidly growing list of Canadian provinces moved to lift their COVID-19 restrictions Wednesday. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island announced plans this week to roll back some or all measures, with Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropping its vaccine passport for places such as restaurants immediately and getting rid of masks at the end of the month. 

Meanwhile, police in Ottawa could face a lawsuit after two officers on Sunday arrested and manhandled a 78-year-old grandfather for honking his horn. 

Gerry Charlebois, who stands at 4ft-10in, now suffers from PTSD after the arrest on Sunday, his son told DailyMail.com. The family shared photos of his injuries, which reveal dark purple bruises on his hands and along his arms and knees.

Charlebois’ attorney David Amber tells DailyMail.com, ‘He’s pretty traumatized by the entire situation. We are going to fight these provincial charges and explore the possibility of filing a civil suit.’ 

Charlebois, a retired high school janitor, was fined $118 for ‘unnecessary noise’ but has not been criminally charged.  

On Monday, Trudeau ordered protesters to stop after Ottawa’s mayor declared a state of emergency. So far, 23 protesters have been arrested and more than 1,300 fines have been issued.

During an emergency debate in the House of Commons that night, Trudeau said the protests have to ‘stop’ and smeared those taking part in them as ‘a few people shouting and waving swastikas.’ A flag incorporating the Nazi symbol was spotted in the initial days of the protests, and DailyMail.com’s reporter, who’s been there for a week, has not seen any. 

One trucker told Fox News that Trudeau’s portrayal of the protesters was ‘a little bit funny, because he’s calling us terrorists, yet we have six-year-old kids out here playing hockey. We have four or five bouncy castles during the weekend, with hundreds of kids playing around.’ 

Freedom Convoy organizers and supporters have said they are being portrayed in a negative light through the media’s coverage and are tired of being labeled as a ‘cult’ and as ‘villains’

‘They’re spinning their own narrative,’ Ontario-based trucker Brigitte Belton told Fox News, referring to both the American and Canadian media. ‘This isn’t a cult … The federal government, the city of Ottawa, all those organizations that are out to get us right now, maybe that’s the cult.’ 

Unvaccinated Belton, who helped organize the Freedom Convoy when she was barred from crossing the border into the United States due to the Canadian vaccine mandate, added that she is downright disgusted by the coverage, which she said is ‘totally biased’ against the truckers. 

A day after Trudeau smeared the truckers as ‘swastika wavers’, he appeared to shift tone, saying he understood ‘how frustrated everyone is’ and that ‘the time is coming when we will be able to relax’, without providing details as officials try to put an end to the protest. 

It came as right-wing premiers in provinces Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan announced phased timetables to remove Covid-19 restrictions in the coming weeks in apparent defiance of Trudeau.   

Conservative leaders, who have repeatedly questioned the prime minister for his handling of the pandemic, also criticized Trudeau’s remarks from Monday, accusing him of stoking division during the protests. 

‘We are at a crisis point, not just outside the doors and across the country, but the country overall,’ Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen said. ‘And so much of it is because of the things he’s said and done.’  

Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed the demonstrators are being treated like terrorists. 

‘This is a peaceful, political protest. No one has shown any evidence to the contrary. It’s not a drug trafficking or human trafficking operation. It’s not Al Qaeda,’ Carlson said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday.

‘These are Canadian citizens who drive trucks for a living, but they’re being treated like a terror group.’ 

The truckers themselves have strongly denied that they have ties to ultra-right-wing groups, insisting they are just ‘ordinary truckers,’ he said. 

But as the protests near the two-mark in Ottawa and three days at the border crossing, the protests also threaten supplies of fresh produce, livestock and other food. 

Flavio Volpe, president of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, said the protesters have no right to park vehicles in the middle of roads. 

He questioned how many of the protesters were truckers because trucker associations and large logistics companies have disavowed the blockades.

‘It is really a collection of kind of anti-government provocateurs,’ he said. 

Even a five-hour delay can cause production disruptions because factories are running so lean on part supplies with an already fragile supply chain, said Jeff Schuster, president of the LMC Automotive consulting firm in Troy, Michigan.

‘Everything is so ‘just-in-time’ these days,’ he said. ‘We’re still dealing with parts shortages in general and supply chain issues. This is just another wrench in the industry that we´re dealing with right now.’ 

The bridge, one of the busiest border crossings on the continent, handling around 8,000 trucks a day, reopened on Tuesday for U.S.-bound vehicles, but the Canada Border Services Agency’s website showed lanes from the United States were still ‘temporarily closed’ Wednesday morning.

The bridge closure caused a shortage of parts at carmaker Stellantis’s assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, and the company had to cut short some shifts on Tuesday, it said in a statement, adding that the plant had resumed production Wednesday morning.

Business associations on both sides of the border have called for the reopening of the bridge. 

‘As our economies emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, we cannot allow any group to undermine the cross-border trade that supports families on both sides of the border, ‘ they said in a joint statement.

Protesters also closed another important U.S.-Canada border crossing in Coutts, Alberta. 

The impasse in Alberta has stranded travelers and cross-border truckers, disrupted millions of dollars in trade and impeded access to basic goods and medical services for area residents. 

Garrett Buchanan drove 10 hours from High Prairie in northern Alberta to join the protest and said he is staying until their demands are met.

‘Yeah – until the mandates get dropped, and if they can work on getting (Trudeau) out, I´d stay longer for that, too,’ he said.

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett said he had hoped the provincial government would go further in its announcement and isn´t expecting things to return to normal any time soon.

‘Leaving masking until March 1 is not going to make anybody happy,’ he said.

The daily demonstrations staged by the Freedom Truck Convoy are centered in Ottawa, where demonstrators have used hundreds of parked trucks to paralyze parts of the capital for more than 10 days. Protesters have said they will not leave until all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. 

The daily demonstrations, going on day 12, began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers who enter the country by land, but has since expanded to call for the dismantling of nearly all COVID-related restrictions.

They intensified this week, when truckers started blocking the Ambassador Bridge.  

On the other side of the country, video surfaced of a Calgary-based pastor Artur Pawlowski being arrested for mischief by allegedly participating at the Coutts border blockade, where protesters have blocked Alberta’s most important border for the past week.

Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party, resigned Tuesday after accusing the prime minister of dividing the people of Canada, saying the federal government’s pandemic response has become ‘politicized’ and ‘divisive.’ 

Police came under fire for their initially permissive attitude toward the blockade but began trying to take back control Sunday night with the seizure of thousands of liters of fuel and the removal of an oil tanker truck.

They have received support from additional officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and others. On Tuesday, police said more reinforcements were needed – both officers and people with legal expertise in insurance and licensing, suggesting intentions to pursue enforcement through commercial vehicle licenses.

The office of Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Marco Mendicino, has said that they are in talks with the city to provide more officers as well as tactical troops, joint intelligence and operational teams and community liaison teams.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on Tuesday. ‘I let him know that … we’ll make sure the city has the resources they need,’ Trudeau said in a tweet.

Some provinces, including the two most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, have started lifting their COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place to combat the highly transmissible Omicron variant that emerged late last year. 

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island also announced plans this week to roll back some or all measures, with Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropping its vaccine passport for places such as restaurants immediately and getting rid of masks at the end of the month.

Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused Alberta Premier Jason Kenney of allowing an ‘illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.’

Protesters have been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for more than a week and a half. About 50 trucks remained there Wednesday.

Also, more than 400 trucks have paralyzed downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a protest that began late last month.

EXCLUSIVE: Unsettling photos show heavily bruised great-grandfather, 78, after being forcefully handcuffed by Ottawa cops for honking his car horn to support Freedom Convoy as family says he is suffering from PTSD 

Unsettling photos show a heavily bruised 78-year-old great-grandfather after he was forcefully handcuffed by Ottawa police for honking his car horn in support of the Freedom Convoy. 

Standing at 4ft-10inch, Gerry Charlebois now suffers from PTSD after the arrest on Sunday, his son tells DailyMail.com. 

The family shared photos of his injuries, which reveal dark purple bruises on his hands and along his arms and knees.    

Charlebois’ attorney David Amber tells DailyMail.com, ‘He’s pretty traumatized by the entire situation. We are going to fight these provincial charges and explore the possibility of filing a civil suit.’ 

Charlebois, a retired high school janitor, was fined $118 for ‘unnecessary noise’ but has not been criminally charged. 

A bystander filmed the ordeal Sunday as the Freedom Convoy entered its second week of protest. ‘What did he do wrong?’ the bystander asked. ‘None of your f****** concern, man,’ one officer responded. 

In the video, the bystander filming is heard criticizing the officer for following the ruling and encouraging Charlebois to not give out his information.  

‘You don’t have to answer his questions, sir,’ he tells Charlebois. He then tells the officer, ‘You’re abusing old men.’

The officer and Charlebois then walk back toward the trunk of the van.

‘Because I tooted the horn,’ Charlebois begins. 

‘That is why you’re pulled over,’ the officer states. 

‘It’s called communism. It’s communism. You don’t have to show anything. You didn’t do anything wrong,’ the man behind the camera continues.  

The officer tells the man recording that it’s an offense to beep the horn.  

Eventually the officer in a blue surgical mask grabs Charlebois to restrain him, and brings him down to his knees in the middle of the street before handcuffing him against his van. 

Charlebois’ attorney said, ‘Based on the info I have, it seems clear that the officer either had the man’s name or chose not to ask the man’s name prior to arresting him. Failing to provide a driver’s license is NOT an arrestable offence if the person provides their verbal identification. (R. v. Plummer). 

‘I meant no harm,’ Charlebois told the Toronto Sun in an interview Tuesday. ‘I just gave the trucker a thumbs-up and a honk.’ 

‘I was in shock,’ he added. ‘When (the police) pulled me over, he told me I was in trouble for honking the horn.’

Charlebois said he drove to the area to look at the trucks and planned on parking his van and walking to Parliament Hill.   

Though he was at the protest in support of other demonstrators, he says he’s fully vaccinated and plans to get his booster shot soon.  

‘He’s just 4 foot 10,’ said his son Steve, who added that they may have to take his dad to the hospital for an X-ray for his shoulder. 

‘He wouldn’t hurt anybody.’

Another son, Gerald, said: ‘They didn’t seem to arrest any of those big truckers like that.’ 

‘I find it disgusting. There was no need to be so rough with him,’ he added.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean temporarily banned honking and air horn blowing for 10 days on Monday, after a lawsuit brought by a downtown resident who measured the noise in her apartment at more than 80 decibels during the protests, which began on January 29. 

‘The only purpose of this (horn blowing) is to bring attention to this protest,’ McLean said. ‘There’s no need for that anymore. The public is fully aware of what’s going on.’