Protesters against compulsory vaccination in Windsor, Canada, on February 8, 2022 (AFP/Geoff Robins)
Faced with the determination of the demonstrators who have blocked the center of the capital Ottawa for more than ten days, a movement seemed to be starting on Tuesday in Canada to relax the health restrictions against Covid, among the strictest in the world.
In central Ottawa, between 400 and 500 trucks still occupied the streets on Tuesday to oppose sanitary measures, a situation “out of control” for the city which triggered a state of emergency this weekend.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who remained silent for several days, denounced the movement on Monday and said that “it had to stop”.
“We are all tired of the restrictions, of having to make sacrifices almost every day, but our responsibility as a government is to ensure everyone’s health and safety,” he told AFP on Tuesday. the House of Commons.
Some provinces, however, have announced new relief: thus, Saskatchewan and Alberta (center), will completely give up the vaccine passport, believing that “the benefits no longer outweigh the costs”.
And for the first time since the implementation of new restrictions linked to the Omicron wave, Quebec has announced a detailed timetable for the relief to come.
Although the epicenter is in Ottawa, the whole country is shaken by this movement. Dubbed the “freedom convoy”, it was originally intended to protest against the decision to force truck drivers to be vaccinated to cross the border with the United States.
But it quickly turned into a movement against health measures as a whole and against the government.
Outside Ottawa, the movement continues to spread: the Ambassador Bridge, a vital trade route between North American neighbors, which connects Ontario to Detroit, in the United States, was blocked by demonstrators.
Protesters against sanitary measures in Ottawa, Canada, February 8, 2022 (AFP/Dave Chan)
A situation which could have “serious consequences on the economy” if it continues, alert authorities and companies. This suspension bridge is crucial for the automotive industry but also for American hospitals which employ many Canadian nurses.
Recently, the movement has also inspired beyond the borders: in New York, several hundred municipal employees demonstrated against the vaccination obligation; in New Zealand, a convoy blocked the streets around Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday; in France, thousands of opponents of the vaccine pass have announced that they want to “drive to Paris” on Saturday.
– Makeshift shelters, braziers –
In the streets of central Ottawa, known for being a very calm city: signs against Justin Trudeau, Canadian flags, but also fires around which the demonstrators warm up. On the sidewalks or in the middle of the roads: makeshift shelters, a few tents and around them, supplies of water and food.
According to the police, one in four truck drivers came to demonstrate with their children, which makes their evacuation even more complex, especially since some have removed their tires and others have modified their brakes to “immobilize their truck “.
Demonstration against sanitary measures in Ottawa, February 7, 2022 (AFP/Dave Chan)
“In the early days, I found it nice. In a democracy, everyone has the right to have a different opinion and the right to express it,” Cédric Boyer, 48, a Frenchman living in Ottawa, told AFP. . “Where it starts to be a problem is when the freedom of some encroaches on that of others,” he adds.
On Tuesday, truckers, who have been banned since the day before from honking after a court decision, found another way to be heard: to roar the engines of their trucks, making the air unbreathable.
“I don’t agree with Trudeau’s way of acting or with his dictatorship,” Martin Desforges, a 46-year-old trucker from northern Quebec, told AFP.
The latter lives with his wife in his truck parked since the beginning of the movement in front of Parliament and a few meters from the windows of the Prime Minister’s office.
Vaccinated at the “last minute”, even if he did not want to, he opposes “wearing a mask, all distancing measures, the closing of restaurants”.
In Canada, where health measures are in most provinces more restrictive than elsewhere in the world, the movement has received wider popular support than anticipated by the authorities. According to a latest poll, a third of Canadians support the movement and 44% of those vaccinated understand “the cause and the frustrations conveyed by the protesters”.
But Justin Trudeau “is betting that the movement will run out of steam on its own,” said Félix Mathieu, a political scientist from the University of Winnipeg.
On Tuesday, however, a rare dissonant voice was heard in the ranks of the Liberals, the party of Justin Trudeau. Denouncing more restrictive measures than elsewhere, Quebec MP Joël Lightbound explained “to feel uneasy with the direction that the government has decided to take in the management of the pandemic”. He called for a “more unifying” and less “dividing” approach.
© 2022 AFP
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