On Day 12 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remained in hiding, the Coutts border blockade decided to stay put and truckers arrived in Canada’s biggest cities to blast horns all weekend long.
The ongoing border blockade and standoff between truckers and RCMP in Coutts, Alberta was shaken up today when Rebel News initially reported that the truckers had decided to relocate their convoy to Edmonton.
The truckers reversed the decision after a vote, however, deciding they were going to stay and maintain their ongoing blockade of the Canada – Montana border crossing.
Chad Williamson, the lawyer representing the truckers in Coutts, explained to Rebel News that tensions with the RCMP had cooled down significantly.
“There’s different levels of government that we are dealing with,” Williamson said. “We will continue to be in touch with the Department of Justice and members of the RCMP to monitor what is happening with this decision.”
Williamson went on to remind viewers that just because the situation had calmed down, “that is not to say that the situation isn’t tenuous at best.”
He finished by reiterating the calls of truckers all over Canada and the world, saying that he hopes their protests result in the lifting of mandates and a return to the freedom that we have all been asking for.
In Ottawa, the truckers and their supporters remained on Wellington Street today to continue their ongoing and peaceful protests against the federal government’s vaccine mandates and other COVID restrictions.
Supporters were seen playing hockey in front of the Supreme Court this morning.
A few of the players stopped to talk with True North to discuss how they felt about the Ottawa police contemplating the need for the military.
“Call in the military just so we can have some more street hockey players?” one protestor responded. “We need a shift change is all we need.”
When asked about how they felt about the response they’d received from Ottawa officials, another protester said, “just come down here. What I saw was the exact opposite of what I was being told on the news.”
“They were telling stories about guys stealing food from the homeless (but) there’s a guy with a flat bed down there that can’t handle the amount of food that people are donating to him.”
Another trucker speaking to True North said that “(the military) is with us. It’s too nice. People are smiling; people are happy.”
A couple from Alberta in Ottawa since the start of the protest told True North, “(t)his is the most Canadian protest you could ever imagine. Everyone is friendly and full of love.”
The ongoing protests in Ottawa have inspired similar protests in Canada’s provincial capitals including Quebec City and Ontario.
Protestors and truckers began arriving tonight in Quebec City to get set up for Saturday.
In response to the Freedom Convoy’s recently frozen GoFundMe page, lawyers from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms were dispatched to Ottawa to represent the organizers and help them free up the donated money.
Here is the statement from the JCCF.
The lawyers held a press conference with the organizers to explain how they will proceed in defending the freedom convoy.
Co-organizer Tamara Lich spoke to reporters, saying “(t)his protest began because of the federal government’s restrictions on trucker freedoms. Our movement has grown in Canada and across the world because common people are tired of the mandates and restrictions on their own lives.”
MPs opposed to the trucker convoy vowed to summon GoFundMe officials to testify in front of the House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee.
According to CTV News, the MPs want to hear how GoFundMe plans to ensure that the funds are “not being used to promote extremism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, which have been expressed among prominent organizers for the truck convoy currently in Ottawa.”
True North will continue to bring you daily coverage of the trucker protests across Canada.
The GoFundMe in support of the truckers remained frozen at $10,094,900.
