What’s Going on with Protests in Canada?

Far-right demonstrators, self-described as the “Freedom Convoy,” have been protesting in Ottawa, Ontario against the Canadian government’s pandemic-related measures, including vaccine mandates, for the past two weeks starting the last weekend in January. The protests started with some truck drivers demonstrating against vaccine mandates required for the US-Canadian border. The disruptions have spread beyond Ottawa, blocking multiple parts of the border and disrupting supply chains, including a bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan that serves as an essential part of the supply chain for the automobile industry.

According to the Canadian outlet Global News, several of the organizers of the convoy are far right extremists with a history of Islamophobia and racism. At the beginning of protests, multiple participants were seen bearing swastikas and Confederate flags at the demonstrations.

The outsized effects of this movement’s actions stand in sharp contrast to the fact that roughly 90 percent of Canadians are vaccinated, and nearly 90 percent of Canadian truck drivers are vaccinated as well.

The Takeaway spoke with Regina Bateson, an assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa, to find out what’s going on in Ottawa.

And after just two weeks, messages of support have spread far beyond Canada and inspired copycat movements in Australia, New Zealand,, and parts of Europe. The protests have also included support from U.S. far-right figures and have started drawing in more extremist individuals. We also hear from New York Times technology reporter and author of "An Ugly Truth," Sheera Frenkel, who has been following these developments online.