Hundreds turn out in Saskatoon to support truckers opposed to cross-border vaccine mandate

Hundreds of people turned out at a Flying J truck stop in Saskatoon on Monday afternoon to support local truckers, and to oppose a cross-border vaccine mandate requiring all truckers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

People lined the entrance to the truck stop and its parking lot at the northern edge of the city, honked their horns and shouted support at dozens of semi drivers who returned the favour by pulling into the truck stop, circling and returning to the road after a  honk of their horns.

Torsten Brass has been a trucker for 32 years. He said he wasn’t surprised at the turnout.

“I’m hoping for more,” he said. “I’m here to support all the truckers.”

Tawana Ebandeen said the trucking community had to stand together to oppose the mandate.

“It’s about everything. People are just fed up with what’s been going on for the last two years. I’m unvaccinated. He (her husband) is unvaccinated. He can’t go across the border anymore since last week. That’s cutting into our revenue,” she said.

“We hope we can make it here in Canada. Otherwise, if these truckers do not do something for us, and are able to get Justin (Trudeau, the prime minister) to change his mind, then I guess we’re going to have to go and get vaccinated.”

When asked about the U.S. imposing the same vaccine mandate, she said it was Canada that should back off first.

“The bigger country has to quit first,” she maintained. “Hopefully the other guy will follow suit.”

Others who had no connection to truckers came out to show them support, holding signs that read “Honk 4 Truth,” “Freedom – live in love, not fear,” and “God keep our land glorious and free.”

It’s not clear whether any of the truckers or those who rallied to support them in Saskatoon were part of a convoy making its way to Regina later in the day, and then on to Ottawa.

In a statement, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said it does not support and strongly disapproves of any protests on public roadways, highways and bridges.

“CTA believes such actions — especially those that interfere with public safety — are not how disagreements with government policies should be expressed,” it read. “Members of the trucking industry who want to publicly express displeasure over government policies can choose to hold an organized, lawful event on Parliament Hill or contact their local MP.”

A convoy of truckers from across the country is expected to arrive in Ottawa by Saturday.

The convoy eventually made its way through Regina and to the Balgonie Flying J on Monday around 9:30 p.m.

Cars lined up along the highway between Regina and Balgonie while others waited at the parking lot for hours.

Miranda Gasior is from Lloydminster and said she is one of the organizers helping with the convoy. She said about 400 vehicles joined up with them on their leg of the journey.

“It has been a roller-coaster but no matter what you throw at us, we’re never going to back down and never going to stop,” Gasior said. “Freedom is essential in Canada and that’s what we stand on.”

She said this is to try and put a stop to all mandates across the country.

“The goal is to restore Canada. Restore Canada back to what it was,” Gasior said. “I don’t know that we will ever get any aspect of life back to where it was; I think that time has passed. But I think we can get to a normal in Canada where everyone is happy.

“I think after two years we’ve gotten to a point where if COVID is still that bad, maybe it’s about time people start staying home because at this point that is the only try protection.”

Don Paterson has been a truck driver for 45 years and was going to Ottawa with the convoy.

“You’ve got to do this (vaccine requirement) so you can work. For two years we were the king of the roads, now we have to do this to have a job,” Paterson said.

Premier against vaccine policy at the border

Premier Scott Moe didn’t say Monday whether he supports the convoy, but he did seem to express support for some of the truckers’ views.

Moe called the policy requiring truckers to be vaccinated to cross the Canada-U.S. border without quarantining “unnecessary.”

“And it’s one that’s going to have, unfortunately, potentially significant impacts on us accessing essential services, including food, that we need in our communities,” said Moe.

He listed off several reasons he views it as unnecessary: He believes most truckers are already vaccinated against COVID-19, the tools are available to mitigate COVID like rapid tests, and truckers provide an essential service.

Moe also said truckers have been operating all through the pandemic relatively safely, even in times when case counts were particularly high in parts of the U.S.

When asked whether he thought a convoy was a good idea right now, given possible supply chain effects, Moe replied it was a good question to ask the prime minister, among others.

“Is this policy actually going to, in any way, produce any tangible results or is it just going to essentially have a negative result in us not being able to access the goods and services that truckers bring to our community each and every day?” Moe said.

The premier said he thinks there’s a better path forward than the vaccine policy.

“(It’ll be) one that, I hope, respects what our truckers have done for us here in this province and done for us as Canadians, not only throughout this pandemic but in general,” said Moe.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick