‘We just need some answers:’ Sask. trucker vows to stay in Ottawa

There aren’t any plans to stop anytime soon.

That’s what Chris Barber, a truck driver from Swift Current, is saying about the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine mandate protest in Ottawa.

Barber is one of the organizers for the Freedom Convoy and he spoke to Gormley on Monday about what he hopes will come out of the protest.

“We want to end the mandates; it will be simple,” he said. “If (government officials) want this to go away, end the mandates. We all go home happy and carry on with life.

“But until that happens, be prepared to live in Ottawa for a little while.”

Barber maintains the protest has been peaceful, and he claims people who defaced the Terry Fox statue and danced on the National War Memorial aren’t actually involved with the convoy.

“There’s a lot of people in the group here that I think are not part of our group, but trying to make us look bad,” he said. “If it’s a January 6 redo (similar to the protest at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.), we’ll do it the proper way.

“This is non-violent (and) this is completely peaceful. Obviously you’re going to have a meathead in every crowd as you will, but we’re protecting what we have to protect. We’re doing what we can to make sure this is peaceful. There is definitely a lot going on.”

Barber says he understands the frustration that some people in Canada’s capital might be having about the downtown being gridlocked, but he says protesters are willing to stay as long as possible to ensure vaccine mandates are eliminated.

“We just need some answers. Surely we can get past this. The vast majority of Canadians are tired of the mandate,” he claimed. “They just need some answers.”

There are beliefs among some organizers in the group that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will begin negotiating with the protesters, despite Trudeau saying he does not plan on giving in to meeting with the protesters or listening to their demands.

A person holds their hand to their heart during a singing of O Canada during a rally on Parliament Hill against COVID-19 restrictions, which began as a cross-country convoy protesting a federal vaccine mandate for truckers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canadian Press reporter Laura Osman is covering what is happening in the nation’s capital and she joined the Brent Loucks Show on Monday for an update.

Osman says businesses downtown have closed and people are afraid to leave their homes.

“Some have described people urinating and defecating on their lawns or in the lobby of their condo buildings,” Osman said.

“The honking (or horns), it’s so overwhelmingly loud and it has gone all day for three days straight. I think I’m going to hear it in my dreams.”

Initially, the city and police were going to allow the protest to run its course, but Osman said the tone has changed the longer it has gone on.

“It’s going to seriously impact daily life in Ottawa, not to mention it is going to cost $800,000 per day in policing costs to monitor this thing because it is so widespread all throughout the downtown,” she said.

“Police are warning of major traffic disruptions getting into downtown. They’re warning people to stay out of the core.”

The protest is into its third day and comes as politicians head back to their office for the resumption of Parliament.

Osman said she doesn’t see it ending anytime soon.

“A lot of people I spoke to on the weekend said they have no plans to go anywhere,” she said. “The trucks that are parked block roads all through downtown (and) many said they are not going anywhere.

“From the Prime Minister’s Office, before this all started, he called this a fringe minority movement. They took major offence to that. I think the (protesters) are tapping into some genuine anger and frustration in the general population about the mandates that continued on for two years.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker