Demonstration by truckers opposed to health restrictions, near Parliament, on February 14, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada ( AFP / Ed JONES )
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday the exceptional use of the Emergency Measures Act to end the “illegal” blockades of anti-sanitary measures protesters that have been underway in the country for more than two weeks.
It is only the second time that this provision has been activated in peacetime, the last time dating back to the crisis of 1970 when Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the father of the current Prime Minister was in power.
“The federal government is invoking the Emergency Measures Act to supplement provincial and territorial powers and deal with blockades and occupations,” he said, noting that the military would not be deployed and that new measures would be “limited in time and geographically”.
The law comes into effect immediately and applies to the whole country, even if the Prime Minister assured that it would have a “concrete impact” only in the regions where it is necessary, in particular in Ontario, province in which is the capital Ottawa.
The Canadian protest movement which began at the end of January started from truckers protesting once morest the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States.
Messages of support and posters in front of Parliament during a protest by truckers on February 14, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada (AFP/Ed JONES)
But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.
“I now want to address the Prime Minister: no matter what you do, we will not let go,” said Tamara Lich, one of the leaders of the so-called “freedom” convoy, at a press conference. held in the hour preceding the Canadian government’s announcement.
– “Few limits” –
The Emergencies Act can be invoked in the event of a “national crisis” and gives the federal government more powers to end it by allowing it to authorize “temporarily extraordinary measures”.
Several provincial premiers expressed their opposition to the implementation of this provision, which corresponds to a national state of emergency, before Justin Trudeau spoke.
Demonstration once morest health restrictions, on February 13, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada ( AFP / Ed JONES )
In 1970, the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau had invoked her to send the army to Quebec and take a series of emergency measures, following the kidnapping by the Front de libération du Québec of a British commercial attaché, James Richard Cross, and a Quebec minister, Pierre Laporte.
Mr. Cross had been released following negotiations, but the Minister had been found dead in the trunk of a car.
“With this law, the government can requisition goods, services, people. The government can tell people where to go, where not to go. There are really few limits to what the government can do,” explained Geneviève Tellier, professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa.
– “Keep up the pressure” –
On Monday, Canadian police seized weapons and ammunition and arrested 11 people on the Coutts border blockade in Alberta (west), a crossing point with the United States that has been paralyzed for a week.
Trucks cross the Ambassador Bridge towards Detroit on February 14, 2022 in Windsor, Canada (AFP/Geoff Robins)
The police had managed Sunday evening, following seven days of blockage, to reopen the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor in Ontario to the American city of Detroit in Michigan. The paralysis of this major border axis had prompted Washington, worried regarding the economic consequences, to intervene with Justin Trudeau.
The Prime Minister of Ontario announced Monday morning the upcoming lifting of almost all health measures, including the vaccine passport.
But in Ottawa, opponents of health measures still occupied the streets of the city center. Some 400 trucks are installed supported by a well-established organization: tents to warm up, campfires, food stands…
Since the establishment of the state of emergency on Friday, they risk a fine of up to 100,000 Canadian dollars (69,500 euros), or even a year in prison.
Leaving “is not in my plans”, explained Monday morning to AFP Phil Rioux, three-day beard and blue eyes at the wheel of his truck. “It’s by maintaining the pressure that we have a better chance of achieving our goal,” explains the 29-year-old Quebecer.
– “Very frustrated” –
Meanwhile, discontent is rising in the Canadian population at the slow reaction of the authorities, especially on social networks, where the action of the police is strongly questioned.
“At first, I supported them but now it’s enough,” said Beatriz Sagastume, an Ottawa resident forced to walk to work.
Participants in the so-called “freedom” convoys demonstrate in Brussels on February 14, 2022 (AFP / Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)
This unprecedented Canadian mobilization continued Monday to be emulated elsewhere in the world. After similar protests in Australia and New Zealand, thousands of cars and trucks in Israel drove into Jerusalem from several cities across the country.
In Europe, following converging on Paris on Saturday, part of the convoys of opponents of health restrictions, known as “freedom”, arrived in Brussels, where the demonstration was banned, while the police blocked around thirty vehicles. upstream.
