A Canadian truck driver, a figure in the protest movement that shook the country in February, announced Monday that he would give up organizing a new demonstration to celebrate the first anniversary of the blockades.
James Bauder, founder of Canada Unity, one of the groups behind the occupation of downtown Ottawa for weeks last winter, said in a statement that he could not “guarantee public safety” and feared that the participants would be prosecuted.
This movement, initiated by truckers mobilized against the sanitary restrictions by Covid-19, had marked a country that was not used to this type of social movement. Their forced evacuation, made possible by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s extremely rare recourse to a special law, had sparked an important debate about civil liberties in Canada.
James Bauder had recently announced his intention to organize a new event to celebrate the first anniversary, and last week he had announced that he would move this new event to Winnipeg, in the center of the country.
Divisions within the movement
Neighbors -remembering the noise pollution from this long-term blockade in the center of the federal capital- and political figures were concerned about this call.
The police, overwhelmed in 2022, had warned that they would ban vehicle demonstrations on the streets of Ottawa. And the province of the capital, Ontario, approved a law in April that allows blocking infrastructure to be punished with a heavy fine, or even a year in prison.
James Bauder was one of 200 people arrested during the evacuation and was prosecuted.
His resignation does not make everyone agree, with some having expressed their intention to demonstrate regardless.
Source: BFM TV
