Demonstrators took to the streets in Greenwood, Grand Forks and Christina Lake in a show of solidarity with last weekend’s Freedom Convoy in the nation’s capital.
The convoy was originally aimed as a protest by some Canadian truckers after the federal government removed truckers’ exemption to a federal COVID-19 vaccination mandate in mid-January. Truckers who are not fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus must quarantine for two weeks and submit a COVID test before re-entering Canada from the United States, according to the mandate.
Foreign truckers who are not fully-vaccinated are refused entry to Canada at the border. The US meanwhile requires that Canadian truckers be fully-vaccinated before crossing the 49th parallel.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance has disavowed the freedom convoy, pointing out that 85 per cent of national truckers are vaccinated against COVID-19.
— With files from The Canadian Press