Ottawa truckers tell Fox News Digital they will stay and continue to protest
OTTAWA, Ontario – Canadian truckers who received notices by police to leave or potentially be arrested said law enforcement was “over-stepping” with another “scare tactic,” and vowed to stay.
“Those who are willing to give their life for this cause, need much more than being threatened with arrest, with fines, with losing insurance,” trucker Csaba Vizi told Fox News Digital.
Canadian truckers have been protesting in Ottawa since late January calling for an end to COVID-19 mandates. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history. By Wednesday, police began handing out notices warning demonstrators to leave or potentially face arrest for “committing a criminal offense” by “blocking the streets.”
“It’s not a piece of paper that’s going to make me leave,” one trucker told Fox News Digital. “I’m here to stay.”
“I think it’s cute,” Wendell Thorndyke told Fox News Digital. “They turned the police into meter maids,” he continued.
Many felt police were wrongly using a “scare tactic” in an effort to get the Freedom Convoy to leave Ottawa.
It’s just a power play on them trying to scare us,” Mike Anderson said.
“The Charter of Rights and Freedoms says we can peacefully protest” and that document is “basically saying that it’s wrong,” he continued.
“This is another way of them over-stepping what they are actually allowed to do,” the trucker told Fox News Digital.
Trucker Clarence Penner felt similarly. “Everything we’re doing is 100% peaceful and within our Charter rights,” he said. “If anyone is going to be breaking the law, it’s them.”
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All truckers who spoke to Fox News Digital said they would not leave and expected most others feel the same way.
Penner, for instance, said while the warning may “ruffle some feathers for some,” most will not to be scared since they anticipate police “would try every last card in their backpack.”
Vizi agreed that some might be intimidated, but said he was committed to staying.
“Somebody can go take my house, I don’t care at this point” Vizi said. “Probably, my bank account is froze.”
“I’m broke financially anyway so take it, who cares?” Vizi continued.
Canadian trucker Steve Ness told Fox News Digital: “I have a son, I don’t want him seeing dad in handcuffs. But I’m not too scared, I’m not doing anything wrong, it’s still peaceful.”
Also saying he’d be staying indefinitely was trucker, Mike Fabinski. “I’m not moving, I’m staying all the way,” he said. “This is the price you pay for freedom, you got to do what you believe.”
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Like Fabinski, Canadian trucker Matt Mackenzie remained committed to the protest: “As long as it takes, if we were afraid of pieces of paper, we had no business coming in the first place.”
Another laughed when asked if he’d be leaving soon. “Oh, I live here now, I’m going to change my address,” Thorndyke told Fox News Digital.
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