CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — About 50 P.E.I. truckers are planning to take part in this weekend’s Freedom Convoy.

Thousands of truck drivers across Canada and the United States are set to converge in Ottawa to protest the federal government requirement that essential workers — truckers included — be vaccinated if they want to avoid a 14-day quarantine after crossing the border from the U.S.

The rule came into effect Jan. 15.

She said it's time to take a stand against vaccine mandates and employment ultimatums.

“I mean, it’s just ridiculous for the prime minister to put a vaccine mandate on truckers in the winter," Braden said in a phone interview on Jan. 25. “This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. There’s no need to do it. They don’t get out of their trucks."

Braden added that truckers are tired of the lack of support from politicians, so the time has come to speak up.

“Canadians are pissed off," she said. “The (federal) Opposition has been silent, so there’s nobody speaking out for Canadians who aren’t for the mandates. The trucking industry has become Canada’s official opposition, and they have become a voice."

Taking part

P.E.I. long-haul truck driver Tyler Beaton, who plans to take part in the Freedom Convoy, said he is fully vaccinated and encourages people to get vaccinated, but he opposes any policy that puts people in a position where they have to get the shot.

“Most importantly, I am participating in this convoy so we can have our freedoms back," the 25-year-old Hunter River resident told SaltWire Network in a phone interview on Jan. 25 from Salisbury, N.B.

"Most importantly, I am participating in this convoy so we can have our freedoms back."

- Tyler Beaton

Beaton said he doesn’t want to see Canada divided by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “who says we should hate each other based in whether we’ve had a shot”.

He also said he is tired of vaccine mandates making people in his industry look like the bad guys.

“Every time I cross the (Confederation) Bridge I get treated like a villain; like I’m going to bring COVID to the Island," he said.

No support

The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association is not supporting the convoy.

“I think the message is getting a bit lost here with all of the commotion around the convoy," Jean-Marc Picard, executive director of the association, told SaltWire Network in a phone interview from his office in Dieppe, N.B., on Jan. 25. “It’s not even about trucking ... we support our industry, we support our drivers and we’ve been doing that since COVID (began)."

Picard said the association lobbied against the U.S.-Canada border mandate but got shot down by the federal government.

Picard calls the demonstration destructive, something that won’t be effective in the end.

“This is just not the right way to go about things. It’s evolved into something more than about trucking. That’s the way we see it."

Picard said he understands the frustration, but truckers should take to social media to air their grievances or talk to their MLAs.

He added that if members of the association want to participate that’s their choice, but there are more important issues at hand.

“Our members have customers and deliveries to do, and it’s busy and we’re in a driver crunch," Picard said. “We’ve got enough challenges to deal with in the supply chain, and this is certainly not one of them."

Did you know?

• There will be a send-off on the P.E.I. side of the Confederation Bridge between 6 and 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 27 with truckers heading for the protest in Ottawa this weekend.
• At the time that Laura Marie Braden spoke with SaltWire Network, she said about 50 drivers from this province had committed to making the trek to Canada’s capital.
• A GoFundMe campaign, to support the drivers taking part with food, fuel and lodging, had reached more than $4 million as of the afternoon of Jan. 25.

Dave Stewart is a reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island.

Twitter.com/Dve_Stewart

BORDEN-CARLETON, P.E.I. — By 7 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 27, dozens of cars had already gathered at Ceretti's Grocery and Hardware in Borden-Carleton, ready to drive across the Confederation Bridge to Aulac, N.B.

Several of these cars – as well as the trucks that would later arrive – would continue on to Ottawa and join what has become known online as the Freedom Convoy 2022. Others were there to escort the truckers across the bridge and support them in their protest of a new federal requirement that essential workers, including truckers, must be vaccinated to avoid a 14-day quarantine after crossing the U.S. border.

The rule went into place on Jan. 15.

“I was born in Ottawa, and the feeling inside most of us, I feel like, it’s hope,” she said. “The big feeling inside of you that drives you, that makes you want to be a part of, hopefully, changing the world, hoping to change Canada’s future.”

After living with the pandemic, restrictions and mandates for nearly two years, Barton said it is time for restrictions to lift and return to normal.

“We’re hoping that Trudeau will see that we’re coming together,” said Barton. “We’re hoping that the mandates will stop, the lockdowns will stop and that we can choose whether we want to be vaccinated or not.”

As the convoy of truckers and their supporters headed across the bridge at 8 a.m., hundreds of other supporters were in a parking lot on Borden Avenue near the bridge, some waving flags and signs, while others remained in their cars and lent their support through honking.

Caitlin Campbell, who was one of the people who showed up to watch the convoy set out at 8 a.m., said the protest in Ottawa was about more than the vaccine mandate.

“It’s (about) standing up for choices and freedoms,” she said. “I think it’s awesome to see this many people out today. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in Ottawa on Saturday.”

While Campbell is vaccinated, she said she would like to see an end to mandates and the vax pass; vaccination, in her opinion, should be a choice.

For Campbell, it was important for her to show up in person, rather than lend her support through social media.

“Anybody can follow on Facebook, but showing up is the only way change ever happens,” she said. “Looking back in history, nothing ever changes until people go against the grain, against the normal and take a stand.”

Jean-Marc Picard, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, told SaltWire Network in a previous interview that the association does not support the convoy. The association, he said, had previously argued against the border mandate. With the rule now in place, though, Picard said that the demonstration in Ottawa would prove to be ineffective.

He said he understood truckers’ frustrations but said that social media efforts and conversations with local MLAs would be a better way to go about making a change.

“This is just not the right way to go about things,” Picard previously told SaltWire Network. “It’s evolved into something more than about trucking. That’s the way we see it.”

If a member of the association wanted to participate in the weekend convoy, though, Picard acknowledged that it was their decision to make.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly noted the number of supporters at the Confederation Bridge.

Kristin Gardiner is a rural reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island.