By Enrico Trigoso
A group of over 10,000 Canadian truckers are leading Freedom Convoy, a protest against government mandates, and will be joined by hundreds or thousands of American truckers who support the cause.
After the Public Health Agency of Canada’s announcement that foreign truck drivers can only enter Canada if fully vaccinated starting Jan. 15, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announcing similar requirements starting Jan. 22 for non-U.S. national truckers crossing into the United States, thousands of truckers decided to protest and will meet in Ottawa in an attempt to stop the mandates.
U.S. truckers started joining the protesting efforts swiftly after the creators of Freedom Fighter Nation, Attorney Leigh Dundas and her paralegal and personal assistant Maureen Steele, heard the news and started organizing in the United States.
Truckers in west Canada started mobilizing on Jan 23.
As the record-breaking convoy passed through different cities, they were greeted with long rows of people cheering and holding Canadian flags, with some shooting off fireworks.
“The western convoy is on its way, and the east [convoy] is going to start tomorrow morning,” Martin Brodmann, vice president of Canada Unity and president of Truckers United Inc., told The Epoch Times on Jan. 26.
The convoys are planning to meet at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, the country’s capital. They plan to arrive on Jan. 29, park there, and peacefully demonstrate against the vaccine mandates, which have reportedly caused tens of thousands of truckers from both countries to walk off their jobs.
Truckers are not the only group that has preferred to lose their job over taking the big pharma shots. In October last year, The Epoch Times reported that large numbers of health care workers were forced to leave their jobs due to mandatory injections, causing health care worker shortages.
The convoy is led by different types of trucks but is also composed of regular vehicles.
“The convoy from the west is over 100 km (62 miles) long and has over 10,000 vehicles,” Brodmann said.
American truckers plan to rendezvous at 4 different points at the border with Canada.
“The citizenry is rising up, it’s citizens of the United States that have had enough, from all walks of life, every facet of the labor force are coming out,” Steele, a top organizer for the U.S. side of the protest, told The Epoch Times.
“It’s being led by the truckers. And our freedoms have always been won on the backs of the blue-collar boys, and they’re leading the way in this time, and if we win our freedoms back, again it’s gonna be on the back of the blue-collar workers.
“The truckers are leading the fight on this. I’m proud to be part of it, I’m proud to be spearheading this. I think it’s historical, I don’t think this has ever happened in the history of the world, that two neighboring countries put on a show like this to demonstrate to their leadership that they’ve had it with the tyranny in both of our countries.”
Grace Siloti of Montana is organizing the Sweetgrass, Montana rallying point. She told The Epoch Times that “people have had it. On both sides of the border. Everyone I talk to is ready to go, we just hope the weather allows us to get there! Our message is loud and clear. Hear this Biden and Trudeau, we will accept tyranny no more!”
Erik Baron works for a northern Michigan trucking company in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
“We do a lot of cross-border business. We are one of many companies in America and Canada being hurt by these unconstitutional vaccine mandates,” Baron told The Epoch Times. “We have lost several drivers due to this. Our efforts to the government fell on deaf ears. The economies on both sides of the border are suffering. It’s time for people on both sides of the border to stand up for our constitutional rights and freedoms. We will be proud to stand with our Canadian friends on Saturday to let the governments on both sides know enough is enough.
“Right now we’re trying to get the word out, to get as many patriots as possible to head to the border here in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday,” Baron said, “As for myself, [I’m] just like the rest, a hard-working American tired of the government overreach and our freedoms being taken away!”
American trucker Jeremy Johnson told The Epoch Times that he is “standing for freedom” and fighting “against over regulations in the industry.”
His group of truckers, The Disrespected Trucker, will meet in Fargo, North Dakota, and drive toward Pembina at the Canadian border.
“We will have however many trucks we can get to join us with signage that we will be flying, the American and the Canadian flags on our trucks,” Johnson said.
Marcella Picone is organizing the rally at Rainbow bridge in Niagra Falls, New York, on Jan. 29.
“We have Canadian and American binational families and citizens of both countries that are going to be walking in solidarity to the center of the bridge. On the Canadian side, we have a handful of guest speakers,” Picone said. “On the American side, we obviously have proud patriots standing united with our Canadian friends and family supporting the truck convoy that will be landing in Ottawa on the 29th through my group.’”
Picone has been organizing protests that condemned the separation of families at the northern border caused by the vaccine mandates.
John Sarina, a Condon, Montana resident, applauds the efforts of the United States and Canada joining in a moral show of force against governments on both sides of the northern border.
“We need unity and a mandate for freedom. This systematic trampling of our founding documents and liberty is no longer going to be tolerated.”
Sarina is hopeful Montana doubles the number of trucks committed to going to Maine.
“Big sky country needs big turnout!” Sarina said.
Read More From The PatriotAmerican
Amid reports that fundraising efforts on GoFundMe were being withheld, Steele told The Epoch Times that the funds were no longer being withheld on the afternoon of Jan 26. The fundraiser had reached $5.5 million Canadian dollars at the time of publishing.