On January 22nd a group of protesters began traveling across Canada to meet and rally in the nation’s capital city, Ottawa. The reason for the protest- vaccine mandates for truck drivers. What has been dubbed the “Freedom Convoy” began as new regulations were implemented for cross-border truck drivers from Canada and the United States to be fully vaccinated to enter their respective countries. If they are not vaccinated, they are being asked to follow strict testing and quarantine protocols.
Despite an estimated 80% vaccination rate among current Canadian truck drivers, the Freedom Convoy has quickly escalated into one of the largest protests in Canadian history. The Canadian Trucker Alliance, an industry leader, said “a great number of these protestors have no connection to the trucking industry and have a separate agenda beyond a disagreement over cross border vaccine requirements.”
The city of Ottawa declared a state of emergency on February 6th after protesters have used trucks to block traffic and continue to blare horns continuously throughout the day. Ottawa police have launched 60 criminal investigations, issued an estimated 100+ tickets, towed vehicles and made at least 20 arrests since February 4th. National monuments have been vandalized and businesses forced shutdown over security concerns. Some pockets of the crowd have been friendly and protesting lawfully, but police say others have intimidated and harassed locals. In addition, the Convoy has been consistent in other Canadian cities including Toronto, and Windsor, where Ambassador Bridge connects to Detroit, MI.
Officials say the protests have grown into tackling the entire government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as pandemic-related issues. Canada Unity, one of the organizers of the protests, said that they plan to submit a “memorandum of understanding” to the Senate and Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada, to compel them to drop the public health measures or dissolve the government — something that is beyond their constitutional powers. Trudeau wrote on Twitter that Canadians have the right to protest, “But let’s be clear: They don’t have the right to blockade our economy, or our democracy, or our fellow citizens’ daily lives,” he said. “It has to stop.”
Gaining momentum outside of Canada
The Freedom Convoy has attracted support from many U.S. Republicans including former President Donald Trump, who called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates” and urged the convoy to come to Washington to protest the United States’ public health measures.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, tweeted over the weekend that their states will investigate GoFundMe after they decided to freeze donations to the convoy’s organizers. The popular fundraising platform announced that all proceeds would be refunded since law enforcement reports of violence and other unlawful activity has surfaced. The fundraiser had reached C$10 million—around $7.9 million in US dollars – with C$1 million already distributed before the fundraiser was halted.
Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of Canada, tweeted saying “It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law.” He later said in a press conference, “We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference. … Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there.”
Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador under President Barack Obama tweeted, “under no circumstances should any group in the USA fund disruptive activities in Canada. Period. Full stop.”
It is likely that the Convoy’s reach on social media will continue to grow and there will be additional rallies outside of Canada. For example, on February 6th in Alaska more than 100 truck drivers gathered in Anchorage and rallied to show support for the Ottawa protesters according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Social media presence
According to Sprinklr, our social media analytics database, the Freedom Convoy has had an impressive 2.1 Million mentions across social media platforms and has reached 10.74 Billion feeds since its debut on January 22nd. The top hashtags for the protest include #freedomconvoy2022, #truckersforfreedom, #cdnpoli (Canadian Politics), and #Canada.
An ode to the peaking interest within the United States, the US leads mentions of the Freedom Convoy on social media with 66,000+ more mentions than those coming from accounts based in Canada. Sprinklr also revealed that the 1.26 Million mentions that shared additional content were likely to contain either a link, photo, or video.
Tweets from high profile advocates who oppose vaccine mandates including Elon Musk and Donald Trump have significantly impacted the increase in audience from a variety of different demographics across all channels from Twitter to Tik Tok.
The ongoing protest is likely to continue creating headlines in the coming weeks.
