A Canadian mayor said on Thursday police were prepared to physically remove anti-coronavirus mandate protesters who have blocked a vital U.S.-Canada trade route and forced U.S. automakers to reduce operations.
The closure of the Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings in North America and a supply route for Detroit’s carmakers, has U.S. and Canadian officials scrambling to find alternate trade routes to limit any economic damage.
Canadian truckers started the protests as a “Freedom Convoy” occupying the capital, Ottawa, opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers mirrored by the U.S. government. They began blocking the Ambassador Bridge on Monday and have since shut two smaller border crossings.
Canadian federal ministers have called the blockade illegal and asked protesters to return home. Police near the Ambassador Bridge have begun receiving additional manpower, Drew Dilkens, mayor of Windsor, Ontario, which borders Detroit, told CNN.
“(If) the protesters don’t leave, there will have to be a path forward. If that means physically removing them, that means physically removing them, and we’re prepared to do that,” Dilkens said.
Police in Ottawa are promising stricter action to end the protests that have occupied the main downtown street that runs in front of parliament, the Bank of Canada and the prime minister’s office.
With traffic at times shut in both directions, General Motors Co and Chrysler-parent Stellantis said on Thursday they had to cancel or reduce shifts because of parts shortages, tacking on to earlier cuts announced by Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp.
The Ambassador Bridge was completely shut down in both directions on Thursday at 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT), according to a Reuters witness.
DIVERTING CARGO
The protests have been causing gridlock in Ottawa for nearly two weeks. Similar protests have also erupted in Australia, New Zealand and France as the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus begins to ease in some places.
Asked about the protests, White House economic adviser Brian Deese told MSNBC that U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was “working in real time to divert cargo – that’s an imperfect solution – either by rail or by other bridges or by water”.
Deese said that while Washington supports legitimate, peaceful protests, “taking steps like this that do nothing but hurt the economy, hurt families who are just trying to make a living … really make no sense.”
More than two-thirds of the $511 billion in goods traded annually between Canada and the U.S. is transported by road. Protesters blocked a second crossing in Alberta province late on Tuesday, and a third crossing between Manitoba province and North Dakota on Thursday.
“There’s no question (Manitoba’s economy) is vulnerable,” Manitoba Chamber of Commerce CEO Chuck Davidson said of the crossing, an important conduit for piglets heading by truck to U.S. farms and U.S. animal feed moving north.
“It would be significant if there is any length of time that it’s shut down.”
(Reporting by Carlos Osorio in Windsor, Chris Gallagher and David Shepardson in Washington, Rod Nickel in Manitoba, Ismail Shakil in Bengarulu; writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Richard Chang, Mark Porter and Grant McCool)
VANCOUVER – Canadian pop icon Nelly Furtado has been named one of three headliners for the opening ceremony of the upcoming Invictus Games.
Furtado, from Victoria, will share the stage with alt-pop star Roxane Bruneau of Delson, Que., and American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan.
They’ll be part of the show that opens the multi-sport event in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., in February.
The Invictus Games sees wounded, injured, and sick military service members and Veterans compete in 11 disciplines.
The Vancouver Whistler 2025 Games will be the first of seven editions to feature winter adaptive sports, including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling.
British Columbia’s Lower Mainland will host the Invictus Games from Feb. 8-16.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – A tribal council representing 14 First Nations along the west coast of Vancouver Island is declaring a state of emergency over the opioid crisis, which is killing their members and leaving others with mental health struggles.
Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, says not enough is being done and the nations need help from governments and health authorities to devise their own solutions for fight what she calls a “war on trauma” in dealing with the colonial past.
Figures from the First Nations Health Authority show Indigenous people died from drug poisonings at more than six times the rate of other B.C. residents last year.
Sayers says First Nations need funding to support overwhelmed workers in their communities and to build detox and rehabilitation centres.
Chief Councillor Ken Watts of the Tseshaht First Nation says not enough is being done, and British Columbians should ask candidates running in this October’s provincial election, what they plan to do to help.
Sayers says a meeting was held with government and health officials to discuss the concerns and another meeting is being planned with the federal government.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
