Law students from the University of Ottawa are filing dispatches for JURIST on the “Freedom Convoy” protest in Canada’s capital that has paralyzed the city for over a week and has now spread elsewhere across the country. Here, 2L Brad Henderson reports.

On Sunday the Windsor Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police cleared the Freedom Convoy 2022 blockade at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario. They made more than 25 arrests and several vehicles were towed, yet some protesters remained in the area. This comes two days after an Ontario Superior Court judge granted an injunction prohibiting persons from impeding access to the bridge for 10 days, and two days after the Government of Ontario declared a state of emergency, which, once ratified by Cabinet, will establish fines of up to $100,000 and terms of imprisonment of up to one year for persons blocking critical infrastructure. It will also permit the Government to revoke personal or commercial licences for non-compliance with the orders.

Roughly $300 million worth of goods pass between the United States and Canada on the Ambassador Bridge each day. The blockade created significant supply chain issues on both sides of the border leading to concerns from the White House, temporary manufacturing plant closures in Canada, and renewed calls from some US politicians for more domestic—or made in America—production. These supply chain issues and calls for more domestic US production may have lasting effects on the Canadian economy.

While the Ambassador Bridge reopened just before midnight, it remains uncertain whether protestors will attempt to unlawfully block this critical economic artery again in coming days, especially if police presence subsides and while similar protests remain ongoing throughout Canada.

In Ottawa, law enforcement’s response to similar Convoy blockades has been much weaker. For 17 days now the downtown core has remained blocked by protestors and their vehicles, causing significant distress to residents and widespread business closures. The Rideau Centre shopping mall, for example, is closed for safety reasons—leading to several million dollars in lost economic activity each day. Employees that work in the Rideau Centre, and nearby small businesses and their employees, have been losing significant income.

In response to the ongoing occupation, the City of Ottawa is now petitioning the Ontario Superior Court for its own injunction for repeated violations of its by-laws. This comes days after Zexi Li, a 21-year-old downtown resident successfully petitioned the Ontario Superior Court—as part of a proposed class action lawsuit—to issue a 10-day injunction prohibiting members of the Convoy protests from using their vehicle horns in the downtown area.

Over the weekend, however, protestors’ vehicle horns could still be heard downtown Ottawa at all hours of the day, including at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday. Many police officers appeared unperturbed by these flagrant violations of the Court’s injunction. The Ottawa Police Service has cited protestors’ aggressive behaviour, including towards officers, as a reason for their lack of enforcement. However, their failure to enforce existing laws and court orders, as well as some officers’ seemingly friendly demeanour towards some protestors, has led to significant distrust between members of the community and local law enforcement agencies.

On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of community members took matters into their own hands and organized counter protests—some of which blocked additional vehicles from reaching the main Convoy protest downtown.

The Ottawa Police Service have announced a new joint OPS-OPP-RCMP command centre, yet it remains to be seen if such operations will take similar action in Ottawa, as they did at the Ambassador Bridge on Sunday, over the coming days. The longer these unlawful protests continue, the greater distrust they will foster between City of Ottawa residents and law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting their safety and well-being.