Law students from the University of Ottawa are filing dispatches for JURIST on the “Freedom Convoy” protest in Canada’s capital that paralyzed the city for some three weeks. Here,  1L Mélanie Cantin reports. 

For residents and frequenters of downtown Ottawa, the Freedom Convoy’s departure is welcome news after a fourth straight weekend of protests. The incessant noise (even post-injunction), the harassment of healthcare workers, and the serious economic impacts the Convoy has had on the city and private businesses are finally coming to an end.

During a press conference Saturday afternoon at Ottawa’s Lord Elgin Hotel, Convoy spokesman Tom Marazzo confirmed that truckers were going to “peacefully withdraw from the streets of Ottawa.” While this does not necessarily mean that all protesters will leave Ottawa immediately, the imminent departure of those officially affiliated with the Freedom Convoy will likely prompt the steady petering-out of the movement’s presence in the nation’s capital.

So far, things are playing out as Marazzo said. Wellington Street (in front of Parliament) appears to have been cleared by police, as have Queen, Bay, Lyon, Metcalfe, and Kent. Kent is undergoing clean up due to garbage left behind in a now-torn down protester encampment.

“Today—24 days after this ordeal began—is the first day I have felt any semblance of peace since the Convoy upended my life,” said first-year University of Ottawa law student Elaine Tam, speaking to JURIST. “I just watched the final truck being towed out of my window’s line of sight around 3:30pm, and I cannot describe the relief that washed over me. […] I am left feeling utterly drained and exhausted. […] My faith in our political institutions, as well as my trust in our law enforcement mechanisms are now damaged beyond repair.” Tam lives a few streets from Parliament and is a member of the proposed class-action lawsuit initiated by public servant and fellow downtown resident Zexi Li and her lawyer Paul Champ. The private nuisance lawsuit seeks damages from Convoy organizers and unnamed truckers in relation to the excessive honking heard throughout the Ottawa occupation.

Despite apparent positive developments, Marazzo yesterday seemed confident in the “grassroots” power of the Convoy and its ability to reorganize. “This is one battle in a larger war for our freedoms,” he said. “This is not a white flag of surrender by any means at all. […] Time to regroup and re-evaluate what the next step is for us.”

I heard the same sentiment Saturday afternoon when I interviewed Convoy media representative Dagny Pawlak for JURIST. “I’d like to reassure people that the movement is not over,” she told me. “It is no shape or way dying. […] We are definitely nowhere near achieving our objectives and we will continue until those objectives have been reached.”

When pressed for more specifics on what the next steps might be for the movement, Pawlak said that many truckers were retreating to “the outskirts and outside of Ottawa” to re-evaluate their strategies and be in a place “where they cannot be met with police brutality.” She refused to give details on the whereabouts of these gatherings, but large groups of trucks bearing Canadian flags and various signs were spotted yesterday and today in Vankleek Hill and Arnprior. Rumors of protesters heading to a known Convoy “base camp” in Embrun were also floating around social media Sunday afternoon.

Pawlak confirmed that the Convoy was also waiting to hear more on the bail conditions of its organizers, who were arrested by police in the last few days. Key organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich were arrested on February 17th, while fellow organizer BJ Dichter allegedly left the city that same day. Barber was granted bail the next day, February 18th. Lich had a bail hearing Saturday and Justice Julie Bourgeois is expected to make a decision on bail for her this Tuesday, meaning Lich currently remains in custody.

Notorious far-right and white supremacist figure Patrick King was arrested on February 18th and is also currently awaiting bail. His hearing has been set for Tuesday. King was a key player in the United We Roll convoy and made headlines in December 2021 when he claimed in a discussion about COVID-19 restrictions that “the only way this is going to be solved is with bullets.” He has since been linked by various media outlets to the Convoy movement and is named as one of its organizers in Li’s class-action lawsuit. When I mentioned King in my interview with Pawlak, she categorically denied that the Freedom Convoy had any involvement with him. “Pat King is an entirely separate entity in and of himself,” she affirmed. “He is not part of the organizers. He is not represented by our legal counsel. Pat King speaks for himself, not for the Freedom Convoy. […] I can assure you that Pat King is not affiliated with the Freedom Convoy’s overall message.”

At this time, some protesters remain downtown, but police appear to have removed the last of the vehicles blocking main downtown roads. 191 arrests have been made. Police also gave protesters a notice with a 4:30pm deadline today to clear out of the Coventry Road protester encampment, stating at 4:55pm that an operation is underway “to ensure the area is vacated.”

Watch JURIST Ottawa Staff Correspondent Mélanie Cantin’s full interview with Convoy media spokesperson Dagny Pawlak: