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Crowd gathers at North Portal border crossing to protest vaccine mandates for truckers, other issues By Ana Bykhovskaia Over 50 vehicles, cars, trucks and semis, and up to 100 people, gathered near the North Portal border crossing Saturday morning. On the day when the U.S. imposed a vaccine mandate on foreign travellers, including truck drivers, and a week after Canada implemented similar regulations requiring truck drivers to be fully vaccinated in order to enter the country, people who oppose the new rules came together to demonstrate their opposition and discuss their stance. Even though it was short notice and the weather was pretty typical for this time of year – cold and snowy – dozens of Canadians gathered on their side and were met by several Americans, supporting the protest on the other side of the border. Emily Gilles of Estevan opened by singing the Canadian and American national anthems, with those present singing along. Then, supervised by the American border agents, Jay Riedel of Roche Percee and American Doug Hysjulien exchanged flags as a sign of mutual support. Riedel then delivered a speech. “We all know what’s going to happen with these truckers that can’t cross the border. Omar Alghabra who is the truck minister in Canada, was saying that there is 120,000 truckers and only 10 per cent of them will not be crossing the border,” Riedel said, adding that the Canadian Trucking Alliance estimates that about 38,000 truck drivers could opt out of crossborder work because of the vaccine
Many people gathered by the border crossing at North Portal on Jan. 22 for a demonstration against vaccination mandates for truck drivers. Photo by Anastasiia Bykhovskaia mandate. “A little bit of everything here that’s going to be affected. We knew it was coming. And now the States are going to be the same way,” Riedel said. “How many people through the course of a day, a couple of days, are they (truck drivers) actually in contact with? Three to four at the most. (So how can we) justify that them needing to be jabbed is more important than getting food on our tables … This government’s overreach is beyond anything anybody has ever
Jay Riedel, left, and Doug Hysjulien exchanged American and Canadian flags across the border. Photo by Anastasiia Bykhovskaia
seen before. And they can’t justify any of it,” Riedel continued. Gilles, who grew up in North Portal, took the microphone next. “I am a U.S. citizen. I moved to north soil when I was eight, I became a Canadian citizen when I was 23. I was growing up here when the border was an easy place to cross. No ID was necessary. Not even a passport, surely not a dream of a vaccine passport. We would ride our little pedal bikes over to Portal, get a pop and a cheeseburger and visit our friends. We would cross the border for a dozen reasons every week,” Gilles shared. “We were enjoying our international golf course here on the 49th parallel, unique to all the world. We have community groups that were active on both sides of the border. But times have changed,” she said. She pointed out that during the gathering, a number of semi-trucks crossed the border. Also, Gillies was an officer at the Port of North Portal for 14 years, and at that time 200-400 trucks a day crossed the international border going into Canada, and as many were going into the U.S.. “That is a lot of men and women hauling all of our stuff in and out of the country,” Gilles noted. She also shared her reasons for quitting the job, which she knew she would do after Stephen Harper’s
government announced in 2006 that by 2016, they would arm all border officers. She addressed the CBSA officers questioning them about what their job is asking from them now. “Are you being asked to violate someone’s privacy by medical choice? If you follow this mandate towards commercial carriers, then you are. And is that who you believe you are as a person? Does that match your beliefs of yourself ? Probably not,” Gilles said. “I have a friend in the trucking industry, and he wrestled all fall whether to get the vaccine to pay his mortgage to keep his house, to support his 17-year-old son. No one should be in that position. My friend is a truck driver who, for the most part, is by himself in his truck. He’s not a danger to anyone. There’s been no link that truckers contributed to any spread of COVID as they travelled around our two countries,” she said. “Are you doing anything to stop this? You complaining to your superiors? Are you pointing out the legalities of what’s going on? Do you find other people in your office that might feel the same way and organize a walkout?” Gilles continued her address to CBSA officers, supported by A2 » SPEAKERS
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