Canadian PM Trudeau, Family Shifted to Secret Location as Protests Flare Up Against Vaccine Mandate

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have been shifted to a secret location after a huge protests opposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates converged on Parliament Hill, media reports said. What started as a self-titled “Freedom Convoy” to oppose vaccinate mandates required to cross the US border snowballed into a large-scale as hundreds of truckers were joined by thousands of other protesters angered not only by Covid-19 restrictions but by broader discontent with the government.

The protest originated last week in western Canada, where dozens of truckers organized a convoy to drive from Vancouver to Ottawa to demonstrate against Covid-related restrictions, particularly a vaccination requirement for truck drivers.

Both Canada and the United States imposed that requirement in mid-January, affecting drivers who cross the 5,500-mile (9,000-kilometer) border — the world’s longest.

At a news conference on January 26, Trudeau said that nearly 90 per cent of truckers in Canada were vaccinated against Covid-19, and that “the small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa, or who are holding unacceptable views that they’re expressing, do not represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other, who know that following the science and stepping up to protect each other is the best way to continue to ensure our freedoms, our rights, our values as a country.”