Several protest trucks moving out of downtown Ottawa as PM invokes Emergencies Act

Convoy trucks seized by police returned to owners The Ford government revealed Thursday that the 12 vehicles involved in the convoy seized by police were returned to their owners.

The mayor of Ottawa said some progress is being made in efforts to reduce the size of the trucker convoy protests, with “several trucks” leaving the city’s downtown core as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with the demonstrations and blockades across Canada.

In speaking to reporters on Monday, Trudeau said the act is meant to provide more tools to local police to address the blockades, but will not be calling in the military for help.

“This is about keeping Canadians safe, protect people’s jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions,” Trudeau said during the address.

“We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue. The Emergencies Act will also allow the government to ensure that all essential services are rendered.”

The emergency measures will be “time limited” for the next 30 days and localized to the blockades that need the support.

“We are not preventing people from exercising their right to protest legally, we are reinforcing the principles, values and institutions that keep all Canadians free,” Trudeau said.

On top of the additional tools for police enforcement, the Emergencies Act is going right at the protesters’ wallets. The measure will require crowdfunding sites to report to FINTRAC and banks will be required to suspend accounts linked to protests.

“These groups are significantly funded by foreign entities,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told CTV News Channel’s Power Play.

“The money’s coming in from other countries and the tools that are currently available, FINTRAC is unable at this point in time to adequately track those suspicious transactions and where that money’s coming from. Through these measures, we’ll implement tools that our law enforcement and lawmakers need to do that job.”

Additionally, corporate licences of trucks involved in blockades will be frozen and insurance will be suspended.

Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen accused Trudeau of using these measures to further divide the country.

“We have seen the prime minister continually wedge, divide and stigmatize Canadians who he doesn’t agree with,” she said. “By doing so, he creates so many barriers in terms of trying to solve this problem.”

Meanwhile, Tarmara Lich, one of the principle organizers of the “Freedom Convoy,” said earlier on Monday that strengthened police involvement would not intimidate the protesters.

“There are no threats that will frighten us,” she told reporters. “We will hold the line.”

In speaking to reporters on Monday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that his province is not in favour of invoking the Emergencies Act.

“I am concerned that there’s a certain kind of person who will hear if the federal government proceeds with this, who will be further enflamed, and that could lead to a prolongation of some of these protests,” he said.

Protesters have remained encamped in Ottawa since late January, using trucks and personal vehicles to turn Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill into their main occupation zone. The prolonged event has deeply frustrated many Ottawa residents who have experienced incessant honking and harassment from some protesters.

In an effort to combat this, an Ontario judge granted an injunction to enforce noise and idling bylaws related to the ongoing anti-mandate protests on Monday. Lawyers for the city say the injunction is designed to give police and bylaw officers an extra tool to enforce city bylaws. The injunction does not have an end date.

The Ottawa Police Services Board is holding a special meeting on Tuesday morning to address the blockades.

Earlier on Monday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said protesters have begun moving "several trucks" out of the downtown core following his "backchannel" deal made with one of the organizers to decrease the size of part of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest that has snarled the city for weeks.

Watson said on Twitter Monday afternoon that convoy leaders have started to act on their commitment to move some vehicles from the residential district south of Wellington Street.

However, he noted that this is a "complex multi-day operation" and previously told CTV's Your Morning it could take up to 72 hours to clear the residential streets.

Watson outlined the proposal in a letter released Sunday as part of a "backchannel" deal aimed at ending the ongoing protest against all COVID-19 mandates, indicating he would be willing to meet with the organizers if protesters move out of residential streets.

The Attorney General's office intervened in the court hearing to make it clear that the injunction would also apply to federal property in Canada's capital city.

Despite the injunction, Watson says the city needs more resources as the police service does not have the "people power" to bring order to this size of a demonstration.

"I believe that this has gone on for too long," he said in an interview with CTV's Your Morning earlier Monday. "We've tried to be reasonable, but we do need the resources of the other two orders of government."

On Saturday, protesters hauled down a protective fence that surrounded the National War Memorial that had been in place since the first weekend after demonstrators urinated on it and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A tent has since been set up at the memorial by protesters.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency in the province on Friday, invoking new emergency measures to levy stiffer fines and penalties on protesters, including a maximum penalty of $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment for non-compliance.

In a press conference Monday, Ford announced the province is speeding up its reopening plan by easing restrictions on Feb. 17, with proof of vaccination requirements set to lift March 1. However, he said the change is not due to anti-mandate protests in Ottawa.

"Let me be very clear, we're moving in this direction because it's safe to do so," Ford said. "Today's announcement is not because of what's happening in Ottawa or Windsor, but despite it."

POLICE MAKE ARRESTS IN B.C., ALBERTA

Meanwhile, other blockades across Canada, and elsewhere, continue to grow.

In B.C., four people were arrested for mischief at the protest near the Pacific Highway Border Crossing in Surrey, B.C., and Mounties say they are in the process of gathering evidence against a number of others who allegedly assaulted officers.

In Alberta, RCMP issued a press release saying it recently became aware of a "small organized group" within the Coutts protest that had access to a cache firearms and ammunition.

According to the release, RCMP executed a search warrant Monday on three trailers associated with the criminal organization that resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals and the seizure of long guns, handguns, body armour, a machete and a "large quantity" of ammunition.

During an update on Monday afternoon, Alberta RCMP Supt. Roberta McKale said police have since seized two more firearms and arrested an additional person.

"We acted as soon as we could," McKale said. "These weapons were brought by people who had the intent on causing harm. If there are more to be found we will find them."

Officers are also investigating a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, McKale added.

During a news conference with organizers of the Ottawa convoy, Lich refused to answer whether any of the truckers in Ottawa had weapons in their trucks and abruptly ended the conference.

“As we know it, crime has gone down in this city since the truckers came,” said Brian Peckford, the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and chairman of the group “Taking Back our Freedoms.”

In addition, Alberta RCMP say a large farm tractor and a semi truck, both involved in the blockade, attempted to ram a police vehicle near the blockade on Sunday. Police have since seized the vehicles and are working to locate the suspects.

RCMP say investigators are speaking with organizers of a blockade near Emerson on Monday in an attempt to open up a lane of traffic to allow vehicles to cross the Manitoba-U. S. border on both sides.

Protesters have been allowing emergency vehicles, including police vehicles, as well as some agriculture transports to pass through the blockade. Police say there have been no arrests and no tickets have been issued.

On its website, the CBSA says the crossings in Coutts, Alta., and Emerson, Man., remain temporarily closed due to the blockades.

AMBASSADOR BRIDGE REOPENS

Traffic flowed normally over the recently reopened Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ont., and Detroit on Monday, while certain nearby intersections remained blocked to prevent demonstrators from returning to the foot of the bridge.

Windsor Police say they are keeping a close watch on those protesters who remain near the international border crossing.

"We continue to remind the public that enforcement is ongoing in the demonstration area and there will be zero tolerance for illegal activity," Windsor Police tweeted Monday morning. "The public should also continue to avoid the area."

Police moved in to clear demonstrators from the foot of the bridge, making more than two dozen arrests on Sunday, after it was blocked for nearly a week over protests against COVID-19 measures on the Canadian side.

With files from CTVNews.ca's Rachel Aiello, and The Canadian Press