CTV News' Glen McGregor looks back on the Ottawa protests in special reporter's notebook

Canada Day in Ottawa is a familiar scene to CTV National News' Senior Political Correspondent Glen McGregor.

Born in Ottawa, McGregor has been to many Canada Day celebrations in the city throughout his life.

But this year, the air had a different feel to it, and not just because it was the first in-person Canada Day event since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The police presence was larger than normal. Not far from the main celebrations, protesters marched through the streets chanting "freedom" and calling for an end to public health restrictions, a remnant of the Freedom Convoy demonstrations that paralyzed the city earlier this year, and inspired similar movements across the country and around the world.

"It was a complicated story to cover because there were so many issues at play — chiefly, the government's role in enforcing public health measures, the right to protest weighed against the impact on the community and the economy, and the ability of police and government to respond," McGregor said.

His thoughts on Canada Day and the convoy protests that preceded it will air Monday night in the CTV News special "THE CONVOY: Reporter's Notebook by Glen McGregor."

McGregor's report goes back to the start of the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa in late January, a movement which seemingly started in opposition to the federal government's vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, but evolved into a protest against all COVID-19 restrictions.

Moving from the truck-filled streets of downtown Ottawa, McGregor tracks the efforts made to quell the protests -- from the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act for the first time in the country's history, to the subsequent police crackdown.

"It was also difficult to cover logistically because it was happening in multiple locations at the same time, in the intense cold," he said. "The animosity many of the protesters felt towards what they call the mainstream media also made it harder to report."

Now, with the convoy gone and some of its main organizers facing criminal charges, the question McGregor ponders is how significant of a political force this movement will be in the future.

"We don't know if the movement will peter out once the last COVID mandates are eventually rescinded, or whether it will continue on as the anti-government protest that it mushroomed into," McGregor said.

"The crowds that came out on Canada Day suggest it will sustain for some time."

You can watch the special on Monday starting at 10:30 p.m. ET, right after each airing of CTV National News on CTV News Channel. It will also start streaming on CRAVE the same night.

With files from CTV News