'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
A so-called 'freedom convoy' of truckers and supporters is on its way to Ottawa, protesting the federal government's vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers.
But not everyone from the trucking industry is on board with the convoy's messaging, especially as the rhetoric heats up and the movement attracts support from fringe groups.
Dennis Levesque of London, Ont. has been a trucker for eight years. He calls the convoy "an embarrassment for the industry" and says the participants only represent a "tiny, tiny proportion of drivers."
"We're an industry that struggles with how we're represented in media and the perception of truck drivers to begin with," he told CTVNews.ca over the phone on Thursday. "I think something like this just reinforces the stereotypes that exist for truck drivers. It's not going to do anything to help us move the industry forward in a better direction."
Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, is also worried about the rhetoric coming out of the convoy. He believes the convoy has morphed beyond the original messaging as extremists seek to join themselves to the movement.
"Our organization's become very concerned about some of the rhetoric we've heard, hearing racist remarks comparing (the mandate) to Nazis and communism -- things that are not comparable to what's going on right now," he told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
As of Jan.15, federal government has required all truckers and other essential workers crossing the border to provide proof of vaccination to avoid strict quarantine requirements. The Biden administration is also requiring all non-Americans, including truckers, to be fully vaccinated in order to cross into the U.S.
Several trucking groups have also condemned the protests. The Canadian Trucking Alliance says nearly 85 per cent of drivers are fully vaccinated. Just before the convoy was about to kick off, the group said it "strongly disapproves of any protests on public roadways, highways, and bridges." The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association has also urged its drivers not to participate.
Millian says people and groups uninvolved with the trucking industry have "grabbed on" to the movement. He's also encouraging the drivers involved in the convoy to speak up against the escalating rhetoric.
"There's a lot of men and women out there who have worked hard throughout this entire pandemic to keep our shelves stocked are essential supplies where you need them, including some that will be in this convoy. But we're losing our message here if we're associated with this kind of language, and it's tarnishing the image of the entire industry," he said.
Levesque, on the other hand, says he's fully vaccinated and supports the mandates. He also notes that truckers are subject to other government mandates in Canada and the U.S., such as regular medical exams to make sure drivers are fit to operate a truck.
"The mandate is there to get people vaccinated to save lives. We know that people who are not vaccinated are more at risk of getting seriously sick," he said. "The industry is not new to government mandates. We have all sorts of government mandates and health requirements to begin with. This would just be another one."
This story has been corrected to reflect that Mike Millian spoke to CTV News Channel on Thursday, not Tuesday.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.