Dear Editor:
There is a lot to consider when deciding if Justice Paul Rouleau’s report was fair in its decision. The justice himself is a known Liberal Party supporter so that is a conflict of interest as this protest was very political in nature.
This was a necessary protest for those fired for not taking the vaccine. The truckers who would not take the vaccine were right to object to the vaccine mandate as they had been crossing the border with no issue for two years and mandates around the world were being removed when this border crossing rule came into effect.
The trucks in Ottawa were parked illegally but I saw video of Ottawa police guiding the trucks into place, so why would the truckers think they were doing anything wrong? I also saw a photo of an Ottawa police officer hugging a protester. Rouleau was right on the bad policing aspect of his report.
The honking was terrible and any neighbourly-minded person would not have made non-stop noise, especially at night. Rouleau was right about the protest leaders not doing enough about that.
By saying the government met the high standard to invoke the Emergencies Act for this protest in Ottawa, Rouleau puts all political protesters at risk of being so attacked by future governments. Using it once for this protest makes it easy to use again.
The borders were already open when Trudeau invoked the act so there was no longer any risk to the economy.
A concern for what might happen is not a reason to use unreasonable force. If we were to invoke the act for fear that there may be a war the act would be in effect all the time.
Invoking the act did get the police to finally remove the illegally parked trucks but if a protester was on a sidewalk they should have been allowed to continue their protest.
Why did Rouleau imply populism is bad? It may be bad in the minds of those in power but all it means is grass-roots democracy. If those in power abuse that power then the people need to reign them in.
I could go on and on but I have to conclude this protest and the resulting report are a mighty mess that would not have happened if our government had treated all citizens with logic and respect for their rights.
Jane Vandervliet,
Erin