'Cannot look the other way': Transport minister on hateful symbols at trucker protests

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says hateful images at the trucker convoy’s rally against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions can’t be ignored as Canadians reflect on the weekend that has brought thousands of protesters to Ottawa’s capital.

In an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday, Alghabra insisted that while not all those at the rally expressed hateful or racist views, those who did – carrying the Confederate flag or holding signs with swastikas drawn on them, for example – must be condemned.

“Some of the images and the voices that we heard come out of that protest were alarming. Canadians saw for themselves. We had swastika flags, we had the Confederate flag, we had voices that called for the overthrow of the government. Canadians saw for themselves that some voices are really disturbing and unacceptable,” he said.

“I understand that there are some people who are sympathetic to the protests for other reasons but we cannot look the other way.”

The "freedom convoy" was initially formed to protest the federal government’s vaccine mandate on truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border, implemented earlier this month. It has since snowballed into a movement for Canadians who are frustrated with public health restrictions and government overreach.

Some streets around Parliament Hill remain closed and Ottawa police say they are working to lift areas of gridlock for residents and businesses. The rally has largely remained non-violent, and police have said they have not made any arrests but plan to keep a heavy presence Sunday.

Police said that they while they faced a number of "high-risk situations" on Saturday, those circumstances were "de-escalated" without any arrests being made.

Alghabra said he was “shocked” to see some Conservative MPs “flirt” with more extreme sentiments of the convoy and specifically called out Edmonton-based MP Michael Cooper for conducting a media interview at the rally on Saturday while a swastika flew behind him in the distance.

“He should quickly and clearly distance himself and apologize once again for lending credence to some of the extreme voices that were present at the protest,” he said.

Cooper issued a statement following the incident, saying that he was not associated with the individual and had he known the symbol was there, he would have “condemned it completely.”

“Whoever flew this flag is personally responsible for that reprehensible decision and should be eternally ashamed of him or herself. He or she does not represent the thousands of peaceful protesters who waved Canadian flags and acted responsibly. I stand with them and will continue to fight for them,” the statement reads.

In a separate interview on CTV’s Question Period, Conservative strategist Jenni Byrne said that when a protest gets to the scale of the "freedom convoy," it will attract individuals with extremist points of view.

“For rallies across the country for years this has been an issue…When you get to rallies of this size you’re going to end up attracting people that don’t espouse to your view,s but there’s no correlation between the organizers of the rally or bad apples so to speak – what politicians were saying – and what the Conservative Party of Canada’s view is in terms of lockdowns or COVID policies,” she said.

Byrne added that she wants to see a clear delineation between those objecting vaccines all together and those who take issue with mandates.

“Everyone is being lumped in together… the frustration that Canadians have is that if you had said to Canadians last year in January of 2021 that we were going to be one of the most vaccinated countries in the entire world and we were, especially in our largest provinces of Ontario and Quebec, we were still going to be actually in the same lockdown...I think people would be as frustrated as what they are now,” she said.

“They’re watching countries around the world that are actually scrapping their vaccine mandates and also passports.”

Alghabra said that while the role of his government is to listen to all perspectives, the trucker vaccine mandate is done to protect the “health and safety of Canadians… the economy…truckers…and all those workers who work in our supply chains.”

With files from CTV News’ Christy Somos.