Western Canada: Protesters blockade Coutts border crossing in southern Alberta to oppose COVID-19 restrictions

Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.

The RCMP were unable to persuade a group of protesters, including truckers, who have blockaded a vital Canada-U.S. border crossing in southern Alberta, which Premier Jason Kenney has condemned as illegal and warned is hurting cross-border trade. Instead, the Mounties issued a warning.

A convoy of transport trucks and other vehicles travelled to the border crossing at Coutts, about a three-hour drive southeast of Calgary, over the weekend in solidarity with a larger group who went to Ottawa and caused gridlock in the national capital. While the protests have been cast as a response to a vaccine requirement for truckers coming into Canada from the U.S., the organizers have made it clear that their demands are for the end of all COVID-19 public health measures, including vaccine passports and mask mandates, across Canada.

The Mounties said they attempted to negotiate an end of the impasse, which has blocked traffic in both directions, but that the truckers refused to comply. Negotiations continued yesterday and the RCMP gave the protesters an ultimatum: leave or be arrested and have your vehicles impounded.

Officers did move in and prompt some drivers to leave the area, but others drove through a police barrier and set up at a second location. An RCMP spokesman said he didn’t know what would happen next as daylight fell.

Mr. Kenney told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that he supports the right to protest but not to break the law. He noted that his government passed a law in 2020 aimed at targeting blockades of highways and other infrastructure. The law was a response to railway blockades in opposition to a gas pipeline on Indigenous territory in B.C.

He said there had been assaults against RCMP officers and a police vehicle was rammed.

“This kind of conduct is totally unacceptable,” he said. “Without hesitation I condemn those actions, and I call for calm.”

He urged anyone who supports the protesters to stay away from the area and not inflame an already difficult situation.

The anti-blockade bill, the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, carries fines of up to $10,000 for first offences and up to six months in jail for anyone convicted of blocking infrastructure such as highways. It also prohibits anyone from aiding such a protest and imposes fines of up to $200,000 for corporations. Police have noted that protesters could also face criminal and traffic charges.

The bill was criticized when it was introduced for infringing on people’s right to protest, but Mr. Kenney argues the border blockade shows why it is needed. He warned of the economic toll if the blockade is allowed to continue.

The Coutts crossing is an important link with the United States and Alberta’s most significant port of entry. Highway 4 meets up with Interstate 15 highway in the U.S. Mr. Kenney said about $6-billion worth of goods are exported from Alberta into the United States a year, primarily through the Coutts border crossing into Sweetgrass, Montana.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said 132,073 trucks with loaded containers went through Sweetgrass in 2021, the highest since at least 1996. Nearly 33,000 trucks with empty containers crossed last year, too. The Canadian Meat Council noted that with Coutts closed, meat exports must be diverted to Emerson, Man., or Aldergrove, British Columbia.

About 250 people live in Coutts, which is now accessible by only a side road, but the protest has also affected life in the town.

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett has said the protest was isolating the village’s 250 residents.

Mail delivery had been stopped and some children were forced to stay home from school Monday because their bus could not get into the community. There were reports of residents not receiving at-home medical care.

The blockade also left truckers stranded in the U.S. Fewer than 60 people live in Sweetgrass.

With files from The Canadian Press

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.