Canadians ‘Dissatisfied’ With Feds’ Treatment of Freedom Convoy: Internal Federal Poll

Police face off with demonstrators participating in a protest organized by truck drivers opposing vaccine mandates on Wellington St in Ottawa on Feb. 19, 2022. Getty Images/Alex Kent

Many Canadians say they are unhappy with the police response to the Freedom Convoy in February, according to an internal survey conducted for the federal government. Even those who opposed the protest said the freezing of bank accounts would never have been necessary if “more had been done” to engage with protestors.

“Participants were generally dissatisfied with the response of the Government of Canada,” said a Privy Council Office report, titled “Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views.”

“It was thought the perceived lack of engagement by the federal government with the protesters only served to intensify these demonstrations.”

The report, first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, was based on findings drawn from focus groups held nationwide from March 3 to 28. The Privy Council Office commissioned the survey as part of a series of reports under a $2.4 million annual contract with The Strategic Counsel.

The Freedom Convoy, which began on Jan. 29 and ended on Feb. 20, started out as a demonstration in Ottawa by truckers opposing federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border travel. It grew exponentially when supporters from across the country joined in to call for an end to all pandemic-related mandates.

‘Significant Overreach’

On Feb. 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the protest, granting police “more tools” to quash the demonstration. He said at the time the measures were about “keeping Canadians safe” from the “illegal and dangerous activities” he said were occurring at the protests.

Convoy organizers maintained their protest was peaceful, and that they had not engaged in any illegal activity, but rather were seeking to uphold their charter rights and freedoms. Under the emergency measures, a total of 230 supporters were arrested, and 119 were charged with Criminal Code offences, typically mischief.

“Among those who were more supportive of the protests it was felt use of the Act represented significant overreach by the federal government,” said the report by the Privy Council Office.

The researchers noted that many Canadians opposed to the Freedom Convoy also felt the use of the Emergencies Act was unnecessary.

“Several of those who felt the Act should not have been invoked were also primarily opposed to the protests and felt the Act would not have been necessary in the first place if more had been done at all levels of government to quell the protests in their initial days,” said the report.

Trudeau had refused to meet with the convoy organizers, or send representatives to meet with them, during the three-week-long protest in Ottawa.

The Liberal government also enacted the Emergency Economic Measures Order on Feb. 15, giving RCMP powers to freeze the financial accounts of convoy sympathizers who donated to the cause, resulting in a total of $7.8 million frozen from 257 bank and credit union accounts, and 170 bitcoin wallets, as of Feb. 23.

‘Grassroots Movement’

The report said the number of respondents who spoke positively about the protest versus those who were against it was about the same, with several others who felt unsure.

“Among those in favour of the protests, it was generally thought the gatherings had been mostly peaceful and that protesters had been unfairly treated by law enforcement and public officials,” the researchers wrote.

“In addition, several participants believed coverage of these protests in media had been almost entirely one-sided and portrayed the demonstrations in a disproportionately negative light.”

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on Feb. 16 told reporters that “at the core of the movement is anger, animosity and in far too many cases violence.”

Findings from the report say convoy supporters saw the protest as a “grassroots movement.”

“[Supporters] expressed feeling encouraged and uplifted by what they felt to be a primarily grassroots movement of people coming together from across Canada to protest what they felt to be unfair and unnecessary public health requirements.”