Canadian trucker: We're not giving in until mandates are gone
Canadian trucker Mat Mackenzie on the freedom convoy gaining momentum in Ottawa.
Canadian trucker Mat Mackenzie said on Friday that the freedom convoy isn't going to stop until the Canadian government removes COVID vaccine mandates.
"They are not giving in and I got to say, we have a message to bring to all Canadians and the world watching that our freedoms matter," Mackenzie told Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino on "America’s Newsroom."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other liberal Canadian leaders have slammed the trucking "Freedom Convoy" as spreading "hateful rhetoric" and expressing "violence toward fellow citizens." But protesters on the ground say that’s not the case at all.
"I have not seen one negative flag here. No Nazi flags or anything like that," one woman protesting in Ottawa, who has been in the capital since Friday, told Fox News Digital.
"The truckers and supporters here have made an effort to say that we will call out any violence or hatred that we're seeing, and we'll report it to the police," the woman continued. "So we're all on the same page here. We don't want to see any violence. They didn't drive all this way to promote any violence or hate. They've come here to make a very peaceful statement that we would like to stop mandates and we're supporting free choice."
The Freedom Convoy of truckers left Vancouver for Ottawa on Jan. 23 to protest the federal government’s vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers and is calling for an end to coronavirus restrictions. The convoy reached Ottawa this weekend and police estimated between 5,000 to 18,000 people were on the streets Saturday. The number is estimated to have come down to the hundreds of protesters as of Wednesday.
OTTAWA, CANADA, Feb 1, 2022: A protester walk by trucks in front of the Parliament Hill as thousands of truck drivers and supporters protest against vaccine mandates. (Photo by Amru Salahuddien/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Mackenzie said that the freedom convoy wants to restore the freedom of choice.
"Specifically it is about removing the mandates. A lot of people think it has to do with the trucker mandate in terms of border crossing. But in fact, it is about restoring the freedom to all Canadians. It is the freedom of choice. So, no longer with restrictions with masks, leave it up to the people. Most of us are vaccinated, it is not an issue of vaccinations."
When asked about concern over alleged radical elements within the convoy, Mackenzie said that "bad actors" are not part of the movement.
"We have denounced any type of involvement with any of those groups."
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