Formation | 2019 |
---|---|
Founder | Sandra and James Bauder |
Headquarters | Calgary |
Location |
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Canada Unity is a group that campaigned against COVID-19 mask mandates and vaccine passports during the Canada convoy protest. [1]
Co-led by James Bauder, the group attempted to have the federal government of Canada brought down by the Governor General during the 2022 Canada Convoy Protest.
It planned to organize a second convoy protest in 2023, but cancelled its own plans due to security concerns.
The group was founded by Sandra [2] and James Bauder [3] of Calgary. [4]
The group's Facebook page was registered in late 2019. [5] By March 2021, the group's website had 30 members. [5]
The group had a low profile [6] until the January lead up to the Canada convoy protest, when the group organised protestor's movement to Ottawa [7] and published routes to the protest location on its website. [8] During the Canada convoy protest, the group tried to advance a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Governor General of Canada Mary Simon to bring down the federal government of Canada [9] and revoke COVID-19 public health measures, despite that being legally impossible for a governor general to do. [10] At the 2022 Emergencies Act Inquiry, protest leader Chris Barber said he did not like the undemocratic nature of the MOU. [10] The MOU attracted 320,000 signatures before being withdrawn by the Canada Unity. [10]
By 2022, all other convoy protest leaders had disassociated themselves from Canada Unity. [8]
The group planned a second convoy labeled "Freedom Convoy 2.0" [11] and also "World Unity Convoy" [12] of vehicles to Ottawa for February 17 to 21, 2023, but changed their plans in favour of Winnipeg in late December 2022. [11] In early January 2023 the second convoy plans were cancelled due to security related issues. [13]