Formation | 2019 |
---|---|
Founder | Sandra and James Bauder |
Headquarters | Calgary |
Location |
|
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 [10] The MOU attracted 320,000 signatures before being withdrawn by the Canada Unity.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]
The COVID-19 protests in Canada are protests that began in April 2020, with protests in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa against the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent measures.
Christopher Saccoccia, widely referred to as Chris Sky, is a Canadian conspiracy theorist known for his involvement in the anti-mask, anti-lockdown, COVID-19 denial and anti-vaccine movements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saccoccia faces a number of legal issues and criminal charges including for allegations of uttering death threats against Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other public figures and for assault of a police officer, among others. Saccoccia ran for Mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election, placing ninth.
A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoys were joined by thousands of pedestrian protesters. Several offshoot protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.
COVID-19 vaccination mandates in Canada are the responsibility of provinces, territories, and municipalities, and in the case of federal public services and federally-regulated transportation industries, the federal government. COVID-19 vaccines are free in Canada through the public health care system. The federal government is responsible for procurement and distribution of the vaccines to provincial and territorial authorities; provincial and territorial governments are responsible for administering vaccinations to people in their respective jurisdictions. Mass vaccination efforts began across Canada on December 14, 2020. As the second vaccinations became more widely available in June 2021, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to offer a voluntary vaccine passport.
The French convoy protest le Convoi de la Liberté was a protest in Paris inspired by the Canadian convoy protests. They were protesting COVID-19 restrictions as well as president Emmanuel Macron.
The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events surrounding the Canada convoy protest, a series of protests and blockades in Canada in early 2022. The protest, which was called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, was "first aimed at a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers" when the convoy of hundreds of vehicles, including semi-trailers, headed towards Ottawa, Ontario the nation's capital, starting on January 22. The protesters quickly changed their messaging to include demands that all COVID-19-related public health restrictions be lifted.
Patrick James King is a Canadian far-right activist, and conspiracy theorist from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who lives near Red Deer, Alberta.
Tamara Lich is a Canadian activist who has organised for the Canada convoy protest in Ottawa, the Maverick Party, and Yellow Vest protests in Canada. She is a musician and a former logistics worker.
Benjamin Joseph Dichter was a leader in the 2022 Canadian convoy protest. He is a truck driver, author, and podcaster and a former gemologist, former print shop operator from Toronto, Canada. He is the founder of the LGBTQ conservative group LGBTory.
Brigitte Belton is a Canadian truck driver who started the Canada convoy protest.
Christopher John Barber, and usually known as Chris Barber, is a Canadian trucking company operator, and activist who co-led the Canadian convoy protest. He was arrested on February 17, 2022 and released on bail the next day. His courtroom defence had yet to be heard as of January 2024.
The United People of Canada is a Canadian not-for-profit organisation, based in London, Ontario.
James Ralph Bauder is a Albertan truck driver, the cofounder of Canada Unity and an organizer of the Canada convoy protest.
Tom Marazzo is a Canadian military veteran, former teacher, and leader in the 2022 Canadian convoy protest.
Daniel Bulford is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who became the head of security for the Canada convoy protest in 2022.
Margaret Hope Braun, usually Maggie Hope Braun, sometimes Maggie Braun, is a Canadian activist, who protested COVID-19 vaccine-mandates in 2022, and who was a Canadian Action Party federal candidate in 2011.
Jeremy Mitchell MacKenzie is a Canadian right-wing activist, military veteran, Plaid Army podcaster, the founder of far-right group Diagolon, and a Canada convoy protester.
In February 2022, four Canadian men were arrested on allegations that they conspired to kill Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers. The arrests occurred during the Canada convoy protest on the Coutts, Alberta, side of the Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing. According to police, the plot was part of a wider plan to alter "Canada's political, justice and medical systems."
The Public Order Emergency Commission, also known as the Rouleau inquiry or the Inquiry into Emergencies Act was a public inquiry in Canada that investigated the invoking of the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the Canada convoy protests. It was the first time the Emergencies Act had been invoked and it remained in place from February 14–23, 2022, the POEC investigated the rationale for invoking the Emergencies Act and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency". The inquiry was led by commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau, who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 25, 2022. Justice Rouleau had a surgical intervention which delayed the inquiry from September 19, 2022, to mid-October. The inquiry is independent of the parliamentary review committee.
The Freedom Convoy class action lawsuit is a class action lawsuit against various Canada convoy protestors.