Canadian-Trucker Protesters Accuse Cops of Blocking Cleaning Services, Letting Toilets Overflow

Ottawa — Canadian authorities in Ottawa are quietly taking new punitive measures against the trucker convoy that has settled around Parliament Hill to protest the country’s continuing pandemic restrictions. Last week, police began moving to cut off fuel supplies — which are crucial for heating the trucks that many of the protesters sleep in at night — and arrested a number of people who were caught transporting more gas into the convoy. More recently, however, numerous convoy participants and organizers said that law enforcement have blocked cleaning services from accessing the porta-potties inside the convoy.

“It’s psychological warfare on the truckers,” Gerry Wieler, a protester who was attending the event with his wife, told me. “They’re trying to just crush them.”

Since the government blocked cleaners from accessing the convoy, Wieler said, the toilets “have been unusable for two or three days.” I reached out to the Ottawa police for comment on the accusations but have not yet received a response. 

A brief glance inside the portable restrooms on Monday showed every one in the entire row overflowing with trash and human excrement:

The overflow has also led to urine flowing out into the street:

“They tried different methods to starve us out,” one trucker told me, pointing to the fuel restrictions and GoFundMe’s freeze of more than $4 million in donations to the convoy. The portable toilets had to be “physically dragged in — we brought all ten up here by hand,” said Jason LaFace, the head organizer for the Ontario convoy.

Still, LaFace’s spirits were high as he helped clear out the full porta-potties and loaded them onto the bed of a truck. “We’re getting all new ones today,” he said. In response to the government’s alleged blockade of toilet-cleaning services, some of the truckers had labeled the overflowing toilets as the offices of high-ranking Canadian politicians (pictured above). LaFace said they planned to “transfer those signs to the new ones.”

“[Ontario Premier] Doug Ford’s office is the best one,” LaFace joked. “Trudeau’s has been a disaster since the beginning.”

Trudeau’s government continues to ramp up efforts to dismantle the convoy. Today, Reuters reported that the Canadian prime minister is planning to invoke the 1988 Emergencies Act, a measure that has only been taken once in peacetime in the nation’s history. The invocation of the Act, which numerous province leaders have said they oppose, would allow “the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies,” Reuters wrote. “Under the act, Trudeau could impose special restrictions on public assembly and travel and mobilize federal support for local and provincial police.”