Online self-reporting tool launched for those harassed by convoy protesters

The ongoing trucker’s protests across Canada may have started as a movement against vaccine mandates, but along the way, other causes have hitched their wagons to the convoy, including those aligned with racist ideologies and white supremacy.

Social media platforms have been flooded with reports of harassment from some protest participants, with many saying they were verbally abused, harassed or spat at.

The incidents were so widespread, the Ottawa police announced on Twitter that they would increase enforcement and charges related to “hate, harassment, assaults (including spitting,) intimidation and mischief” on Feb. 4.

However, an advocacy group for marginalized populations says not everyone can safely turn to the police for help.

“We know that if you are undocumented if you’re non-status, if you are even on a work permit, turning to the police could result in being criminalized or incarcerated. The same is true for people without homes, for people on the streets, the same is true for sex working people,” explained Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC). “So the option of turning to the police is simply not available.”

Reporting tool to document trucker convoy harassment

To provide a safe space for marginalized groups to report harassment at the hands of some trucker convoy participants, the MWAC has launched an online form to record incidents in detail.

“First and foremost, we wanted to create an avenue for people to be able to share their stories with us. We wanted to create a way for people who cannot or will not access police support to be able to at least document their experiences in this moment,” said Hussan.

The forms can be submitted anonymously, but also have a callback option for those who need further support.

“As we assess what’s going on, we will decide how to proceed in conversation with the people who’ve made reports … and we will work with them to identify what kind of supports they need,” said Hussan.

The tool was launched on Feb. 4 with the aim to use the issues raised in the reports received to call on political decision-makers to take action.

“It could look like a report, it could look like speaking to federal or provincial or municipal authorities, depending on where we hear the most number of incidents. So it remains to be seen — first we have to see what we hear and then we’ll decide what the next step is.”

Hijacked by hate

While some genuine reports have been received in the short time the tool has been live, Hussan says a majority of the messages coming through are hate-filled and abusive.

“It’s incredibly violent messages from trolls who propose to be on the side of this protest. So we’re needing to wade through that to find the actual incidents,” explained Hussan. “About 200 [so far] are racist, violent, abusive — the worst forms of bigotry you can imagine in text form,” he said.

Hussan says he’s not surprised by the kind of vitriol they’re seeing.

“What we’re seeing in our survey tool is what people are experiencing on the streets, not just during this moment, but what racialized communities, women, trans people and houseless people experience every day,” said Hussan.

He added that he believes the movement’s purported cause has long been lost in the fray that has ensued.

“It’s not even a question about vaccines or mandates. What it is is a broad permission for right-wing, ultra-conservative, fascist, populist elements that exist in the country,” he said.

Empowering marginalized groups

Hussan says the MWAC reporting tool is a stop-gap measure so marginalized groups can have their voices heard, but the underlying issues need to be addressed urgently.

He says changes to federal policies such as permanent immigration status for migrant workers and basic income for all, especially marginalized groups, would help people feel more secure. He added that many migrant workers are also truck drivers and “have some very valid concerns about wages and working conditions that are not being addressed.”

“It’s not about fixing policing or expanding policing, but it’s ensuring full and permanent immigration status for every migrant so that they have the power to protect themselves,” said Hussan. “We’ve consistently called on the federal government … to ensure that access to income support is available for every person, so that if you are not able to work — either because you’re sick or you’re not vaccinated — you are able to at least have income. People should not be losing income … based on some of these choices,” he said.

When it comes to the discussion about vaccines, Hussan says MWAC is fighting on both sides of the issue.

“Over the last year-and-a-half, we have simultaneously been demanding access to vaccines for undocumented people and migrants — when in most provinces they were excluded because they didn’t have a health card — as well as organized against coercion, particularly of farmworkers, whose employers have forced them to take the vaccines.”

Hussan says that the core issue is fundamental rights and equality for all, no matter what side of the vaccine debate one falls on.

“There’s been an absolute and utter abandonment of working people by the federal government, which has created the moment that we are in,” he said. “Injustice breeds division and that division utilizes things like racism — because what’s happening is people will turn on each other. You turn on your neighbour, you turn on the person who’s masked, rather than actually turning on who’s most responsible.”

In the absence of what Hussan considers the basic necessities to ensure equality, he says the MWAC is working to support people and encourage them to look out for each other.

“We would urge people to report via this and use this tool as much as possible to speak up and share and connect with others who are in a similar situation and to really call on people to take care of each other, right. We need to build a society where we can take care of each other because the police won’t, and the federal government is refusing to.”