People hoping to cross the border at Emerson are having to deal with a delay Monday morning.
Truckers tell 680 CJOB that a slow-roll protest is delaying trucking and other traffic as some truck drivers protest the vaccine mandate for all truckers that came into effect on Saturday.
Driver Jamie Throp says it took him 30 minutes to reach the border crossing from the start of the protest.
“Truck drivers are circling MB-75 between Emerson Duty Free and the Commercial Inspection station blocking all lanes heading south to the United States and Northbound traffic coming from the USA,” Throp said.
“How long the protest is going to continue for is unknown.”
In a video sent to Global News by Dawn Davey, trucks can be seen slowly driving on Hwy. 75 and horns are blasting.
Global News has reached out to the Canadian Border Services Agency for comment.
Requiring COVID-19 vaccines for truck drivers crossing the border into Canada is the “right thing to do,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said last week as a new vaccine mandate kicks into effect.
Unvaccinated foreign national truck drivers are no longer allowed to cross the border into Canada, while unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers still have a right of return, but must test and isolate for 14 days.
The U.S. will also tighten its border restrictions this coming Saturday.
At that point, Canadian truckers will be denied entry to the States unless they’re fully vaccinated.
“That has been known for many months, and truckers in very large numbers have chosen to be vaccinated. That’s the right thing to do, not only to protect themselves, obviously, but also to protect their businesses and the industry,” said Duclos in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson.
Federal health officials warned on Friday the country is facing an “intense” several weeks as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to surge across Canada, spiking case counts to record highs in many regions and prompting leaders to weigh further lockdowns.
— with files from Amanda Connelly
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