'Very concerning': Professor worried about extremist views present during trucker protest

A truck convoy protesting vaccine mandates is proving to be a divisive flashpoint in the pandemic and there are concerns about some groups with extremist beliefs attaching themselves to it.

Kawser Ahmed, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg, said the truth has been taken out of a protest that began with a group of frustrated citizens against vaccine mandates.

“What I see is that the whole movement symbolically, it was hijacked by some of these fringe groups,” said Ahmed. “Those who kind of impose their own version of a protest into it and this is why I feel it’s very concerning.”

Ahmed said the vast majority of truckers who travel regularly across the U.S. border are already vaccinated and only about 10 per cent of those truckers are not.

There are three potential reasons for people with extremist views to latch on to a movement like this, according to Ahmed.

They include pandemic fatigue and the psychological toll ongoing restrictions have on people, individuals who simply oppose vaccines in general, and increased anti-government sentiment, along with the excitement of joining the protest.

Ahmed noted the whole movement should not be painted as an extremist expression of ideas, but the open use of extreme and right-wing symbols, desecration of monuments, views against Indigenous symbols and elements of homophobia raise red flags.

“As a researcher, I don’t understand why a lot of our regular, ordinary vaccinated people have joined this protest and expressed their frustrations,” said Ahmed. “That part is unsolvable.”