(Ottawa) They were preparing to reopen their businesses when the anti-sanitary measures demonstration took place in front of their storefronts. Almost two weeks later, the protesters are still there, not the customers, much to the dismay of businesses and restaurateurs in downtown Ottawa.
Posted at 10:23 a.m.
“This convoy is worse than COVID-19,” said Inaas Kiryakos, owner of the Milk clothing store, in the center of the Canadian federal capital, a few steps from Parliament Hill where the convoy of truckers has settled.
For several weeks, hundreds of trucks have occupied these streets to protest against the vaccination requirement for truckers crossing the Canada-US border.
But the movement has now spread to broader demands and protesters are refusing to leave until all health measures are lifted.
At the end of January, “we were really happy to see the restaurants reopen” and therefore “people coming back” to the center, after a month of closure due to confinement in Ontario, continues Mr. Kiryakos in the middle of his store which is teeming with jewelry fancy.
But nothing went as planned… “The arrival of the truckers finally extended the confinement, but much harder for us,” he explains.
Since January 29, the police have recommended avoiding the city center, streets are inaccessible to traffic and pedestrians are rare.
So most stores temporarily closed. Others have reduced their opening hours. A dozen stores interviewed by AFP estimated their losses at several thousand dollars a day.
Two blocks away, Ottawa’s largest mall has been closed for two weeks after being overrun by protesters, some of whom refused to wear masks.
In a statement, the group that owns the Cadillac Fairview venues said it was forced to close “due to public safety concerns related to the protests”, calling the situation “untenable”.
Irony
A little further on, the Paper Paper stationery has chosen to remain open, “but no one comes”, despairs Tom Charleboix, one of the employees, alone in the middle of the stalls of pens, postcards and colored gift wrap.
Federal employees in nearby offices have not come for weeks due to telecommuting and are now avoiding downtown.
“All of this is very ironic: the day when everything can reopen, in the end it is not really the case”, he slips, fatalistic.
“Blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable” and have “a negative impact on our businesses”, lamented the head of government Justin Trudeau before the deputies on Wednesday.
Some companies have asked that financial aid be allocated to stores and restaurants affected by this protest movement which does not weaken and seems to be at an impasse.
In the streets, some residents of the city are also enraged by the situation and worried about the businesses and the vitality of the capital, like Bobby Ramsay.
Alone in the middle of parked trucks, in front of parliament, he brandished his sign: “You are hurting the residents of Ottawa. Please go”.