In this episode, we speak with Nick Friesen, a 20 year cross-border trucker, and Abe Martins, an 8 year cross border trucker and one of the participants at the Coutts border.
00:12:14.020We're sitting in a truck right now that's probably about 30 feet away from the access to Coutts
00:12:19.500and looking at it right now, it's fully open to even super large wide vehicles.
00:12:26.720uh from leaving coots and they can go straight to the to the border like like we said we're
00:12:32.640we're not so close to the border that we're actually blocking the border we're just blocking
00:12:36.440the entrance to and from everyone here at coots can actually cross the border into the u.s if they
00:12:42.180want because we're our con where our blockage is far enough back that we that every single one
00:12:47.920that lives here in coots can actually cross and i went i went through town yesterday and i seen
00:12:52.100where the fire department was and they have total access to the border to get through if they want
00:12:56.400so that's just not right. Okay and just double checking, we had the video that you sent and it
00:13:06.400was with regard to a medical emergency that happened with one of the truckers. Can you speak
00:13:11.680a little bit about that because I know that the transportation minister had put out a tweet today
00:13:17.360this morning citing how emergency incidents were not able to be attended or something to that effect
00:13:24.880or medical emergencies can you speak to what happened that you know of uh so you're referring
00:13:30.640to the ambulance that came through uh i believe so i believe that there was a medical emergency
00:13:35.920for one of the truckers is what um what i've heard and yeah so so yeah if you can give me a
00:13:43.440little bit of of an idea what happened there yeah so actually i was uh i was at the hotel right as
00:13:50.720the ambulance showed up and when was this pardon when when did this happen was this yesterday this
00:13:56.560was last night if you give me one second here i can tell you what time as well sure it was about
00:14:02.0806 p.m yesterday about 6 p.m an ambulance showed up uh no sirens on just lights uh moseying on
00:14:09.840through no it looked like they were in no rush they had a full two-lane road they were coming
00:14:14.400in on and uh they showed up and they went to a a trucker that was uh stuck in traffic there
00:14:20.080they went to his aid and um they parked there so we we uh we just went to witness and uh uh just
00:14:28.520to videotape just to make sure that things weren't you know just to make sure everything was okay
00:14:32.900and um the guy the the person that went into the ambulance he he walked in himself he was in there
00:14:40.840for in what i remember a max of two or three minutes he walked out everything was fine
00:14:47.320uh and he was good i think the ambulance was out of there within five maybe ten minutes and they
00:14:54.340just slowly drove off they had no issue getting here um a friend of mine actually called me about
00:14:59.300an hour before that already and uh saying that by the milk river um blockade there where the police
00:15:05.920were there was an ambulance getting through there no lights on or nothing but he was just getting
00:15:09.600through there uh and then they he was actually seen uh probably about on the gravel road uh
00:15:16.400bypass to coots uh speaking with a couple of officers for 10 or 15 minutes before he came to
00:15:22.640before the ambulance came to coots to to aid this guy okay so you sent me the video for that and i
00:15:29.280believe that we have it here uh we can we can roll that just to show sort of the um the scenario that
00:15:36.160was unfolding so just so everybody knows that ems vehicle has been parked beside the undercover
00:15:49.040black vehicle inside of milk river not beside this one that's parked beside right now but another
00:15:55.520unmarked vehicle sitting and visiting with chris and with mark and so we're very skeptical about
00:16:03.360this whole emergency that's going on here we were told that there was an emergency
00:16:06.960so coming in here we sat and visited we've had at least 10 to 15 minutes with these undercover
00:16:16.160and then all of a sudden the lights went on and they decided to come in here and i hope that they
00:16:20.560don't make a media spin on this but that's the feelings that we're getting so there's lots of
00:16:26.000access that guy walking there behind that suburban as well he's the one that was in distress and
00:16:31.200he's walking around no problem and just so you know we have given them lots of room to be able
00:16:37.200to get through and we're just making sure that the media doesn't make a spin on this
00:16:42.560and as you can see you can back up no problem lots of room lots of room there's access right
00:16:48.640into milk river these trucks can all get out at any time this intersection show that intersection
00:16:56.560right guys that intersection right there is wide open they can get out without any issues
00:17:01.840so right from where he's backing out out along that street
00:17:07.600we just have to be clear about the video right so yeah so i think what what the main takeaway there
00:17:16.880is that um there is no there is no blockade for the emergency vehicles if if there is an emergency
00:17:25.440situation if there's a fire there is access um there is the the lanes um that are that are open
00:17:32.400and able to allow these buses and the emergency vehicles through correct absolutely the ambulance
00:17:39.200has been here the whole time that we've been here they're actually driving around cruising around
00:17:42.960here with amongst us and everything else so and yeah they have total access to to the town here
00:17:48.880and to where we're at and to all the truckers there and stuff so yeah that picture right there
00:17:53.200I mean, it's kind of hard to see, but in between there at the blockage there, there's a pathway through people standing around, but they're letting everybody through.
00:18:00.640Plus, we still have the gravel road that's on the northwest side of the highway and north of Coutts.
00:18:07.820That's totally been open the whole time.
00:18:14.160Yeah, I think it's the 500 or something.
00:18:17.440Now, sorry, what do you mean by the 500?
00:18:20.140I think that's what the road is called, but it's a gravel road.
00:18:23.200Okay, so what you're saying is there is other access roads into Coutts that are still completely accessible and the blockade and the truckers have nothing to do with trying to block those off?
00:18:35.720Nope. So, yeah, as far as we know, I think it was yesterday night as well, right after the ambulance incident, they were actually letting, I think they let five or six trucks go, the police, let them, they just backed them up, guided them, backing up and got them on that gravel road and they went into Canada.
00:18:53.200So when you say that the border is blockaded or blocked off, but yet there is still the ability for, say, fire trucks to get through to service sweetgrass, what is the border blocked from?
00:24:38.900I mean, I don't think the sentiment's really changed.
00:24:41.380I think it's I think it's the fake news global and CTV that are actually, you know, sending out bad, bad information.
00:24:47.980And it's starting to make us look bad here. But the sentiment out here hasn't really changed.
00:24:52.060Our C&P guys are still very happy the way we're doing things. We haven't changed the way we're doing things.
00:24:56.120We're just peacefully doing our thing. We're holding our line. So I don't know.
00:25:00.760So I don't know what else to say to that. But yeah, well, what what I've also noticed, sorry,
00:25:08.040I'm just getting to some comments that we're getting from some viewers that are watching us
00:25:14.840live. Just to let me find those comments here. Sorry. And so I think what I've noticed as well
00:25:23.720is I have been in communication with the organizers, or sorry, not the organizers,
00:25:32.040but the RCMP who are on site there and was told, you know, as long as the organizers and the
00:25:39.240truckers are doing what we are asking them to do and complying with the rules and making sure that,
00:25:45.480you know, emergency vehicles can get back and forth and that, you know, nobody is put in a
00:25:51.560position of danger, you know, with the idea of a medical emergency or a fire or things like that,
00:25:56.840that the RCMP were sort of content to just let this continue as long as everything stays peaceful
00:26:07.080and safe. But the conversations I've had today sound a bit different. They sound like what I'm
00:26:17.160hearing is that the organizers and truckers have not been complying, have not been following the
00:26:25.320recommendations that they are and I don't know if this if this pertains
00:26:29.700strictly to where you are blockading things or the fact that things are being
00:26:35.100stopped at the border I'm just not sure no absolutely not there has been as far
00:26:42.720as I know zero disagreements even with with police obviously they don't want us
00:26:46.920to do what we're doing but there have been zero threats verbal or written
00:26:52.140bitten whatsoever because we have been unbelievably peaceful uh if there's even troublemakers spinning
00:26:59.020their tires the slightest little bit we've got a group of 10 people ganging up and saying hey guys
00:27:03.800this is not what we're here for just to keep holding holding each other accountable we're not
00:27:08.400here to do any damage we're not violent whatsoever will not be will never be um this is the only thing
00:27:16.720we can do we we work with them they have a they have a a job to do the police um and i would say
00:27:23.520i i guess i can't really say but uh they're in support of this like the majority of these people
00:27:29.520i don't think they want to do anything i think they want us they haven't said this so don't
00:27:34.140take words out of my mouth but i think they want us to be doing this because they want us to stand
00:27:38.840up for their kids futures as well and they have a job to do and they have a family to feed and so
00:27:44.420they have to take their orders and they have to do as they're told and we understand that no matter
00:27:48.720what happens here we understand that we we don't hate the police we love the police we we wouldn't
00:27:52.900be here without them okay uh just wanting to get to some of these chats okay um
00:28:03.120so yeah there's a lot of comments here from uh viewers talking about uh people please stop
00:28:12.260listening to the mainstream media. There has been a lot of, you know, comments here about the fact
00:28:19.440that mainstream media has been communicating misinformation and sort of embellishing the
00:28:26.900stories negatively. That comment came from Shelley. And a lot of comments here are also encouraging
00:28:34.000you to stand your ground and saying that they're proud of you. And even people making comments
00:28:41.900that the police are sort of in a tough position and they're of course trying to do their jobs and
00:28:49.980do what they're being told. But I suspect that now because of the sound of the issues being raised
00:29:02.220or being communicated with the idea that emergency vehicles, there's no emergency access,
00:29:09.820things are blocked off um people are unsafe uh their hands are being forced to bring out more
00:29:16.700force yeah so and again we're more than willing to work with them if there's a blind spot that
00:29:24.460we're missing we're more than willing and we will have there will there's not a single person here
00:29:29.180as far as we know that we've talked to and we've talked to hundreds uh that is non-compliant in the
00:29:35.260the sense that they want anybody to be harmed uh anybody to go hungry uh anybody to be in danger
00:29:41.060whatsoever so if that is the case uh we're more than willing to move but as again again if that
00:29:46.760is not the case we haven't had that we haven't had officers ask us in a couple of days to move
00:29:51.680uh in order to make room for emergency vehicles because we do have the access and they told us
00:29:57.240they told us that right beginning right in the beginning when we moved into position here
00:30:01.080that we needed an access lane and emergency lane and we had that actually planned before we even
00:30:06.000showed up here we had that planned a week ago already because we had everything down pat how
00:30:09.360we're going to do things and uh so since we got got parked here nothing has changed and the rcmp
00:30:16.740been around here and if we would have been in a position where we needed to change something they
00:30:20.360would have told us about it we would have moved um to to keep the peace and to to keep order right
00:30:26.040but they they've been 100 okay with what we've been not doing up till now and even up to this
00:30:30.760morning nothing has changed except for now we've actually let the northbound guys that were stuck
00:30:35.740here they've actually all taken off but we're still keeping the border closed and and all the
00:30:40.820guys stuck between the canadian border and our blockade had a total access to get out of the out
00:30:47.180of their spot if they would have communicated with each other the truckers there they could have
00:30:50.800moved around and they could have all left if they would have wanted to but we were told yesterday we
00:30:55.060had some guys that walked up and down the road and there was a up and down the line there and there
00:31:00.160was like 70 truckers all together and 70 truckers that were part of the part of the protest or 70
00:31:06.900truckers that were just trying to get through yeah the ones that came through that were kind of
00:31:11.820kind of stuck there and only about 10 or 12 of them actually wanted to really leave everybody
00:31:16.480else was right right right on board with us and stuff they were totally in support and and we let
00:31:22.080those uh those they were let out this morning uh those ones that did want to leave they were let
00:31:27.180out and uh same with the southbound traffic heading towards the state the states there was
00:31:33.040a couple of truckers that wanted to leave and they were they were escorted out as well today
00:31:37.940like we're so anyone who is stuck on either side although i know you said you can't really speak to
00:31:43.920the american side of things but anyone stuck on the alberta side of the border if they want out
00:31:50.320if they're stuck and they want out um you are working to find them an exit and to get them out
00:31:57.200absolutely okay so nobody's stuck there starving with no water um no we have we have a bunch of
00:32:05.780truckers here that are actually southbound like they're looking to get across the border into the
00:32:09.840u.s and they've been here since saturday and we've told them you can turn around like we've had a
00:32:14.860bunch of guys turn around and go to milk river where there's restaurants and everything else
00:32:17.760but they're staying here they love being part of our groups here that we were having together when
00:32:22.360we're having our meals and stuff like that and and and yeah so total support and and yeah very
00:32:27.440little opposition no matter what the mainstream media says even even the truckers that were let
00:32:33.480go today uh let go that sorry that sounds bad but um the ones that went by they were encouraging us
00:32:41.140majority of them were encouraging us guys don't don't leave stand your ground thank you so much
00:32:46.080for what you're doing and they've been stuck here since saturday and they were thanking us for what
00:32:50.320we're doing okay it's not we're not a fringe minority let's just say now now i'm seeing there
00:32:55.840are some comments here um uh charman jones uh mentions that rcmp are blocking travel south at
00:33:05.120milk river uh it sounds like and and so this was um something else that we had heard we had heard
00:33:11.360that rcmp or or the authorities were were ramping up tow trucks um to come and to the blockade so
00:33:20.880have you witnessed the tow trucks are there tow trucks lined up um i i think with the intention
00:33:26.800of trying to haul away uh vehicles that are participating in the blockade uh intimidation
00:33:35.200i believe but yeah they are around they're they're not here yet but okay so now i spoke with
00:33:42.400um i spoke with a tow company out of tabor uh who said that um the fellow that i spoke with said that
00:33:50.800he had been um at the uh blockade over the weekend uh and also said that he has heard uh rcmp or or
00:34:00.880authorities or somebody has been phoning around to local tow trucking companies in and around the
00:34:08.160area to help bring tow trucks into the area to help tow away people participating in the blockade,
00:34:17.520but from what I've heard, they're refusing to. Can you speak to that a little bit? I mean,
00:34:23.280I have to assume that from what I was told from the one in Tabor, they just don't want to
00:34:30.880They don't want to have to participate in this, but they also are in support of what the truckers are doing.
00:34:39.480Yeah, some of these tow truck companies, they have a government contract.
00:34:43.340So that requires them, if the government calls, that they have to come and do their thing.
00:34:48.520But we've had guys that are talking to them, guys, and they're really, really hoping that we're just going to block them up so they can't even do their work.
00:34:54.840Because they're in support of this, but because of their contract, they have to do what they're supposed to do, right?
00:34:59.800so and there it's not something that we're not aware of and prepared for either for them to show0.81
00:35:06.160up so we'll just leave that back okay um and so i was speaking with the coots uh mayor very very
00:35:14.720quickly uh i'm sorry i'm just uh i'm trying to grab his name um jim willett i was speaking with
00:35:24.440the mayor very quickly uh he had he had returned my call just before we went live with you uh now
00:35:29.720uh i'm seeing somebody here is is saying is it possible that elected officials from coots can
00:35:34.940speak to the issue this is from linda uh so yes we i have spoken with the mayor very briefly
00:35:40.820uh he said uh basically he feels like he's at the bottom of the information chain so he's trying to
00:35:48.560get an update of where things are at right now but um according to him he said protesters can stay
00:35:53.680as long as they would like, but he would like the blockade, anything blocking travel to be lifted.
00:36:01.480So that was what the mayor explained to me, the mayor of Cootes explained to me just before
00:36:07.740we went live here. So yeah, I think what I've noticed is there's just been a real shift
00:36:17.860in the information from it being considered quite peaceful protest to now it's sounding like there
00:36:26.360are reasons why the RCMP would have to sort of mount some sort of a response. And I just think
00:36:33.760it's important that people know exactly what's happening. So would you two both say that you
00:36:40.520have the the group there the um the organizers there everyone has um done what they can to
00:36:48.520adhere to all of the requests that have been made of you absolutely beside but besides uh you know
00:36:55.200opening the border up right i mean everything else we've done peacefully we've done according
00:36:59.540to what we were supposed to do and when it comes to the mayor here we we knew a week before we even0.90
00:37:05.220show it up that he was against what we were going to do and uh but the community of coots i mean
00:37:11.420there's just a lot of people they just tell us just ignore the mayor because he's he's biased
00:37:15.460he doesn't like us anyway he doesn't like any of this kind of stuff so um so yeah i don't know i
00:37:22.940just uh i'm baffled to where the situation has changed i know the cops have to show up i don't
00:37:28.080know what they're going to be doing here in the next day or two i know we're blocking the border
00:37:31.380I know it's illegal, but we had to make a stand.
00:37:34.980So the cops are down here in force today,
00:37:37.700and we don't know exactly what they're doing or what they are going to do,
00:37:42.540but they are going to intimidate us, I'm pretty sure of it.
00:37:45.480They're going to try to get us to leave without, you know, any other force,
00:37:49.020but we'll see how the day progresses and see what happens.
00:37:51.920But really, for the rest, I just don't understand where this information is coming from,
00:37:57.980where things have changed here, because really nothing has changed from Saturday.
00:38:01.380Mm-hmm. Well, and I think part of it, again, is a lot of people, again, just reading these comments, a lot of people are speaking to what's being reported in other mainstream media outlets.
00:38:12.740Well, that's a problem, right? I mean, you get global and TV news nowadays. I mean, they're so biased. They're so fake.
00:38:19.380Have you seen any of them? Have you seen any reporters down there?
00:38:22.860Oh, yeah. We were, we tried, like I said, again, picks where it didn't happen is what the kids say.
00:38:27.740and so we've been following them around everywhere they stick their uh video camera everything they
00:38:32.740do we follow them around and we get it on video as well so and uh if anybody doesn't like don't
00:38:38.660believe anything until you actually see it for yourself um on video uh or in person come out
00:38:44.020here i dare like just i i encourage people to come out here yeah let's get jason kenny out here
00:38:49.020to come take a look at how this is actually going there won't be a single single issue
00:38:53.360i mean justin trudeau could come out here and he would be welcomed and people would want to
00:38:58.860have a conversation there's zero zero attitude of uh hatred or violence here it's it's it's a big
00:39:05.800party uh people are having a great time this picture that keeps coming up where the where
00:39:10.460we got the rows of the trucks and there's campers and stuff in the ditch and stuff like that
00:39:14.020i mean i think that picture was taken either early in the morning or late in the evening
00:39:17.720because yesterday sunday that ditch was filled full of people and cars and stuff like that was
00:39:23.180like a sunday fair happening here and stuff and people were here with their kids and stuff like
00:39:29.180it's it's been a it's been an awesome thing so far now i know you're encouraging people to to come
00:39:35.020and witness it for themselves but i think um part of the problem might be um that people are being
00:39:41.500restricted at milk river to come any further uh unless they're perhaps local i'm i'm not sure
00:39:48.140uh i did put a call in again to rtmp to try to get um a little bit more of an update from their
00:39:54.700side of things and um that only started that only started this morning though so and by the way which
00:40:02.540is as far as i'm concerned that's illegal as well they can't they they can't uh block people from
00:40:07.420coming here so what they're doing is illegal as well as far as we're aware we've had quite a few
00:40:12.620people we've had quite a few people that actually crossed here um that weren't supposed to cross but
00:40:17.100but once they started pushing it, that they were illegal.
00:40:20.260And if you videotape them, that's the key, everything.
00:40:23.420Every encounter we have with officers, we videotape.
00:40:26.780And I think it's a little bit harder to take people's rights away
00:40:30.480when you're on video and the whole world has potential to see it.
00:40:33.760So what was your last communication from the RCMP or with the RCMP?
00:40:41.160Well, I've had no communication with the RCMP this morning.
00:40:44.860um we just we just know we've had 40 more rcmp or uh law enforcement vehicle show up this morning
00:40:52.940some of them have the tactical enforcement thing on the side of their trailers and trucks and stuff
00:40:58.480like that so but we've had no communication with them yet um we're in a building right now and
00:41:04.220they've had some meetings while we've been talking here so i'm not sure exactly what they've all
00:41:07.760agreed to or like they might have been doing some negotiating and stuff like that so we're not sure
00:41:12.220we were in this meeting here with you today but um but yeah so you so you haven't had any
00:41:19.500sit downs with the rcmp as as an organizer today not today yeah no everybody showed up and everybody
00:41:26.900was just doing their own thing we were having breakfast and our coffees and stuff like that
00:41:30.020and so uh there's other guys that were actually kind of going approaching some of the rcmp's and
00:41:35.740talking to them and stuff like that but i guess i should clarify one other thing here too uh i'm not
00:41:40.740the organizer of this whole thing what happened was we we were as a group had an organized uh
00:41:46.960convoy down here and we were going to block the border in a different way than what actually
00:41:51.200happened but um but what happened was so many different factions or different uh freedom rally
00:41:57.800groups uh found out what we were doing and they want to be part of it so they just kind of jumped
00:42:01.700in and joined in with us and and that's why there was such a massive turnout there uh saturday and
00:42:06.660so you know there's all kinds of different people working well we're all for the same goal for the
00:42:11.540same plan right and the same message but things kind of work different ways right because we had
00:42:17.460some groups they kind of wanted to do it this way and actually it was a different group that actually
00:42:21.140blocked off the off the board of the way they did it and so yeah there's it's not just me and a few
00:42:27.060other organizers that actually did that there's there's a lot of different groups here that are
00:42:30.260actually kind of working together now and stuff and so so so at the at this point how many vehicles
00:42:37.060are would you say how many vehicles trucks uh are participating in the blockade at this point
00:42:42.580roughly and and how many people are still you mean what we started off at or what we're at still now
00:42:47.780that has um maybe both yeah like like let's get an idea of where you were and where things are at
00:42:53.380now that's hard to tell yeah um i think we had about 1200 vehicles show up saturday that was cars
00:43:00.260cars pickup trucks and semi trucks tractors yeah tractors trailers everything and um uh right now
00:43:07.380like a lot of those guys just came for the day convoy and stuff like that and stayed for the day
00:43:10.960and most of them are coming back during the day and uh but uh right now i think we got a couple
00:43:16.880of hundred uh trucks uh sitting here at the border that are that are kind of holding the line there's
00:43:21.520also a uh a group that's i think being blocked by the police probably about three kilometers away
00:43:27.240another group that was coming to join in and uh here for the long haul so we're not sure how that's
00:43:32.740going over there we just saw it we don't know um and there's other groups from all over alberta
00:43:37.280that are still planning to come out uh big farmers uh like big trucking outfits everything you name
00:43:43.240it like big uh equipment anything but i guess it's just trying to find a way out here now so
00:43:48.380and and is you're saying they can't join you because of the blockade that rcmp have set up
00:43:53.000at milk river is that is that the reason so i think they found alternate gravel gravel roads
00:43:59.320and uh it looks like some of those gravel roads are being blocked as well already it just but
00:44:03.640this is all just from what we've seen not anything we've heard okay uh so isaac says go truckers go
00:44:11.000everyone everyone needs to focus on the same goal work for freedom love these hard-working guys um
00:44:17.160You know, another person, Antana, says blockade can't be won.