Windsor police are dealing with at least one protest every week, but so far no group has tried to block the Ambassador Bridge since an economically devastating border disruption nearly three years ago.
That’s at least in part due to swift consequences for those who impede trade corridors under relatively new provincial legislation — consequences police now warn demonstrators about regularly.
“When we are preparing for regular protests, as we are weekly it seems, oftentimes we will let protesters know in advance, this is some of the jeopardy you might face if you’re going near the bridge, near the tunnel,” Deputy Chief Jason Crowley told reporters this week.
“We lay it out there, and that way, we seem to get a lot more co-operation.”
Enacted in April 2022 — about two months after the week-long Ambassador Bridge blockade — the Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act (Bill 100) prohibits anyone from impeding access to protected transportation infrastructure. That is, any land or water border crossing between Ontario and the United States, any airport that regularly has flights between Ontario and other countries, and any other transportation infrastructure considered significant to international trade.
Much of Bill 100 addresses enforcement. It empowers police to remove objects, including vehicles, that block the bridge or tunnel. Police can also suspend the regular driver’s licenses and commercial operator’s licenses of blockade participants, and seize vehicle plates.
“That’s going to affect someone’s livelihood, and typically we don’t want that,” Crowley told reporters. “We want to have that good rapport with protestors. We don’t want to affect someone’s livelihood, but it does give us something to actually use if we had to.”
The topic came up at city council on Monday. City staff reported on what tools were available to Windsor to keep Huron Church Road at the mouth of the bridge open.
The city is now relying heavily on Bill 100, rather than court injunctions, which the city sought to end the Ambassador Bridge blockade in February 2022. Protesters opposed to COVID-19 mandates choked access to North America’s busiest border crossing, halting billions in international trade.
To date, Windsor police have never used the law to arrest or charge anyone.
“I think that legislation is very important,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told reporters after Monday’s meeting. “I think it helps send a signal that we watch these things very closely, and that that asset, an international border crossing, is very important to our economy. We’re going to do everything we can to keep it safe and make sure that’s it’s open for business.”
The frequency of protests in Windsor is “very frustrating,” Dilkens said.
“I’m aware of all of these protests. I talk to the chief every day, at least once. I’m aware of the incidents — we’re a democratic society, and protest is fine. Peaceful protest is fine. But there’s a cost.”
Deputy Chief Crowley said allocating police resources to protests is a “challenge, because we have a very busy city to police.” As a result of the bridge blockade, the force established a public liaison team and a public order unit to respond to and communicate with protesters.
“There are no services being ignored because of the protests, but it’s a matter of reallocating,” Crowley said.
If another blockade happened today, he said, police would work to dismantle it immediately. However, he said, depending on the size of the protest, additional police resources may be required, as they were during the massive demonstration in 2022 when officers were called in from other municipalities.
“Our intention would be to get it done in a day, like immediately. We are not waiting,” Crowley said. “If we have the resources — one would be (the) public order (unit) — we are not waiting.
“Resources is one thing, but the provincial government putting tools in our toolbox is a big help. This is what this legislation did. Certainly, we would be able to act a little quicker.”
The city has asked both the provincial and federal governments to consider the costs Windsor incurs to police its international border crossings, “because it’s expensive and outside the normal jurisdiction of a municipality to have to deal with these types of issues,” Dilkens said.
The city has gone so far as to sue the Government of Canada for roughly $900,000 in outstanding costs associated with the Ambassador Bridge blockade response. Most of that is legal expenses.
The federal government did reimburse Windsor for around $6.1 million in blockade expenses.
“We continue to be ignored, so (we are) losing hope that we’re ever going to see that money moving forward,” he said. “But hopefully another government, once elected, will actually make this situation right.”
Regarding the provincial government, which did not cover any of Windsor’s nearly $7 million in blockade-related policing costs, Dilkens said, “I think we need to have a more serious conversation.”
“There are definitely issues with respect to costs that are passed on to taxpayers through municipal police services that deal with these protests … (that) use the international border crossing as the mechanism to get attention.
It’s expensive. It’s things that we have to deal with that aren’t general policing for the benefit of the municipal resident.”
The city would like consideration for funding through Ontario’s Connecting Links program — funding for some roads and bridges — or “something of that ilk that allows us to see some money flow to deal with these types of things,” Dilkens said.
Janice Guthrie, city treasurer and chief financial officer, said the province has provided some grant funding for policing, but nothing in direct relation to Bill 100.