Ambassador Bridge reopened after a week-long protest blockade

In February 2022, protesters blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit for about a week. The blockade cut off Canada's busiest commercial link with the U.S. and pushed cross-border truck traffic onto other crossings.

The protesters were aligned with the occupation in downtown Ottawa and called for an end to the vaccine requirement for cross-border truck drivers, along with other demands mostly tied to public health rules.

Trucks caught in the backlog

The Ambassador Bridge normally handles more than 7,000 commercial vehicles a day. During the blockade, most trucks were diverted about 100 kilometres to the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Ont., where delays ran four hours or more. On Feb. 9, the CBSA website showed delays of four and a half hours into Canada at Sarnia.

Drivers described the toll:

• Ishnet Singh, a Montreal owner-operator who drives in a team with his son, said he spent more than eight hours in line on the U.S. side at Sarnia, with no chance to take a break or use a washroom. The team lost a shift of about 600 miles. Singh said he and his son were fully vaccinated and just trying to work.
• Singh said single drivers would run out of hours once they crossed, and there were few places near the border to park a truck.
• Another owner-operator who was on the bridge when the blockade began said he was nearly out of hours by the time he got into Canada and lost a day's work.

Several automakers and other businesses scaled back production because of parts shortages.

The bridge reopens

Ontario declared a state of emergency, with penalties including fines of up to $100,000, up to a year in jail, and licence seizures. Acting on an Ontario Superior Court of Justice injunction issued on Feb. 11, police arrested 25 to 30 people on Feb. 13. Traffic resumed just before midnight that day, according to the CBSA.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said only five trucks were among the vehicles blocking the bridge and that the protest did not represent the province's truckers. Blockades continued at that point at Coutts, Alta., and Emerson, Man., and close to 400 trucks were still occupying downtown Ottawa.