Residents of cities and towns in several states across the country found anti-Semitic flyers outside their homes Jan. 23, stating: "Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish." The identical flyers identified key policy-makers related to the pandemic response as "JEWISH" (in red capital letters). The flyers were left in Denver, Miami, San Francisco and other cities. (CNN, NBC)

The "Freedom Convoy" of Canadian truckers and their supporters has arrived in Ottawa for a mass rally against the vaccine mandate. AntiHate.ca writes that "if you look at its organizers and promoters, you’ll find Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, and incitements to violence." Prominent among these is Plaid Army vlogger Derek Harrison, who stated of the convoy: I would like to see our own January 6th event. See some of those truckers plow right through that 16ft wall." BBC News reports from an Ottawa paralyzed with trucks: "Police have started investigations after several incidents, including the appearance of swastika flags and footage of a woman dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier." Social media posts show protesters brandishing Confederate and Nazi flags and banners with slogans such as "Don't Tread on Me" and "Trump Won." (More at Al Jazeera, Vancouver Straight, Jurist)

The “Freedom Convoy” has now spent nearly a week occupying the streets surrounding Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The convoy now stands as a symbol for right-wing activists who seek an end to all COVID-related mandates. It had also amplified calls from some conservative Canadian politicians to move the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) further to the right.

The CPC appears to be listening. The center-right Erin O’Toole was ousted as party leader in a secret ballot Feb. 2 by a vote of 73 to 45; MAGA hat-wearing MP Candice Bergen was named interim leader of the CPC. Some of the front-runners for the position have endorsed the Convoy, while others have railed against their actions. The split among the MPs shows how divisive the protest has become for the now officially leaderless CPC. (Jurist)

Pat King, who is listed as North Alberta contact on the website of convoy organizer Canada Unity and has been a prominent champion of the protests online, has called COVID a "man-made bioweapon" and claimed that international financiers seek to "depopulate the Anglo-Saxon race." He has said of lockdowns, "The only way that this is going to be solved is with bullets." (NYT, Global News)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the rare step of declaring a national public order emergency Feb. 14 in a push to end protests that have paralyzed the center of the Canadian capital for more than two weeks and reverberated across the country. Invocation of the Emergencies Act allows the authorities to move aggressively to restore public order, including banning public assembly and restricting travel to and from specific areas. 

The Ambassador Bridge in Ontario, the most important commercial crossing between Canada and the US, reopened Feb. 13 after police intervened against protesters who had closed for a week. Protesters continue to close border crossings in Alberta and Manitoba. (NYT, The Suburban, Quebec)

Mounties in Alberta raided a trucker protest near the blockade of the Coutts border corssing, arresting more than dozen, and seizing several long guns, hand guns, ammunition and body armor. (Global News, Toronto Star) There is meanwhile much paranoia about the apparent theft of a gun-company truck in Ontario with a load of thousands of firearms. Freedom Convoy leaders are speculating the heist was actually instrumented by the authorities so the arms could be "planted" among protesters. (CTV, Daily Mail)

Authorities are investigating the distribution of antisemitic and racist flyers in Colleyville, Texas, where a gunman took worshippers hostage at a synagogue last month. Colleyville is one of dozens of cities across the US that have reported similar distribution of flyers in recent weeks. One flyer claimed that "every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish," while another read, "Black lives murder white children." (NPR)

The Canadian government announced Feb. 23 it wil file an appeal of a Federal Court judgement that found it acted illegally when responding to Freedom Convoy protests in 2022. That judgement held that the government’s invocation of the federal Emergencies Act in response to the protests exceeded its authority and violated some protesters’ constitutional rights. (Jurist)