Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, everyone. It's an honour to be here.
I don't have a political statement to give you. I will just quickly run through the bullet points on what went on for the 18 days of the protest and blockade here in Coutts.
My name is Jim Willett. I am the mayor of Coutts. I've been a resident since 2013. I've been a member of village council for five years and mayor for four years.
The village of Coutts, as you know, is located in southern Alberta at the border. Coutts does not have its own amenities, aside from a convenience store, a restaurant and a bank. The village is policed by provincial RCMP. A detachment of four RCMP officers in the town of Milk River services the village of Coutts.
On the afternoon of January 26, I saw a social media post promoting “slow roll” protests in Alberta. On January 27, about two days prior to the border blockade, I saw another social media post stating that there would be an attempt to block the border as part of the protests.
On January 27 I wrote to the Solicitor General, at the time Sonya Savage, to advise her of the planned protest. I got a call the next morning from a spokesperson in the Solicitor General's office, who explained that the RCMP was aware of the situation and I didn't have anything to worry about.
On January 29 the convoy drove up to the Coutts border crossing. I observed the RCMP escorting the convoy to the eventual location of the blockade, the intersection with Highway 500, which is 1.3 kilometres north of the border crossing. Here the convoy made a U-turn and returned back north up Highway 4, but about 45 minutes later, vehicles drove onto the median and ditches and blocked the road.
My first concern and responsibility, of course, was emergency access, both incoming and outgoing, for fire and ambulance service for the residents of Coutts and the surrounding area, as our volunteer fire department covers all the outlying areas here.
After the first couple of days, for about five days traffic was intermittently allowed to have single-lane access at different times north and south, a few trucks at a time. Truckers who had been blocked in were allowed to leave.
On February 3 I visited Smuggler's Saloon and met with protesters. That's not an active bar. I didn't go for a beer. I should add that Smuggler's Saloon is a vacant business that became the de facto headquarters for the Coutts protesters. The protest group appeared quite chaotic and without clear leadership. The spokesperson told me that the protesters did not have a clear plan and that there was no clear leadership structure at that time.
At one point, early on the evening of February 3, 2022, Artur Pawlowski, a pastor from Calgary, came to Coutts and preached a sermon that strengthened the protesters' resolve. As a result, the lane of traffic was open for only a few hours. After Mr. Pawlowski's speech, tractors came in and blocked traffic again.
On February 4 I again attended Smuggler's. While I was there, I met a lawyer who was advising the protesters. They thought they were legal because they were letting traffic through a single lane. He advised them that they were not legal protesters.
I met with protesters a third time, on February 5, when I went to Smuggler's Saloon with Glen Motz, member of Parliament, and Lorne Buis, mayor of the Village of Foremost, Alberta.
I contracted COVID on the 8th and had no more in-person meetings.
I was advised by protesters that after the RCMP's raid on February 14 and the seizure of a firearms cache at a residence, they had met at Smuggler's Saloon and decided to bring the blockade to an end. There were rumours on their social media that the Emergencies Act would be invoked. They were talking about losing businesses and losing the right to travel and so on.
I was in regular communication by phone and text message with Rajan Sawhney, the Minister of Transport at the time. The minister wanted to come to Coutts, but she told me “the boss won't clear it”.
On February 4 I had a call with Premier Kenney. The conversation generally related to the pandemic response, the federal government's removal of vaccination exemptions for truckers and how that seemed to be the tipping point for the protests initially.
Most of my village's population is elderly. Many residents found it intimidating to have to go through the protest area to travel to Milk River to access essential services. At times, however, residents had to drive off-road and into the ditch to get around protesters. Several elderly residents were very frightened when they were forced to go through the protest area, or they simply stayed at home.
One resident, a veteran of Afghanistan who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, had to leave town during the protest, as it triggered her PTSD.
During the first few days, the local school bus didn't run as the bus driver was unwilling to make the trip. Similarly, courier services were occasionally unable to cross the protest area. At least one local business, which ships cattle, was unable to operate during the blockade.
The blockade greatly disrupted everyday life in Coutts. The village of Coutts has become more polarized as a result of the protest.
On a personal note, I received one death threat during the relevant time period related to the protest activity, and received a few other threatening phone calls. At one point, I found a truck parked outside of my home, with someone taking photos. I brought this to the RCMP's attention.
If I might take 30 seconds longer, I am also the chair of a regional economic development initiative, and this cost us millions and millions of dollars in cross-border traffic at that time.
Anyway, that's a whirlwind overview of what I saw in my 18 days of protests.
I thank you for the opportunity.