Marco Van Huigenbos
Marco Van Huigenbos spoke 274 times across 1 day of testimony.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The bible, please.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Marco Van Huigenbos. M-A-R-C-O V-A-N H-U-I-G-E-N-B-O-S.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
In April of 1996.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I’m sales. I’m an owner in South Country Doors and my role there is to run the business and as sales manager.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct, and I still am.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The provincial mandates the prior years and the federal border mandate as the cherry on the top that broke the camel’s back in regards to the residents of Alberta and their views on Covid, and that there was so much frustration that we expressed that through slow rolls and similar activities.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes, there was a staging area at the Flying J and a smaller convoy or individuals convoys came from all parts of Southern Alberta and possibly further.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That was a pick- up truck.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I was aware of a social media page that was being shared on Facebook.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, I was made aware of it through individuals I knew sharing it on Facebook. I was not aware -- this is the first time I see “Freedom Fighter Nation”. But the “Freedom Convoy” and “Freedom Lethbridge” is - - I might have seen it through that or through somebody sharing that information.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, this is the first time I’ve seen this one, but I imagine there was different versions out there.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There was -- the slow roll was definitely the focus but, I believe, through the accumulation of -- I believe the previous slide had 5,000 vehicles, or whatever the amount was, and we knew it would result in a logistical nightmare, and that may have been the intentions, to create an inconvenience.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So I go back to the previous slide that was the report from CBSA and the RCMP that speaks to the amount. I’m just going to use whatever that amount was.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Sorry, 1,000 vehicles.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I do.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This is the first time I’ve seen this.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was never my intention to block the border. It was always our intention to create an inconvenience at the border in the afternoon of January the 29th.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Based on this flyer, I could see that there were people who would have these intentions.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes, other than I wouldn’t have started at “A”; I would have started in Fort Macleod.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
If that’s what happened, I would agree with that. I was not at the front of the convoy so I did not see the RCMP escort us.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I was aware of the presence of RCMP because they were there. You know, the traffic was heading south and occasionally we’d see RCMP fly by, or RCMP going north, or -- so the presence of RCMP was noted but I was not aware we received an escort to the border.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. That is the intersection that you can access the hamlet or village of Coutts, and being the last major intersection before the CBSA. And that’s where the convoy was turned around to position it back northward.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That intersection became very busy as the convoy neared Coutts coming around the corner here, after the railroad tracks. In between the highways there is a scale house, like, there's a commercial inspection facility.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct, and you know, trucks going south and trucks coming north.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
They opened the scale further slowing and restricting traffic, which in and of itself, caused a -- quite the backup. But after the scale, individuals could turn around and further up, once they were back in Milk River or close to it, they could rejoin the convoy and continue to loop back and forth. But there was also a staging area -- not staging -- it became a staging area of just people watching this event from the -- in the ditches. You know, it was a -- there was a lot of people in one location, so there was no designated area, but it was a lot of vehicles and a lot of trucks everywhere.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That would be the green points.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. And behind the Smuggler's is a very unofficial truck stop, but it's just a wide-open gravel parking lot.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
At what particular time?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
During the movement of traffic or after traffic came?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Well, there was -- I believe the backup was halfway to Milk River on both sides. Like, Saturday night, a lot of the thousand hadn’t left. You know, these were semis and they stayed for the night, due to the backup created by the border -- or not the border, sorry -- the intersection and everything around the intersection.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It looked like semis and semis parked through the intersection, preventing the flow of traffic.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I was -- I would say in the vicinity of the blue, the yellow, the green. I was in the area.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
My pickups were initially in the parking lot on the green, like, behind the green dot.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yeah, possibly. Yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. It was never the intention to remain.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe the individuals that would have built the posts, the two previous pages that organized the slow roll and invited people to participate in this protest.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. Yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Not that I'm aware of, but it might have been in passing without any -- outside of any official goal. You know, we were never hiding. The RCMP had full ability to walk through our midst and to drive around and et cetera, et cetera. It wasn’t -- you know, we didn’t blockade the RCMP from engaging with us.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No. There was very little structure, being so organic of a protest. We all converged as individuals and possibly as groups, smaller groups from different municipalities to this location, and from there, it speaks to splinter groups, but there was no groups that were previously engaged in anything that were part of this. It was - - when I say groups, it would be, you know, six people came from the town of Coaldale and they're familiar with each other, and they drove in a convoy together, so they're going to band with each other if they're all sitting with individuals they don’t know, right? You stick to your own until you become familiar with each other.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So when I think splinter groups, I think we're talking more in different positions, different views on where we were at that time in regards to the border or the Highway was blockaded by multiple trucks, not just one. They may have had the perception that if one truck moved, traffic could flow, but essentially, it was a combination of vehicles that created the inconvenience at that intersection.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I don't believe the checkpoints were set up at that time.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe they set up the checkpoints later in the day on February the 1st.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes, traffic was able to free flow back and forth. You know, people came, people left on the Sunday, which is the ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- 30th -- 31st.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Sorry, I believe they didn't -- they set up checkpoints on the -- later in the day on the 31st, not the 1st.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
On the Monday.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This is some. There was more. Every dirt road leading to Highway 4 would have had a checkpoint. So these may be the -- you know, the majority of the gravel roads, but there were more entrances and exits that were being monitored by the RCMP or stakeholders in this so.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So the red became a -- so these checkpoints were all established when this red checkpoint on the highway was created, because the traffic - - the most convenient way to Coutts was on the highway going, you know, the speed limit, 110 kilometres an hour. But if you were to hit that checkpoint, any Albertan from this area would take a side road and take five minutes and make their way to Coutts through a back road, et cetera. That's when all the additional checkpoints in the previous slide were established. So the goal of this red checkpoint was to prevent the Coutts blockade from being built up with more trucks and more protestors.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe they would have all been established at the same time. There would have been an RCMP objective to prevent the public from having easy access to Coutts.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It is definitely the main checkpoint.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So as previously mentioned, the slow roll and its possible intentions by different participants of the slow roll and protest resulted in the blockade. And once the weekend was over and it was still there, it -- I'm not -- I wouldn't say it hit the news right away, but it became, through social media platform, through alternative media, and possibly even through MSM, it became something newsworthy, and it attracted individuals -- it attracted individuals. And so these individuals would come to Coutts and, essentially, bolster the ranks of the protestors, et cetera. It just grew and grew. The RCMP, their intentions was to prevent this. As a result, this Milk River blockade is what it's called, or Milk River protest was formed. And the amount of individuals that converge on this sites was initially vehicles from the surrounding areas within an hour or two, parked in their trucks, parked in their cars, parked in their whatever they were using to get there, all pointing south, looking to get to Coutts with the RCMP getting in the way of their ability to do that. Very quickly, camp was set up and it became something similar to Coutts, but in support of Coutts. You know, it was always the intention to get to Coutts; right? That was their goal.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I have the ability to -- no, at that time, until this was established, I was in Coutts. Correct, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So the events were the enforcement effort commenced on the 1st, on Tuesday in Coutts. Being organic in nature, the trucks were on the highway on both lanes, going north and south, but in that particular area, the lanes were actually facing east and west. If you want to go back to that slide, I could explain that and ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Right. So right around the commercial inspection site, you can see the highway here is actually east to west for all of a mile, from the intersection, from the yellow bold point to about the Welcome to Alberta sign. At that time, that highway, both lanes, both directions was full of motorized vehicles, anything from tractor trailers, to trucks, to whatever it was on the highway. And the RCMP staged close to the railroad with I would say a hundred officers and started to commence enforcement in the form of knocking on the vehicles that the truckers or the protestors were in their vehicles and asking them to leave or face arrest. So one by one, they -- it was a pretty obvious decision for most. You know, it was time to leave. They were able to work their way down one lane, truck by truck, without any ability to -- without us -- giving us any ability to respond or do anything about it; right? We were watching it from our vehicles, and we seen the RCMP come closer. This was all being streamed on many social media platforms, Facebook, Tik Tok, Telegram and others. So you have these individuals at the Milk River blockade who are looking to get to Coutts, who have been -- and we're talking it was a balmy weekend. You know, 10 degrees into January, but Monday morning, the weather turned sour, and it was minus 30 that first week. So you're talking about individuals who are looking to get to Coutts, who are in their -- camped out in their vehicles in extreme temperatures. They are seeing enforcement action -- and a lot of these individuals were farmers, like, there was a lot of equipment there. These were neighbours. These were people we knew or were acquaintances to others at Coutts since the 29th. So they see this happening on their screens. And without us being aware -- we seen the video after -- they proceeded to essentially hit the ditch or go around the police barricade, which was on -- I believe it was parked on the pavement, and they had been civil in regards to obeying that blockade, but once they seen the RCMP enforcing in Coutts, obviously, it starts with one or two and the rest followed. But most of that blockade was able to traverse that -- most of -- sorry, most of the supporters were able to traverse the blockade and make their way down the highway, both lanes, toward Coutts. And there was -- I don't know if there is videos as evidence, but there was multiple videos shared of that event as well.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
M'hm.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, no. No, there was no line of sight. It would have been they came to our assistance, essentially, at the term.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. So as -- I was in my truck driving around in this area of a highway that's heading east to west, just, you know, looking at the situation and thinking, you know, this will be over in hours, and all of a sudden we see through, and it was a blizzard, we see these trucks, and these pickups, and these tractors come through the blizzard from nowhere. And we were -- the protesters were able to coordinate a barricade. Instead of trucks on a highway that they could work one, two, three, we were able to form a barricade, essentially fence-to-fence, ditch-to-ditch, which now gave us the ability -- well, which gave us the ability to form a line and have a standoff with the RCMP.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was a peaceful standoff. The RCMP and the protesters never came within I would say 50 metres of each other. So initially when the equipment rolled in the RCMP retreated because it was hectic. You know, tractors came in through the ditches, on the highway, and out of nowhere, it was a surprise to them as much as it was to us. I imagine they may have heard about it. As it -- as they blew the barricade in Milk River, they would've had 10 minutes more notice than we did through their official channels, but when it came in they retreated back to the sheriff busses and the bit of the mobile command they had set up on the highway, and I would say 20 minutes later they commenced a second effort with either the same amount or additional support. And on the first attempt, most people were in the saloon, it was cold, and a few people were just monitoring the situation. On the second attempt, the protesters came outside and we formed -- we stood in front of the equipment, we formed a line, and we sang Oh, Canada, and we just held a -- it was a face-off. It was at a point where this was where we would all be arrested and systematically removed or the alternative, which is what happened, and the RCMP retreated on their second attempt. And that's where the ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- enforcement action stopped.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. So Greg and Troy, sorry I'm going to -- that's their first names, that's -- I'll stick to that because there was two groups. So there ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. Right. They had been -- I believe they were part of the initial slow roll. You know, the RCMP was aware of the slow roll so they had officers and they had sent staff down to monitor the situation. So they had been there from the onset of the protest. Initially, the RCMP took the heavy handed approach regarding enforcement. The failure of that resulted in a direction from RCMP to -- toward more of a negotiation stance. And even that, they came in fairly heavy. They showed up in the saloon and they essentially ordered us off the highway, and that was met with a very decisive "no" by everybody involved.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So due to the situation on the ground and the enforcement action, we were aware the RCMP -- you know, our fight was never the RCMP. That was the enforcement. We were looking to get the attention of our province, the government. We had been trying unsuccessfully to do that for two years, or two years or eighteen months at that time. And obviously we knew the RCMP would respond and commence with enforcement and possibly communication. But the RCMP was never -- that was never -- when I say the struggle, that wasn't -- they were never part of that, they were automatically involved. So they came into the saloon, and we worked out an agreement, which also came from a position of we have to, I wouldn't say retreat, we have to work with the RCMP due to our position. That our position was based on how many trucks, how many people do we have, right, strength in numbers. Or, you know, if we have too bold of a position without the equipment and the trucks and the people to back it up the RCMP may enforce. If we open up some lanes, we go -- we're -- we look like a -- then we are a legal protest in the eyes of the -- in the view of the RCMP, and they may let us stay to fight. And when I say "fight", I, you know, I don't want to use that in a term other than we were there to fight another day. And that is what happened. I believe either late in the evening of the 1st or the morning of the 2nd, we, through communication with the RCMP, and obviously the concerns of the Village of Coutts by having most of their access restricted, we -- actually there were three things. There was something that happened before. There was unintended truckers that were blockaded behind our trucks that were looking to go south, reefers, and they had spent the weekend, and we had let them go because it was never ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
They were held on that highway behind the trucks that were blockading traffic; right?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
They were there. It's not like we gave -- and it's not like there was a sign in Lethbridge that said, "Future blockade. Please don't proceed down this highway." So there was unintended -- there was truckers that were unintentionally stuck behind us, and we -- that was never our intention, so we let them either turn around or go south. This would've been the Monday. This would have been before the enforcement action. We would've already cleared out the trucks.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Exactly. So that's -- I just wanted to make that note. It's not necessarily relevant, but it matters that we were never there to cause grief to unintended participants. Back to the lanes opening up. We were getting -- were in discussions with the residents, the school board, et cetera, to allow the busses free flow to allow traffic, you know, the residents in and out, all of that, plus we were in no position to hold the highway shut. So we opened up a lane on each side.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That was never in a -- that was never officially, you know, "you're the point of contact". I think that that comes back to more who I am, my character, my position as a town councillor, my ability to articulate well. All of that put me in a position where I was most I would say skilled, I've never been trained for this, but in this case most skilled to deal with the RCMP and any other conflict.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The RCMP would attest to this, but we had a phenomenal working relationship. We agreed. We agreed on many things, and we disagreed on others, but we never stopped communicating.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It would have been through text and call.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Most of the interaction happened away from the Smuggler Saloon.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The in-person interactions. I do know they -- I would look for them away from the saloon, but they always looked for me in the saloon, which I always knew it gave them the ability to walk through the saloon and make notes and check up on us without -- as a, you know, hitting two birds with one stone, they're coming to talk to me, but they're also checking out the situation inside the building. Which we never restricted them. We were never hiding anything. They stood around the fires with us, and you know, they were offered meals, et cetera. And I don't know what the protocol is, whether they declined or whether they accepted, but there was no official meeting point. It was very organic, and the best conversations happened on the side of the road; in the vehicle when it was colder, or on the back of the tailgate when it was warmer, so...
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. So now we’re jumping ahead to the second week. The first week was definitely a struggle.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Okay.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yeah. So just a little bit of lead-up to the event. It was always a matter of position in regards to us and in regards to the RCMP. We had to respond to the RCMP in such a manner that they wouldn’t enforce or felt the need that all ability to resolve this situation through communication had failed, so they would enforce, but at the same time, maintain enough of a position to stay that eventually we got -- we caught the attention of the Alberta -- of the provincial government. And that was -- it was a tricky business to maintain that position where the one side wants to -- wants you off the highway yesterday, and we had to stay on that highway just long enough to possibly enter in -- not necessarily negotiations but to open up lines of communication with the provincial government. So we brought in trucks, we brought in tractors -- and when we say, “We,” people brought tractors. It was very organic. We never said no to anybody that wanted to come and support us who came from anywhere in southern Alberta -- or, sorry; Western Canada. Ottawa was obviously the initial draw and the event here was to support Ottawa. At the same time that Ottawa rolled -- or the Freedom Convoy rolled into Ottawa, we rolled into Coutts. But this was, for most people, a lot more accessible than Ottawa, for myself as well. So the excavators were, for us, a very symbolic thing.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
A HIYO, it’s a piece of equipment that is used for earthwork; it’s called an excavator. So I imagine most people know what an excavator has ability to dig trenches, et cetera.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, that was the intention. So these excavators were positioned a couple of miles away from Coutts. And all it was, was a distraction; and it definitely became a distraction. But the intent was to catch the eye of the RCMP. We never could have imagined the actual response we got. So these pieces had to be hauled in individually, one at a time. So we got permission from the adjacent -- the property adjacent to the highway to do this on their property. And we slowly drove them in. Like, they got unloaded off the road and then they had to get walked in, and they probably -- they probably go about two kilometres an hour. It’s a very heavy piece of equipment. And over -- I believe on -- so the Friday would have been the -- sorry; we’re on the 12th, 11th. I believe the 10th, is that the Friday?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Right.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So we brought in three excavators one by one, and when the first one showed up, I’m pretty sure it was noted; excavator on the side of the highway. When the second one showed up, the RCMP and the Province have notes that speak to no construction activity being in the vicinity and it being noted and them being very aware of two excavators on the side of the highway, you know, as to, “What’s going on here? Who’s doing this?” When the third one rolled in, it resulted in a very -- it resulted in a heavy response; 40 officers descended on that field and on those individuals operating those HIYOs, and they were ordered to retreat. I got the phone call. At that time I was actually in a meeting with some -- with individuals in Milk River, and I had taken -- I took the call, and, you know, they explained the situation and I had said, “Okay, well, you know, just hold them back. It’s never our intention -- there is no intentions here other than to, you know, cause a distraction, fly some flags.” So they retreated over the hill. There was a misunderstanding that they would be removed from the area fully. Unfortunately it took three days to bring them into the area, and the trucker, he has 13 hours a day to legally operate. He was not -- he did not have the ability to remove those. I had a family weekend planned for months prior and I had the ability to sneak away for 10 hours. And to get there I went through -- it’s called the Whiskey Gap, and it’s without service. So as I was rolling into this part of the country, just outside the Milk River blockade, I got a call from -- well, I think I sent Greg and Troy a text message because I knew they were off, like, they had two different groups of CCMDs, so Chris and Mark were on on Sunday, and Greg and Troy, you know, it was a frustrating day and there a lot of tension regarding the excavators, but it was resolved, in my mind. And I said, “Hey, have a good weekend, and see you next week,” is what I had said. And I got the call that, “The understanding was to move these excavators out of the area, and they are not gone.” And I had said, “Well, we can move them further, you know, but we can’t get them out of the area right away. It just isn’t possible.” I went into service, the call was dropped, and I got out of service, and my message -- I got a few messages. “Sorry, Marco, the decision was made. We’ve had to disable these protest...” ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was too big of a liability, in their mind.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
You know, they looked at this from a we’re going to dig up the highway perspective.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
And I understand that those machines have the ability to do that, but that was never our intentions.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe that’s something that we were all -- everybody was looking for, you know? If we look at the state of affairs -- and I’m going to speak to Alberta because that’s, you know, most of the Emergency Measures and the mandates were provincial, and each province dealt with it differently. But in my view, Alberta took a fairly heavy-handed approach, you know, for freedom-loving Albertans, and the worst part was the inconsistencies and the lies. The communication from the Province that we weren’t going to lockdown again, or open for summer, open for good, or, you know, Calgary Stampede 2021, Kenney was on the record saying, “We will never have a vaccine passport.” One month later, we have the RIP program, which is essentially the same thing. The worst part was the lies. The lies to the USP members, to Albertans who were involved politically and now, you know, we were being governed by a Emergency Committee; we were being governed by the Health Authority. We had no direct communication through the -- through our Westminster Parliamentary democracy.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
We discussed -- absolutely we would have discussed federal mandates. Glen Motz is the MP for Medicine Hat and area. And I do -- I look at this message here, I think -- it says “…clear the road enough to be breaking…” or probably meant to be saying “not breaking” the law.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I don’t want to get Glen into any hot water here, but I believe that’s what he would have meant.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. Grant was there on the first Sunday, which is public knowledge. I don’t -- I’m not aware of him attending the protests on other occasions.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I’m not ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I did sit down with him in Milk River. Unofficially, obviously, because that’s what the previous text message speaks to. We had communication with individual MLAs, individual MPs, mainly opposition MPs; right? Alberta is mainly CPC.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That would have been about, on a provincial level, the provincial mandates in regards to the MLAs, and obviously the federal mandates, specifically the travel mandates and the border mandates, with the MPs.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yeah. So we were looking for lifting the mandates, we were looking for communication to -- you know, a lot of people were looking for the mandates to be lifted. It’s 12:55 and the mandates are not lifted, and it’s 12:56 and they’re lifted. I always knew that was never a possibility. I know how government works and I understand that there would be a process and that there has to be a lot of things to happen and a plan in place, et cetera, you know, communicated to the public and through the health authorities to put us on a track to lifting the mandates. Unfortunately, those conversations never even got started.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
With anybody in an official capacity ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- that represented any level of government.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. If you were to scroll down further in this, there is a conversation between the Mayor and Rajan Sawhney that speaks to the Mayor asking if she plans to come down to Coutts. And she mentions, “I’m working on it. I have to get permission from the RCMP,” which they would have got, “and the boss.”
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Now, when we say “the boss,” I’m pretty sure we all know we’re talking about Jason Kenney.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So that goes back to show you the situation we were dealing with in Alberta at this time, we were no longer -- we no longer had a voice as Albertans. We were dealing with a health authority that had emergency powers and a Premier who was obviously operating his Cabinet and his Caucus in the aspect of, “I’m the boss.”
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There were a lot of individuals there that would have been involved in politics more than somebody who votes every four years. You know, they could have been involved in their CA boards, et cetera, you know, like myself, local -- municipal politician. So these individuals coming from different constituencies in the province would have direct connections to their MLAs. I’m not aware of all these conversations. So ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I myself did not have any other conversations other than one phone call with the Transportation Minister, possibly two. I can’t remember if it was one or two.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. But that’s not in relation to this discussion right here.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
She had -- she looked to get in contact with me, me, possibly others, but I ended up taking the call.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
In relation to the blockade.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The conversations were as to what it was and what could be done, et cetera. And it was -- like I said, it was not in any official capacity. Obviously as Transportation Minister, she had the ability to do that. But we had -- I had looked for a meeting with officials.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Through the Minister. And when I say I, you know, we, as protestors.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe it was shared that she was looking to get in contact with myself, and we connected.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
And I don’t know who relayed that message to me. That might have been through the Mayor of Fort McLeod. Right? Like, there’s -- once it became -- CBC made the connection that I was a local municipal councillor, obviously that was something in and of itself. But very quickly, they were looking to me as that individual to connect with.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe it was only one. I’m trying to think which day it was. It would have been either the first or the second day we were in the saloon. And I believe we got the saloon on the 1st. So it would have been either the 1st or the 2nd of February.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe that message would have been conveyed, but that was obviously a very -- that was a pretty obvious message. In general, that was why we were there, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Well, she didn’t have the ability to speak to that; right? That still was a pick -- or an EMCC committee meeting.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I don’t remember the details of the conversation. I do remember it being more of an introduction call. And obviously introduction, you know, I don’t believe there was follow up calls. But ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, I don’t believe there were.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This is -- like, it just spoke to who she was, who I was, details of the blockade. But -- and the message we were looking to share with the province, demands, all of that, I wouldn’t say demands, just frustrations in general, and how can we move forward? But that never went anywhere. Like I said, I might have had a follow up conversation, but it would have never went anywhere.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. And based on our response to his message, it was not the message we were looking for.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The message that Kenney gave was -- it was a phased approach with a lot of maybes. And there was no surety of anything in that message. It spoke to a lot of different aspects and there was a lot of different methods to back out of that phased approach, but it really -- it was something, because they had to address -- you know, there was pressure. Even though we weren’t communicating, there was pressure. Coutts did apply pressure to the Provincial Government.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That’s not a realistic objective, but that’s on one side, and then there was his response, which was completely on the other side. So somewhere in the middle, there was the ability -- and this was not just exclusively Coutts. This was -- you know, you all -- the evidence is submitted to the slow rolls in Edmonton, to the protests of five to 10,000 in Calgary, the inconveniences on highways all over the province. Obviously the folks on Coutts, Ottawa, Emerson, Ambassador, Sarnia, et cetera. But Albertans were frustrated, and they were making it very aware to their government that they wanted to see change. So we were willing to have those discussions and to work on a realistic plan. Like, you know, I can't speak for everybody, but we wanted to, you know -- being involved in government for five going on six years, the message we had was let's work together to do what Albertans want. Unfortunately, somewhere that -- somewhere along the line, that message never got delivered or the message was delivered and the -- nothing ever came of it. And that -- in my mind, that's worse obviously.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I know them in the capacity as attendees of the protest.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The same. I was -- I met them at Coutts.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
One of the individuals, he would have been up early every day, and when I walked in, he was the biggest, friendliest giant ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- I know.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, I've never been arrested since Coutts, or during and since Coutts. I was summoned to come in and have my charges read off to me and a promise to appear.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I've been charged but I've never been arrested.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Mischief, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So the decision was made on the morning on the 14th to leave. I had contact with media and I received a phone call from a reporter. She touched base with me daily. And she called me to the events -- she called me in regards to the events of the night of the 13th and the arrests, et cetera. So we were talking about what had happened, and the fairly heavy-handed approach that the RCMP initially took and how that was de-escalated, et cetera. And the question came in, "So what about the guns?" And I had to respond and said, "What guns?" Ten (10) minutes later, I knew what guns we were talking about. For me, it became very clear that this was no longer -- that every objective we were looking to achieve was no longer possible and that our message had been lost. And to distance ourselves from any -- and this has to be determined yet; right? These charges have not gone to court for these individuals charged with conspiracy to commit or any related gun charges, so I'm not going to speak to that. But to distance ourselves from that, even the perception at that time, and anything to do with that, we made the decision to leave. And I remember calling that meeting and having that discussion. And obviously, it was unfortunate. It was not us. It was obviously individuals who were among us that had different -- and like I said, this is to be proven. I can't speak to that but alleged to have different views than us. And I remember having that discussion and there was pushback initially, and I had said, "I'm leaving. And the majority of the individuals will leave with me, but I would like to leave together." And I had -- I remember I had said, "Google Coutts." You know, I was keeping an eye on mainstream media, et cetera. I was aware of Ottawa and such, but I wasn't aware of everything, but I remember saying, "Google Coutts." And any of the messages, any of the videos, any of the positivity around what we were doing, in my view, was lost. It was guns, guns, guns. And to be -- to not be associated with that or even that viewpoint, we arranged, and we arranged to leave. We agreed on, I think, by the 12th of noon -- or, sorry, noon on the 12th ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, it's noon on the 14th.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, 15th is when -- no. We had asked that we would clear the blockade immediately but to leave as if we were never there. We had to arrange -- you know, we had mountains of firewood, for example. We had food. We -- like, we had, you know, the food. Something to write home about, but the food and just to make sure everything was cleaned up properly, we had negotiated that we would leave at 9 o'clock on the 15th. But the RCMP can attest that before noon, or around noon on the 14th ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- the highway was no longer impeded.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely it is.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Those discussions ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- happened in the morning, and by noon ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- we had ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Right. So we had gone to the RCMP after we had talked to the DOJ, like Department of Justice. We had requested a Zoom with them. So we had that discussion, and then we had gone to the protest, because it was always -- it was never my decision or -- it was always a group decision we were leaving or we were -- we were going or we're staying. And I do remember having to address the group with that, and based on the situation and the information flowing around, it was a pretty -- you know, I didn't have to tell anybody to be quiet when I started to address the crowd. And there was some opposition. You know, we still have individuals coming in that were full of fight. You know, like, they wanted to be part of this, and they had showed up 15 minutes ago. And we were 18 days. We were pretty battered. So it was also a way to end this. There was no plan, so there was never a plan to end this, and this was, for us, a strategic retreat, victory retreat, whatever you want to call it. It is what it is. But we negotiated -- by noon, we had talked to the RCMP is we'd like to leave. Supper's cooking. We're going to invite people over legally one more time to do what we did. The tractors will be off the highway immediately and we will start -- we will commence cleanup efforts. Initially, the RCMP's -- they phoned it in. Their response was very heavy. They said, "You need to leave immediately, and we want you gone in an hour." And I remember thinking this is just crazy, and I just -- I walked away, essentially. And they went back in their vehicles and five minutes later, they came back and says, "Okay. Nine o'clock. Tractors last." You know, it was just last little bit of a, you know, power struggle, whatever it was. I thought whatever. We'll do tractors last and didn't matter to me. Didn't matter to us. But the decision to leave was made before noon on the 14th, and I believe at 9:45 on the 15th, we were leaving.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Well, we've covered a lot. I just -- I want to speak to what Coutts was. It was a gathering of truckers, mainly farmers, eventually farmers bolstered the ranks, but it was a group of -- and the perception around Coutts, unfortunately, due to the discovery of the guns and such, has tainted what Coutts was. And, for me, what’s important is that we were there to demand that our representatives communicate with us like they are obligated to do and like what had not been happening. And there’s lots of different events during those days that I almost think it was like a chess game between the RCMP and the protesters. But, unfortunately, we were never able to enter in official communication with the government, but looking back at the political state of affairs in Alberta, it might have been better for the Kenney government to actually have done that. And -- because, at the end of the day, we’re Albertans and we’re Canadians, and the Covid restrictions and the mandates, they messed with our lives. Like, we see the inconsistencies of the experts. And I don’t necessarily blame them. The information provided was what they went off, and that information is, at times -- is now no longer factual either. Things -- you know, the ball kept on getting pushed further down the road. “Two weeks to flatten the curve,” and look at where we are now. And I’m not going to speak to Covid, and I’m no expert on it, but even the experts got it wrong. And for public trust to regained -- for the trust of Albertans to be regained, there has to be accountability. So thank you.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Thank you.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There was individuals. The media, in the beginning, once their became -- once there was some organization -- you know, the event was organic, but once there was some organization established in regards to food, and logistics, and things like that, right. You have 200-and-some people in a place, you’ve got to establish some kind of structure. Once that was established and once it became more or less -- once I got pushed into the role of dealing with media, I dealt with the media. And there was certain media that had been chasing me around -- or chasing individuals around looking for some kind of comment. I remember one particular reporter who had finally, in frustration, said, “You want us -- how can we tell the world what’s going on here if you won’t talk to us?” And I won’t speak to the organization but obviously my view on that organization was why we were in that situation and I had turned and responded. I said, “Okay, you’re going to get an interview and I’ll be watching tonight, but that will determine whether you get another one tomorrow.” And I actually was able to say that my views on the organization may not have changed but I had a very, very positive relationship with this reporter and that has -- that has since then given me the discretion with other reporters to hear them out. But we had advised protesters to not speak to the media and that we were trying to orchestrate a general communication and general direction in regards to what came from Coutts, but individuals may have, on their accord, done interviews and stuff, and I’ve see those. And, you know, like I said, there was -- it’s not like the RCMP where there was such structure that you didn’t move left or right unless you were told to. We -- you know, we were there for freedom so it wasn’t like -- it wasn’t for us to go and order people around and tell them not to do this or not to do that.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. Yeah, so the RCMP had their initial blockade which was in -- on the -- January the 1st, the protesters went around it, so they reinforced it to the point where there was no longer any way to go through that other than going through the barricade, you know, which was never -- which would have resulted in violence, which was never an intention. But due to the numbers, which fluctuated on the weekends, and the first and the second weekend being obviously quite phenomenal due to the influx of people, thousands -- I believe we had over 10,000 on the Saturday, Saturday the -- I’m going to the 6th, I believe, but people had to take care of themselves, you know, sleeping accommodations, food, et cetera. There was individuals at the front that maintained -- to make sure we didn’t have anybody come in and cause problems, right? We were weary of people looking to come in and make us look -- you know, start something, and that it would be on us, right? So we were aware of that and just -- there was fires there so we made sure that the fires were contained and there was a general -- there was few individual at the Milk River protest that kept an eye on things and if things, you know, went a certain way, they would coordinate with the RCMP to make sure that was either resolved or de-escalated. But the biggest thing was to make sure that we didn’t have -- and I remember the thought and I’m not going to - - you know, that Antifa could show up and cause problems. And obviously, for myself, you know, being in the public eye, I had -- we had a fairly -- you know, we had threats to myself and to my family and I remember when I would go down to Milk River multiple times a day, or as needed, and it came to a point where I wasn’t alone. I would be accompanied by an individual or two just for my -- due to the worries of the protesters about my wellbeing. So it was less organized but, you know, I wouldn’t -- they were -- there was a lot of structure there, too, at the front, but on the weekends it was you took care of yourself, you know. Like, we called them “the weekend warriors”, you know; they showed up in droves. You know, it was the place to be in Alberta at the time, right, so.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Well, you know the events, right? When we left, they left.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So they were there for us. When we were gone, their goal was no longer achievable.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There was less control over Milk River but there were still individuals who definitely kept an eye on the situation. And it was mainly the weekends that were just the most concerning in regards to public safety, and that was something I worked -- I spent hour working with the RCMP to -- I spent every day working with the RCMP to maintain public safety. That was something neither of us wanted, that somebody got hurt by accident.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe the biggest -- I believe everybody who was there was protesting provincial restrictions, and some may also have been protesting federal restrictions.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I could see that being something individuals wanted. Trudeau is not popular in Alberta.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There would have been those signs at the protest. The amount -- no, I'm not aware of that.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Copy with Kenney?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That would have been an ultimate success if we would have actually been able to meet with him. It was just -- it was a headline, you know, we're going -- you know, there was a bit of sarcasm in that headline that, you know, we're going to Edmonton -- which was not something I agreed with. Actually, I agreed with going to Edmonton; I disagreed with leaving Coutts. But the article spoke to those events, and there were individuals that did, and I believe from all corners of the province they came and caused logistical challenges in the downtown and on the Anthony Henday.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This, this ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This media publication came out before the -- before we -- or before I went and talked to the protesters as a whole, like I said, decision to leave or to stay was a group decision, and unfortunately, this article, we did have a plan through pressures that were applied on us by individual businesses, cattlemen's association and their representatives to leave Coutts. And I had -- sorry, I -- once that decision was made as a side group, smaller group involving these representatives, et cetera, the decision went to the crowd. The crowd unanimously -- I remember that moment - - unanimously and with a lot of emotion was like, "No." And I remember thinking, this is it, but unfortunately, things were able to be resolved very shortly and those who wanted to go to Edmonton were free to go, were free to leave at any time. But we had decided that leaving Coutts was not the objective. That was the objective of those representatives in the cattlemen's association because we were an inconvenience to them and they had worked away and influenced individuals who had reputation and who were attending this protest who had then called a meeting, which I was not in, initially, until I got the phone call, because I was coordinating things in Milk River with the RCMP. And I remember getting the phone call and coming south, coming back to Coutts, very frustrated because this had happened once before where we were almost sabotaged, in my view, of you know, leaving Coutts by individuals who had no bearing in Coutts, but who came in and they were this and they were that. And but it came to a decision eventually, regardless of my views, and -- because like I said, this wasn’t my thing, it wasn’t about me, it was -- I was playing a role of spokesman and I had to deliver that message to the crowd. And it was not well received, and we did not leave for Edmonton.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. So my view of a decision like that was something that had to be -- so we decided to bring it back to the crowd, that it even made its way there. The majority of the individuals in that initial discussion had decided it was happening regardless of the crowd, which was naïve of them because the crowd were the protesters and it was their trucks and their equipment, et cetera. And we had prepped a statement. So eventually, I said, "Okay. Well then, this is what we're doing, but I first have to discuss it with the protesters, with the group." And as I went to do that, because it was in another building, the press release was released prior to speaking to the group. So that resulted in a hectic hour or two for RCMP, for us, for everybody. But ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was definitely -- it was confusing because the statement read that we were leaving and it had my name all over it. And I remember hearing the crowd and somebody came up to me and showed me the picture, and I was like, "Really? Who released this?" Like, I was just shocked that this individual had -- or these individuals had released it. And I think it was also part of their tactic to pressure that now it was known to the public that we were leaving. But we never did.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes, I viewed the property.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That was the biggest discussion I had with the RCMP that week, the longest that happened inside the buses at the Milk River protest, and I think the part that made it very unappealing was the fact that they had government WiFi there.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That was the -- I believe that was the part that was completely ridiculous in regards to we got government wi-fi there. The biggest issue was the intent was to be on the highway. For the -- this was not Coutts, this was 100 percent in relation to the Milk River blockade. You're aware of that; correct?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Okay.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, the -- it was never communicated to the protesters. I remember sitting in the bus with both groups of CCMGs, and I mean, I think even the officer in charge of Milk River -- the Milk River protest, and my -- I questioned them as to how I was supposed to convince the protesters to move off the highway into this field. It just wasn't realistic. Like there was no way that was going to happen.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Glenn Motz. We met in front of the sheriff busses at the Milk River blockade.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The north side. He was not -- you know, he was not allowed as a individual, or participating I would say, he was there to come talk to me. He was not allowed on the other side of those busses.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe that was on Saturday, yeah. It was a pretty crazy place.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, that was the second weekend.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No. So in regards to my ability to traverse, I guess with the perk of being the media spokesperson allowed me to come and go as I needed to.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes. Sorry.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
My truck has probably been parked in a hundred different locations in Milk River and in Coutts.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I can -- I didn't hear that communication, but I was aware, and I could understand that request.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
That would be perceived. We actually did have an emergency response, and the lanes were cleared enough to allow that to proceed.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
At that specific time when that emergency vehicle showed up.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
January the 31st. Can you provide some more context in regards to that comment?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I believe ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I do recall making that statement, and the thought process behind that statement is this was a border blockade to southern Alberta -- other than southern Alberta. It didn't affect Edmonton as much as it would southern Alberta. It didn't affect Ottawa as much as it affected southern Alberta. So we were driven as protesters, as residents of Alberta to a place where we were willing to sacrifice our own livelihoods and more for the sake of getting in contact with our governing body.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
We were aware that that was the affect on some truckers; correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was an unintended consequence, and after 45 hours those truckers were on their way.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No. No, being as organic as it was it was a direct unintended consequences.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was specifically the truckers that were stuck in the blockade. Truckers that were backed up on either side of the border had the ability to turn around and take different borders. We did not -- it was an inconvenience to Coutts, obviously, being the main port, but Del Bonita had an increase of 917 percent in commercial traffic flow during that time. We did not block all borders.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I was aware there was truckers on the American side, but these truckers were hoping for a speedy resolution, which could have been achievable by the Alberta Transportation Minister or Department and the government in general. Unfortunately that never happened and these truckers were stranded longer and eventually they did turn and take other ports of entry. But that was a decision. They were not forced to stay there of their own accord.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
This interaction was the only time that there was vehicles between the Milk River blockade and the Coutts blockade, and we addressed that earlier in regards to them circumventing the initial RCMP blockade on the February the 1st. As a result of that, both lanes -- and I wasn’t there. But as a result of that, both lanes were going southbound, as the video stated. The individual that was heading northbound got into a motor vehicle accident with an individual that was heading southbound. The individual heading southbound was a resident of Coutts, was actually a previous -- I think they were known to each other. I believe there was an altercation at the time, which is very unfortunate. Upon hearing this and the damages to the vehicle, et cetera, and the inconvenience, as protestors, we leased them a vehicle while their vehicle was prepared, and we paid for all the damages to that vehicle.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely that was an unsafe situation.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I’ve seen this photo before, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Possibly.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I don’t recall. If you could show me the interview, I would recall.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I’ve given many interviews in the last ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Legal high- capacity magazines, if that’s what you’re referring to.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, I don’t recall that.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Based on the information I was presented at the time, that was my statement regarding that.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I learned about it after based on -- I’ve never in person seen it. It’s based on the information presented to me. So.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
He walked in and I walked out.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It wasn’t a direct -- this -- I was addressing -- I was speaking to the crowd in regards to that decision to -- by that -- those individuals who have come in to leave for Edmonton, Coffee with Kenney. That happened just before Pastor Artur Pawlowski came in. And he might have actually been in the audience while I was explaining the motive, et cetera, et cetera. But the unanimous agreement was to stay. And this has never been -- Pastor Artur has charges in regards to this, but his charges that he incited us to stay because Coffee with Kenney was seen as us leaving. Before Pastor Artur reached the podium, or even reached the building, I’m not sure of the events, the protestors had decided we were staying. The decision to stay had nothing to do with Pastor Artur.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, I did not hear the speech.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No. I might have listened to it after the actual events or after his arrest, just as to what actually happened.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I don’t believe I did. I don’t believe I did.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I would have heard from individuals in the protests who would have come and talked to me after as to details of the speech or what it was about in general.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
What specific details? No. No, we didn’t leave as to Artur’s speech. We -- Artur’s speech had no relevance on us staying or going.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
The mandates and emergency measures?
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
They were not proportional to the response.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Still are.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
I was never aware of that.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Sure did.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
It was, yeah.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
There was never any details or discussions around security. There was never any individuals who had the role of security other than, you know, my security because of the threats made against me while I was at the Milk River blockade just as I would say in an official capacity, personal security detail. There was equipment and motor vehicles, trucks and trailers, et cetera, parked on the highway, but the RCMP and anybody who wanted to had the ability to mingle with us, communicate with us, access us anywhere, use our facilities, dine with us, dine -- eat meals with us. There was no security needed.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
So I wore -- you know, the temperatures were extreme. I wore a hat and coats that had my company logo on it, and we have a website where requests for proposals can be submitted by individuals. And that was used by individuals anonymously to put in a fake number, fake name, fake email, and then, you know, have at her, based on their views of something I was participating in. But what really topped it all was a phone call that came in at the end of the first week to the admin, and it took her a little bit to just connect the dots, but they rattled off -- sorry, they rattled off my address and said, "We're coming for your family." So I received this message probably half hour later at 5:30 on Friday. And took me a bit to process it and that's never happened before in my life. That's not something I -- I've ever been -- or I've ever had to deal with. I had already been dealing with some pretty nasty emails, et cetera, which I just, you know, just -- I get it. People had different views on different things. And but this was, you know, my address, my family. So I remember phoning my dad and my father-in-law and we took it seriously. That was the right response. And my family, from that day on, did not stay at our primary residence until I was -- until the blockade was concluded.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- not that I'm aware of. I do believe there was somebody who was removed from the protest but not arrested. It was just we had requested this individual be removed. He was causing a disturbance and we were -- as a protest, we were very strict on some things and that involved the -- in Coutts where we had the ability to do that, right, where we had the influence, where there was no drinking in public. There was no, you know, speeding or any of that. We try to maintain a orderly event in those days.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Due to the cold weather and the equipment, if you're familiar with trucks and equipment in general, the batteries, if they do not run on a regular basis, the batteries will drain. So to prevent that sporadically and at different times, we would fire up all the equipment and let the equipment run. That was -- that occurred the night of -- so that occurred Sunday night on the 13th. And then Chris and Mark, two CCMGs. I don't recall their last names. They were the second shift, and Greg and Troy were a team, and Chris and Mark were a team. They were in front of the saloon, standing around the fire, doing what their role was, you know, community conflict group. Like, they were there interacting, and I'm pretty sure they were taking mental notes as to what we were up to, but there was a -- I think there was a gospel band playing in the saloon, and people were mingling, and families that -- or, sorry, people that couldn't be there on the week were there on a Sunday night. And it was a very quiet evening. And all the -- you know, the decision, or whatever it was, it was a minor thing to fire up all the tractors. You know, there was things happened on a daily and we tried to coordinate structure. And so all the tractors fired up. Unfortunately, one of these tractors -- one of these individuals decided to go for a little joyride with one of these tractors. And this drew the attention of the RCMP, and I'm going to say specifically, looking back, specifically, the SWAT or tactical teams that were in place to execute these warrants of that night, which we were not aware of, but they were in the vicinity. So being dark, they must have been within a couple minute response time, just waiting for the time to execute their warrants on the location outside of the protest in connection to the guns. This individual and this tractor triggered a response by these tactical teams, but prior to this, this tractor -- the first vehicle on site was an administrative vehicle. It was an unmarked RCMP vehicle with a staff member who works in administration, so who may have had -- received the training previously to be in the field, but was, you know -- they were short officers. Everybody was short officers. There was a lot of draw for the RCMP across the country, so they had a lot of individuals that were usually working desk jobs, et cetera, manning checkpoints. So this person must have been in the nearest checkpoint responding to this tractor driving around and what's going on. And this tractor ended up -- I can't speak for the individual driving this tractor, but from what I seen, this big tractor -- and if you're not familiar with tractors, they can be very intimidating all on their own parked. Now this tractor was driving around, and there was intention -- or, sorry, intention -- there was an unintended confrontation in an intersection where you have a little SUV manned by a RCMP officer who was obviously very intimidated by this piece of equipment. And it resulted in an altercation that was eventually de-escalated but resulted in this tractor being seized.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
No, there was no attempt. If there was an attempt, it would have ended very unsatisfactory for that vehicle.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct. So if I go back to the documents that were presented to us, the difference between these documents, which are very, very solid, and provide a clear plan as to the phased approach the province was taking, we were never responding to this document. We were responding to the premier's speech. This document was not available to us at that time. The premier's speech was a speech that in no way even mentioned the situation in Coutts. And we were not looking for recognition, but it nowhere mentioned. And what it did mention was a lot of maybes which we -- if we had the speech, we could bring it up. So we responded to the premier's wording, the tone, and everything around his address. We did not respond to a document that showed a phased approach. This document, in and of itself, is actually a fairly reasonable document, but that was not what we were responding to.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Correct, and that was the frustration. They were the heroes of the pandemic. The truckers, when the drive-throughs were closed, when they had no ability to use washrooms, when they had no access to restaurants, the truckers were the heroes of the pandemic, and then with the stroke of a pen -- and obviously, there was discussion around that -- truckers had to make a decision ---
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
--- between -- sorry.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Absolutely. And not specifically Coutts. I do believe in regards to -- if Coutts were the only protest happening, we would have got the attention, the full attention of the federal government, but Ottawa and Ambassador Bridge were the draw. You know, Alberta and how that was affecting -- how Coutts was affecting Alberta is something the Alberta government was aware of, but in the evidence provided, there is an exchange between Bill Blair and Ric McIver, and there's six or seven days where there is no response to a request by Ric McIver for assistance by the federal government to removing or assisting in removing the blockade, until the minister texts Ric McIver and essentially says, "Oh, by the way, we invoked the Emergencies Act," which obviously set off a pretty heated exchange between the two. So it goes to show you that for six, seven days, there was no communication between the federal and the provincial governments, so that obviously put Coutts on a -- Coutts was of little concern to the federal government as a whole. It was a concern. Like, they were addressing it, but not on the same level as Ottawa or as the Ambassador Bridge, and I can understand that. But the EMA was enacted as a -- in my view, as a political tactic more than a actual enforcement tactic.
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Marco Van Huigenbos, Councillor (Fort Macleod)
Yes.