Blockade leaves U.S. side of border in silence

By: Ingrid Harbo Posted: 2:01 AM CST Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022

PEMBINA, N.D. — The anti-mandate blockade of trucks and farm equipment on the Canadian side of the Pembina-Emerson border crossing has left the U.S. side in near silence.

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PEMBINA, N.D. — The anti-mandate blockade of trucks and farm equipment on the Canadian side of the Pembina-Emerson border crossing has left the U.S. side in near silence.

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This article was published 14/02/2022 (947 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PEMBINA, N.D. — The anti-mandate blockade of trucks and farm equipment on the Canadian side of the Pembina-Emerson border crossing has left the U.S. side in near silence.

On Monday afternoon, the Pembina Port of Entry was nearly empty, with no vehicles driving towards Canada, and a single truck coming into North Dakota.

A U.S. border patrol officer confirmed, since Feb. 10, all commercial and passenger traffic has been blocked from entering Canada, and only a few agricultural trucks have made it through to the U.S.

Canadian trucker Waldemar Jutiisch waits at the U.S. border station to have the piglets he’s hauling from Manitoba inspected Monday, February 14, 2022. Jutisch says he supports the Canadian trucker protest and blockade but says that there is a limit. Emergency vehicles, including police vehicles as well as some agriculture transports have been getting through the blockade but otherwise there is no traffic flow in the area, RCMP said.
Canadian trucker Waldemar Jutiisch waits at the U.S. border station to have the piglets he’s hauling from Manitoba inspected Monday, February 14, 2022. Jutisch says he supports the Canadian trucker protest and blockade but says that there is a limit. Emergency vehicles, including police vehicles as well as some agriculture transports have been getting through the blockade but otherwise there is no traffic flow in the area, RCMP said. — Canadian trucker Waldemar Jutiisch waits at the U.S. border station to have the piglets he’s hauling from Manitoba inspected Monday, February 14, 2022. Jutisch says he supports the Canadian trucker protest and blockade but says that there is a limit. Emergency vehicles, including police vehicles as well as some agriculture transports have been getting through the blockade but otherwise there is no traffic flow in the area, RCMP said. Canadian trucker Waldemar Jutiisch waits at the U.S. border station to have the piglets he’s hauling from Manitoba inspected Monday, February 14, 2022. Jutisch says he supports the Canadian trucker protest and blockade but says that there is a limit. Emergency vehicles, including police vehicles as well as some agriculture transports have been getting through the blockade but otherwise there is no traffic flow in the area, RCMP said.

Waldemar Jutisch was one of those few truckers Monday afternoon.

The blockade let him through because he was hauling piglets, he said. “The only thing is the way back.”

After dropping the piglets off, Jutisch has to return to Manitoba with an empty trailer. Without livestock, the blockade in Emerson will likely not let him through; instead, he will head to another port of entry.

Jutisch said he supports the protests but disagrees with protesters not allowing commercial traffic to cross the border.

“I’m all for protests, but there is a limit,” said Jutisch. “There is no truck allowed in or out, and we trade with the U.S. a lot.”

A media representative from the RCMP told the Herald there were no updates on the blockade since its last on the weekend.

On Sunday at 2:30 p.m., the RCMP reported approximately 75 vehicles were participating in the blockade across all four lanes of Highway 75 at Provincial Road 200. As of Sunday, no tickets had been issued and no arrests had been made, according to RCMP.

The blockade has hurt local businesses, said Mike’s Parcel owner Mason Peters.

Mike’s Parcel is a storage warehouse housing items Canadian citizens purchased from the U.S. Before the pandemic, Canadian citizens could cross the border and pick up items they had delivered to his business to avoid international shipping fees.

Peters also works with commercial carriers, but none of his customers have been able to make it through the Pembina-Emerson crossing.

“The government policies for two years have destroyed more than half of our business, because we depended on free flow of traffic,” said Peters.

“These blockades are kind of destroying the other half, because half of our business still went through commercially — so we’re at a point now where we have zero customers.”

— Grand Forks Herald