'Freedom Convoy' rally planned Saturday at Port of Roosville

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” movement that has swept through Canada over the past few weeks will make its way to Eureka on Saturday as several hundred people are expected to participate in what organizers are calling a “freedom rally” at the Port of Roosville.

According to event organizer Carmen Davis, participants on the U.S. side of the border plan to meet just south of Eureka around 12:30 p.m., before driving their vehicles to the border crossing, where they will be met by a similar contingent making its way down from Elko in British Columbia. Together, the two groups plan to hold peaceful rallies on their respective sides of the international crossing in support of those who have been affected by the Covid-19 requirements to cross the border.

“We are showing our support for the convoy that has gone across Canada. Being a border town, we have been very much impacted by closings of the border over the past two and a half years and both governments need to see reason,” Davis said. “We are not protesting. Our goal is to not impede traffic in any way. Our goal is simply to exercise our Constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and gather together with likeminded people who are just wanting their freedoms back.”

Several local officials have shown support for the rally, which plans to host a number of guest speakers.

“These are not wild-eyed radicals; these are working men. It’s reached a point where the working man has stood up and said ‘enough is enough,’” said state Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka. “I think it’s time that the government listens to them.”

“It’s not whether you mask or unmask, are vaccinated or not, it’s the choice. Whether you get to personally choose whether you do those things or not. It shouldn’t be dictated by your government or your employer, especially for the truckers,” said Lincoln County Commissioner Josh Letcher, who will speak at the event Saturday. “If we shut down trucking for a few days in America our shelves are going to be empty. A lot of supplies will be stuck somewhere.”

FOR DAVIS and her sister, Savanna Andrasko of Kalispell, the rally is less about the truckers and more about the restrictions that have kept the pair of Canadian citizens, who have spent their adult lives living is the US, from visiting their parents just 15 miles on the other side of the border from Roosville.

The story of their family’s separation is one that is all too familiar to many families in Eureka and the surrounding area.

“I am a lover of both nations, but I am literally 90 miles from much of my family and it is very difficult to go see them. They are not backing down on the restrictions to get into Canada and it has really been tough,” said Andrasko, who has four children under the age of 10. “I am not going to keep my kids away from their grandparents, so I have been jumping through all of the hoops with my small family so that my kids can go to their grandparent’s farm and have the life they should. The border officials have really been running me through the ringer, though.”

Andrasko spoke of “nightmare” trips across the border, being harassed by Border Patrol officers and even being made to sit in the car with her children in sub-zero temperatures for more than an hour during their last crossing in January.

“I follow the rules every time, sticking Q-Tips up my kids’ noses and everything. It’s traumatizing my 5-year-old,” Andrasko said. “My kids have had to listen to Border Patrol agents tell them they will go to jail if they break quarantine. It’s abusive what law-abiding citizens, who happen to live in border communities, have to put up with just to go see their families.”

Andrasko says that getting a Covid test has become nearly impossible since the U.S. reopened its borders to travelers from Canada in November. With visitors needing a negative test to return home, the availability of tests in the area has dwindled.

“Up until recently, I had been able to get a test within a couple of days whenever I planned to cross the border,” she said. “Now that they are letting people cross the border and Canada is still requiring testing to get back into the country, it’s impossible to get a test.”

When Davis’s sister Novalee Reeves, who lives in Cranbrook, called Monday and said she was organizing a rally on her side of the border, Davis quickly set to work putting one together in Eureka.

As of Thursday afternoon, three guest speakers were scheduled for the event, including commissioner Letcher, state Rep. Neil Durham, R-Eureka, and Mike France, president of the Libby chapter of the John Birch Society.

“It’s mind boggling to me that, in my lifetime, I would see the freedoms of both countries restricted so dramatically, but it’s amazing to me what a group of freedom-minded people can accomplish in just five days,” Davis said. “It’s been impressive to see.”