South Asian truckers say protest convoys didn't resonate with them, caused financial losses

Bearing a load of produce bound for Sobeys, Nihal Singh pulled up to a border checkpoint in northern Montana late last month, only to find the path blocked by big-riggers on the other side.

Semi-trucks and protesters barred the way in Coutts, Alta., as they demonstrated against vaccine mandates, holding up Singh for nearly two days — one of hundreds of drivers stopped by the blockade. After more than 24 hours, he and a group of other South Asian Canadian truckers approached authorities to find out when they could pass.

"That's when another guy, he came out of his truck and he was, like, being racist. He was saying, 'Go back to your truck, go back to India,"' recalled Singh, a 28-year-old driver from Edmonton.

Disturbed, he and his co-driver set out for another crossing — an option unavailable to some, since oversize loads can only move through certain checkpoints — on a route that added more than 500 kilometres to their trip. The delay meant they missed their next load, costing them a week of work — nearly $6,000 between the two of them.

Singh is now mulling an exit from the long-haul industry.

Frustration and disgust at the recent blockades and encampment in Ottawa may be the final straw atop concerns ranging from wages and road safety to social isolation and exhausting working conditions.

"I've been having really bad experiences in the last few months," he said.

If Singh and others are driven away, they'll be leaving a field already desperately short of labour.

The trucker job vacancy rate hit a historic high of nearly 23,000 in the third quarter of 2021, according to figures from Statistics Canada. Young drivers, women and retirement-age workers have left the sector in droves over the past two years, with some 55,000 job vacancies projected for 2023, says Trucking HR Canada.

Demand for drivers soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as a spike in online shopping led to a corresponding climb in deliveries. Meanwhile, the number of workers entering the industry has been dropping for years due to a confluence of factors, including stagnant wages, shifting labour patterns and prohibitive insurance policies that make it difficult for new drivers to earn a living.

South Asian Canadians make up a major axle in the sector, comprising 16 per cent of truckers in 2021 compared with just two per cent 25 years earlier, according to Statistics Canada data. In cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, they account for more than half of drivers.

They also belong to a community with a high vaccination rate, in contrast to the anger over vaccine mandates for border crossing expressed by a small slice of the industry.

Statistics Canada noted last year that a larger proportion of South Asian Canadians reported a willingness to receive the vaccine than the wider population. Brampton, Ont., which has a high concentration of residents with recent roots in India and Pakistan, boasts a vaccination rate of 92.5 per cent among people five and older.

The self-described freedom convoy was fuelled from the start by participants with a grab bag of grievances — many unconnected to pandemic measures for truck drivers. Its co-opting by actors ranging from Confederate-flag wavers to Donald Trump Jr. has led some to reconsider their place in the field.