Coutts is a quiet village in southern Alberta, just one hour from Lethbridge. But when protestors arrived in Coutts in January 2022, chaos followed.
Protestors gathered in Coutts to protest vaccine mandates and health restrictions. But the protest was far from peaceful. Some of the protestors are accused of plotting to kill RCMP officers. The police seized many weapons from the protestors.
Protestors used a convoy of trucks to block the Sweet Grass-Coutts border, the only 24-hour commercial border crossing between Sweet Grass, Montana, in the United States (US) and Coutts, Alberta.
In other words, this border is a big freaking deal. Blocking it is an even bigger freaking deal.
The Sweet Grass-Coutts border crossing is the most travelled port in Montana, used chiefly for moving goods between the US and Canada.
The standoff became known as the Coutts Blockade and put the small village of Coutts on the global stage. Since then, Coutts’ residents have struggled to recover.
While some residents of Coutts supported the convoy and their beliefs, others didn’t. With a population of just over 250, the village’s residents are now divided.
According to Coutts’ mayor Jim Willet, the Blockade split his community. But the Coutts Blockade was harder on some than others.
One resident, who is an Afghanistan veteran, had to leave the village because the protest triggered her post-traumatic stress disorder.
An older woman curled up in a ball in the passenger seat of a car while passing the convoy on her way to a doctor’s appointment.
“There will still be a few who won’t move on…There is still some healing, and I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of all the things that have put us on one side or the other,” Keith Dangerfield, owner of the Hills and Home Café, told iHeartRadio.
The Coutts Blockade left a deep wound on Coutts. That wound was recently reopened when the convoy returned to Coutts for the one-year anniversary of the Blockade.
But this time around, protestors are gathering for a different reason. To free the men that were arrested during the Coutts Blockade in 2022.
Chris Carbert, Chris Lysak, Anthony Olienick, and Jerry Morin were arrested for conspiring to kill RCMP officers after they were found with guns and body armour.
When the convoy arrived in Coutts, they were greeted by multiple police vehicles and even a helicopter. The police did not stop the event but made it clear that a large-scale disruption would not be allowed.
Things were a lot more civil this time around. But what may have been a nice reunion for protestors was a painful reminder to some residents of Coutts.
