Mother of unvaxxed Canadian trucker who died from COVID condemns blockade: ‘It’s time they went home’

lindamy · 2022-02-09

Mother of unvaxxed Canadian trucker who died from COVID condemns blockade: ‘It’s time they went home’

By JOSEPH WILKINSON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 09, 2022 AT 9:12 PM

The mother of a Canadian trucker who died from COVID-19 after never getting the vaccine is upset with the ongoing blockade protest among anti-mandate truckers in Ottawa.

“They’re shutting down the economy of our country and (the U.S.),” Marg Makins told CNN. “It is really disruptive. All kinds of people, nobody can go to work or use those roads. Trucks can’t get through with their cargoes, so it’s time they went home.”

Makins’ son David Mitchell, 70, died from COVID in October. Though he never got the vaccine, Makins said he was just busy with other things and not actively against it, according to CNN.

Protestors against Covid-19 vaccine mandates block the roadway at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on February 9, 2022. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)

She spoke out as about 100 truckers continued blocking the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, because they’re upset with a Canadian law requiring all truckers who enter the country to be fully vaccinated.

The protesters, calling themselves the “Freedom Convoy,” rolled across Canada for a few weeks before arriving in the capital city of Ottawa and blocking major roads with trucks.

The Canadian mandate is rather inconsequential given that the U.S. has a similar vaccine requirement for truckers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 90% of Canadian truckers are fully vaccinated, painting the blockaders as a vocal minority.

“It’s a horrible thing to watch somebody die of this disease,” Makins told CNN on Tuesday. “I’m hoping (these truckers) can hear what I have to say and how bad COVID can be and maybe save somebody in their family or even themselves.”

Mitchell fell sick in early September 2021 and was hospitalized on Sept. 18, CNN reported. He was placed on a ventilator shortly after his arrival at the hospital.

After almost a month on the ventilator, Mitchell was taken off Oct. 15 and died almost immediately, Makins told CNN. Makins outlived all three of her children, according to Mitchell’s obituary.

“Now my children are all gone,” she told CNN. “It’s sort of the wrong way around. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”

Joseph Wilkinson

New York Daily News
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Joseph Wilkinson is a breaking news reporter at the New York Daily News. He is from Pittsburgh and was previously an intern at Sports Illustrated.