Ottawa Sikh Society closes temple over truck convoy concerns

A Sikh temple in Ottawa is being forced to close temporarily, after posts online suggested members of the truck convoy could stay there while in the city for a rally against vaccine and other COVID-19 health mandates.

The unprecedented step was announced on Facebook, with the Ottawa Sikh Society (OSS) saying it would shut the Gurdwara Sahib on Friday and Saturday.

Usually, temples will allow people who are in need to stay for free.

However, the OSS says it’s come to light that “a few posts being circulated on various social media platforms” have implied its gurdwara “will accommodate (the) truckers’ convoy.”

“These posts are FALSE and unauthorized,” the society writes. “OSS is NOT associated with this protest in any shape or form.”

The group notes that due to the ongoing pandemic, “only a limited number of fully vaccinated people carrying vaccination certificates are allowed to enter Ottawa Gurdwara Sahib for Matha-tek (brief prayer).” It adds the community kitchen is also closed.

The OSS worries the “misguided and unauthorized posts in social media may confuse some unvaccinated truckers to come to Gurdwara Sahib.”

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It’s for this reason and to “mitigate any threats to property or personnel” that the OSS says it’s taken this “drastic step” to close for two days. It’s also blocked access to its parking lot for the time being.

A large convoy of trucks has made its way across the country, headed for Ottawa where a rally is being planned on Saturday. The convoy mobilized after cross-border vaccine mandates were brought in by the Canadian and U.S. governments.

In Canada, truckers must have received a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine in order to avoid having to quarantine upon arrival from the U.S.