The mayor of Windsor, Ont., is calling for residents to treat one another as human beings after police charged a woman for allegedly threatening to bomb his home over COVID-19 mandates.
Windsor police said they arrested the 31-year-old woman Thursday for a social media post on a thread about COVID-19 and pandemic mandates. They allege she made the comments Monday, a day after a protest was cleared at the Ambassador Bridge.
"Regardless of your opinion on vaccinations or Justin Trudeau or myself or Doug Ford, we all just have to step back and take a breath and realize that we're dealing with human beings and that we all have more in common than differences," Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a phone interview.
The mayor has been outspoken about the recent protest against pandemic measures on the Windsor side of the Ambassador Bridge that shut down Canada-bound traffic from Detroit.
Police cleared the area of the protest on Sunday and the bridge reopened just before midnight.
The Windsor protest was similar to a larger one that's been running for three weeks in Ottawa, where the downtown core has been occupied by some truckers and others with the so-called Freedom Convoy seeking an end to pandemic measures. Ottawa's police chief resigned amid the chaos.
Windsor police said Wednesday that earlier this week, officers intercepted a small truck convoy purportedly set on once again blocking the Ambassador Bridge, the largest commercial trade route between Canada and the U.S.
Dilkens said a threat to his home, where he lives with his wife and children, was over the line.
"I get that I'm the mayor of a city and I signed up for that job, but first and foremost, I'm a husband and a father," he said.
"I've got very broad shoulders and I've become very accustomed to people taking issue with some of the decisions I've made, whether as a councillor or as the mayor of the city, but this development goes well beyond any political disagreements."
He said he wants people to know that his life has also suffered during the pandemic.
"This has been the worst two years of my life," he said.
"I've had to remind myself many times that I knocked on doors and asked for this job. No politician ever wants to shut down arenas, community centres, pools and make your life more difficult. We all want to make your life better."
The woman arrested faces one count of threats to property and was released with court conditions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2022.
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
