During a recent segment on US Fox News, anchor and commentator Tucker Carlson claimed that Canada “took a dramatic move towards legitimately dangerous authoritiarianism.”
Carlson is an extremely popular commentator who is known for articulating far-right views, which have been characterized by some as “conspiracy theories.”
In the segment, Carlson questions the Canadian government’s COVID travel protocols, which require travelers entering Canada to present a negative test before travel and to take a test when arriving at a Canadian port of entry. Travelers must then quarantine in a designated hotel for up to three days while test results are processed, at the traveler’s own cost.
Referring to the hotels that have been designated for traveler quarantines, Carlson states that “when this happens in other countries, and it does, we call those facilities internment camps.”
He continues to refer to Canada’s COVID travel protocols as “Trudeau’s internment policy” and insinuates that the policy represents a form of human rights violation stating that “suddenly Canada is a flagrant violator of the most basic human rights.”
Narratives characterizing Canada’s travel protocols as “forced detention” and “totalitarianism” have been promoted on Russian state media platforms like RT.
