The government will use that act to force towing companies to remove big rigs and other vehicles that are blocking highways and other critical infrastructure, establish zones where public assembly is not allowed, and require banks to suspend or freeze accounts suspected of supporting the blockades, including those belonging to companies whose trucks are part of the convoy.

Britain's envoy to Canada says the two countries are co-operating on a tough new set of sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine.

The police also warn that protesters' vehicles and other property may be seized and possibly forfeited and that charges or convictions related to unlawful activity may lead to them being barred from travelling to the United States.

Protesters opposed to vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions held rallies in cities across Canada on Saturday, February 5, 2022, in a show of solidarity with a week-long demonstration in the national capital, while the effort to end the newly re-energized protest in Ottawa shifted gears to the legal arena.

GoFundMe has been used to raise more than $10 million to support the anti-vaccine mandate protesters that have brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill for close to a week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will neither meet with nor be intimidated by the convoy of Canadians he says spent the last few days harassing local businesses, waving Nazi flags and stealing food from the homeless.

The federal government is not saying who it suspects was behind the Jan. 19 attack, which has left some diplomats without access to some online services almost a week later.

Russia has positioned about 100,000 troops across Ukraine's borders along with tanks and other heavy artillery, stoking fears across Europe of an invasion, but Russia has denied it intends to do that.

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a China expert at the University of Ottawa who spent more than three decades in the federal public service working on China issues, said the claim is "ludicrous".

The international watchdog is taking Canada to task in a new report over what it says are serious domestic and foreign policy challenges on human rights.