Caledon Community Road Safety Advocacy organizes town-wide protest

August 28, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Caledon Community Road Safety Advocacy (CCRSA) is calling residents of Caledon, Brampton, and Vaughan to join their protest on September 6, 2025.

The CCRSA advocates for road safety and illegal land use at the municipal, regional, provincial, and federal levels.

Their protest is calling on those who are “tired of illegal truck yards, illegal land use, trucks in residential areas, unqualified truck drivers, and pits, trucks, dust, and noise” to join them.”

Carmela Anzelmo-Palkowski from CCRSA said what started as a Greater Toronto Area protest has now gone nationwide.

“We’re getting messages from across the country of people who want to join us on September 6,” she shared.

The CCRSA is currently holding a poll to decide on the locations of the protest, and on the sixth, will have a “unified day of protest” all across Caledon at the top-selected locations.

“We have a problem all across Caledon, we have a problem across GTA, now we have a problem across Ontario and we’re getting other provinces involved,” said Anzelmo-Palkowski.

In her own neighbourhood, a truck yard is about to open.

“That really pushed us to do it now,” she said.

“That yard showing up is definitely the tipping point. But there’s lots of things going on, so many accidents that have happened within the last month that were really jaw dropping,” shared Amanda Corbett from the CCRSA.

“A lot of it rests with the province, they need to step up, they need to change legislation so that we can get these illegal truck yards out of here. They need to take truck driver licensing seriously, they need to overhaul everything that’s going on in that industry right now, because it’s out of control,” continued Corbett. “Caledon, especially in Bolton, we’re ground zero for a lot of all of that happening, and we’re driving through it every single day.”

Anzelmo-Palkowski said the protest is not just about making a loud statement, but also about educating people about what needs to change.

CCRSA said they received enormous support regarding the protest, and it brought mixed emotions.

“It was kind of surprising and exciting, but it’s disappointing that it’s happening everywhere,” said Anzelmo-Palkowski.

Recently, in the United States, the driver of a semi-truck was arrested after a crash on Florida’s Turnpike that killed three people.

Corbett shared that this news went “viral” and brought a lot of attention to the issue.

“It pains me to say that unfortunately, that is what seems to be the impetus for things to happen,” said Corbett. “It shouldn’t be that way; you should be able to get change without people having to die.”

The location poll is currently available on CCRSA’s Facebook page, and the list of final locations will be shared on all their platforms.

CCRSA shared the community should not hesitate to ask them any questions.

To view the poll, visit www.facebook.com/share/g/1FfD8KQVPZ.