And though there were pockets of sympathy for the protesters’ frustration with pandemic rules, the bulk of Canadians resented their tactics and wanted them to go home, surveys show. In Ottawa, residents were angry that the authorities took so long to act.

“This thing was a truly fringe movement that got lucky, in my view, in terms of failures of policing,” Mr. Wark said. “I think this has been an extraordinary moment and flash in the pan.”

There were elements of right wing extremism tied to the protests around the country, where Confederate, QAnon and Trump flags had cropped up. Conspiracy theorists could be found milling about Parliament, too: people who believed big Pharma created the coronavirus in order to make money on vaccines or that QR codes allow the government to police our thoughts.

But the protests drew in thousands of people on some weekends, many of them just frustrated Canadians who didn’t want to be forced to get a vaccine or were just fed up with the pandemic and its restrictions. The majority of the more than $8 million donated to the truckers through GiveSendGo came from Canada, a data leak showed.