Truck convoy: Day 21; Mayor to issue apology to residents; interim chief vows to ‘take back … the downtown core’

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The “Freedom Convoy” that converged in Ottawa on Jan. 28 began in response to the federal government’s move to require Canadian truck drivers crossing the U.S. border be fully vaccinated to avoid testing and quarantine requirements, but has evolved into a protest of all public health measures aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers say they will not end their protest until all measures are dropped.

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What you need to know

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2:45 p.m.

One of the groups that is organizing the demonstration, Freedom Convoy 2022, has posted a message on its Facebook page asking people heading to Ottawa to join the protest to “bring bouncy castles or bubble soccer bumpers, consider contributing to the fun!”

The group also released an open letter to all premiers and “elected and appointed officials” calling on them to end vaccine mandates and passports, masking requirements and all state of emergency declarations “pertaining to our peaceful protests” as well as providing financial protection for small businesses harmed by COVID restrictions and to “respect freedom of choice without discrimination.”

The letter called for a Supreme Court of Canada review of the constitutional validity of COVID-19 laws and restrictions and a public inquiry of the government’s response to COVID-19.

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The letter said the protests have “inspired millions of Canadians to resolutely demand the return of their freedoms” and become a “beacon of hope” for citizens across the globe.

The letter described the demonstration as a “truly Canadian gathering,” with food sharing, dancing and concerts. “Children drew thank-you cards for truckers and handed roses to police officers in between playing street hockey, drinking hot chocolate, and jumping in bouncy castles.”

That description stands in stark contrast with the complaints of some residents downtown about harassment, horn honking and disruptions.

Many businesses downtown, including the Rideau Centre, have been closed for security reasons for almost three weeks.

2:15 p.m.

Matt Torigian, the former Waterloo region police chief who had been hired to replace former Ottawa chief Peter Sloly has withdrawn his services and is not seeking compensation.

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1:45 p.m.

The atmosphere in the downtown core was markedly different on Thursday morning as the “Freedom Convoy” protest entered Day 21.

An increased police presence and its attendant threat of arrests did not go unnoticed by demonstrators, nor the new fencing erected in front of Parliament Hill, but their resolve appeared undented. As one man who had commandeered a disused bus shelter in front of Parliament Hill said, “I’m worried, but I’m not leaving, not on my own.

“The police will do what they do, but we’re here peacefully and we have a right to do so.”

The police, however, offered a different opinion, with a group of about 10 officers distributing notices to participants informing them of the “severe” penalties they may face of they don’t cease “further unlawful activity and remove your vehicle and/or property immediately from all unlawful protest sites.” As the officers moved through the demonstration on Wellington Street, with one motioning to trucks to stop blowing their horns, a growing trail of catcalling protestors tagged along behind.

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Other protestors weren’t worried at all. On Kent Street, Lucas Sawatzky kept warm in the cab of his rig, ready for whatever might transpire.

“I think it’s more of a threat or a scare tactic than anything,” said the 30-year-old Manitoba native. “They may come, but I’m not going to worry about it. I’ll worry about it when they come.

“Rumours run down the streets all day long,” he added. “Yesterday they were saying they’d come with tear gas. But why worry about it until it happens? Do you think the cops are going to let us know when they’re going to come?”

Like many, Sawatzky says his participation in the convoy is about freedom of choice.

“You want to wear a mask? Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. But don’t force people. The government is supposed to be working for us, not against us.”

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1:40 p.m.

Interim Chief Steve Bell says police are limiting access to the demonstration area and “only those with lawful reasons to enter the area such as residents, businesses and others with lawful reasons will be allowed in that area.”

Speaking to the members of the Ottawa Police Services Board during a brief special meeting on Thursday at 1 p.m, Bell said more details will be released at 3:30 p.m. in a media conference.

“To the residents of the downtown core: Please know your safety is our priority. WE know you have been through a lot. We’re committed to returning your streets back to normal,” said Bell.

But he also added that he knows the added police presence will be distressing to some people, but said all of the police actions will be communicated to the public “as soon as we can.”

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Asked by Coun. Jeff Leiper, who joined the board on Wednesday about the threat of violence, Bell said the safety of residents is the top priority and they will be be told what’s going on so they can be prepared.

Meanwhile, the new chair of the board, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, confirmed that Bell is the acting police chief and has the board’s support .

“For the time being, we need you to focus on the operation and need the membership to know there’s a stability here,” he said.

“I wanted to say that clear message to all of the (police) members watching and the public watching. That right now we have an interim chief.”

Bell replied that police need to be focused “on what’s in front of us.”

“I can tell you that every police officer and support staff that are involved in this are absolutely focused on removing these protests from our streets.”

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12:30 p.m.

The City of Ottawa has released a list of “further action” council has approved in response to the downtown demonstration — including asking the province not allow demonstrators to apply for Ontario’s “staycation” tax credit.

Mayor Jim Watson is also to issue a formal apology on behalf of city council to all Ottawa residents, in particular those in the downtown core, for failing to provide safety and security.

Other actions include free transit service to residents and workers in the affected areas beginning  Sunday and lasting 30 days after the city lifts the state of emergency. This is to be funded by the transit operating reserve while the city seeks additional compensation from other levels of government.

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The city is also seeking support for the tools recently made available to end the demonstration, including towing illegally parked vehicles; setting deadlines for compliance’ dismantling illegal structures and fires; enforcing the terms of the injunction granted to the city and coordinating greater crowd control and dispersal measures.

Looking forward to the weekend, city staff will work with councillors to close potentially affected roads to diminish the number of vehicles able to access the downtown core on Saturday and Sunday. Requests will be reviewed with the Ottawa Police Service to ensure they can be accommodated.

The city’s Anti-Racism Secretariat is to work with the community-led Anti-Racism Advisory Table to consider a campaign to raise awareness about the negative impacts of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

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Meanwhile, the city has confirmed that Coun. Eli El-Chantiry is to replace Coun. Diane Deans as chair of the Police Services Board. Resident Suzanne Valiquet will replace member Sandy Smallwood, who resigned on Wednesday, and Coun. Jeff Leiper will replace Councillor King, who also resigned.

A replacement for Coun. Carol Anne Meehan, who also resigned, is to be discussed at a special board meeting Thursday afternoon.

The city clerk is to canvas members of council wishing to serve on the board for the remainder of the term, including consultation work to hire a new chief of police and a review of the actions of both the Ottawa Police Service and the board related to the demonstration. The results of the city clerk’s canvas will be brought forward after the end of the city’s state of emergency.

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Noon

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says using the Emergencies Act is a measure of last resort to bring an end to the illegal and undemocratic blockades that have harmed Canadians for nearly three weeks now.

The House of Commons is debating the use of the Emergencies Act and will later vote on the government’s decision to invoke the law for the first time since it was introduced in 1988.

Trudeau says everyone is tired of COVID-19 and protests expressing displeasure with the government’s decisions on how to handle the pandemic are not a problem.

He says the extraordinary powers under the act are being used only because of the illegal blockade of Canadian streets and critical infrastructure funded in part by foreign entities.

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Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen says her party does not support the use of the act because the government has not proven the demonstrations pose a serious threat to Canada’s sovereignty, security or territorial integrity.

Bergen is highly critical of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh for supporting the use of the act and says history will not judge that decision kindly.

11 a.m.

The Ottawa Police Services Board will hold a special meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday following an emotionally-charged meeting on Wednesday night.

Wednesday night, councillors voted in 15-9 favour to remove board chair Coun. Diane Deans and the resignation of Coun. Carol Anne Meehan and Coun. Rawlson King, who is the founder of the anti-racism secretariat. Sandy Smallwood, the vice-chair of the board, also resigned.

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Mayor Jim Watson and 14 councillors chose Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, a former chair of the board, as the new chair. Coun. Jeff Leiper was appointed to replace King. A replacement for Meehan has not been selected.

The Police Services Board is the civilian body responsible for governing the Ottawa Police Services,

The special meeting will be held over Zoom. The public can watch the meeting at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88116087736

10:45 a.m.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said that “we are aware of increased police presence downtown.

“We have reached out to Ottawa Police who have confirmed schools are safe,” the board said on social media.

“We will maintain contact with police through the day. In the event of any changes to the current situation, we will activate our safe schools procedures.”

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Friday is a professional activity day for English public board students.

9:50 a.m.

Police were again issuing bluntly-worded leaflets to protesters Thursday morning warning of “severe penalties” if they don’t stop further unlawful activity and remove their vehicles from protest sites.

The long list of potential consequences included being arrested and charged, having vehicles and property seized, the suspension or cancellation of driver’s licences and commercial vehicle operator’s registration, and having personal or business accounts examined and restricted.

Those who bring minors to an unlawful protest can be charged and face fines of up to $5,000 and spend five years in prison, the leaflet warned. Those delivering fuel can be charged.

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Meanwhile, a second flyer informed protesters that if their vehicle is towed they must go to police headquarters on Elgin Street with a valid driver’s licence and proof of permission to drive the vehicle if not the owner in order to learn where it was towed.

9 a.m.

As the demonstrators’ fires smouldered beneath unrelenting freezing rain early Thursday, Parliamentary Protective Services oversaw the installation of portable steel fences along the wall that separates Parliament Hill from Wellington Street.

Police officers moved among the trucks and the tents as their occupants began to wake to the sound of generators and the occasional air horn.

Following the arrival of buses carrying dozens of officers, the increased police presence in the protest area raised the spectre of a larger operation to clear the demonstrators, but officers carried no riot enforcement equipment. No major operation had begun as of 9 a.m. Thursday.

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At the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive, demonstrators sheltered from the rain in their vehicles.

“Freedom Convoy” organizer Pat King was streaming live, watching police gather and calling for “hundreds of thousands” of Ottawa people to come down and support the protest and surveying a growing police presence downtown.

Shortly after 8 a.m., a pair of OC Transpo buses filled with police officers rolled up to an apparent staging point on Elgin Street south of Wellington Street.

Public works and government services vehicles arrived near the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive, which was jammed with vehicles and people, laden with temporary fencing.

The city’s bylaw department warned pet owners among the protesters Thursday morning that “it you are unable to care for your animal as a result of enforcement actions, your animal will placed into protective care for eight days, at your cost” and considered relinquished thereafter.

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Thursday morning, the Quebec government confirmed an unspecified number of Sûreté du Québec officers were en route to the National Capital area.

A spokesman for Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault confirms that Quebec provincial police officers will establish a command centre in Gatineau, The Canadian Press reports.

Louis-Julien Dufresne said provincial police were sent to western Quebec and will be there if needed.

For its part, the SQ referred all questions to the Ottawa police.

On Wednesday evening, interim Ottawa Police Service Chief Steve Bell had said in a statement to city council that “we are going to take back the entirety of the downtown core and every occupied space. We are going to remove this unlawful protest. We will return our city to a state of normalcy.

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“Some of the techniques we are lawfully able and prepared to use are not what we are used to seeing in Ottawa. But we are prepared to use them where necessary to bring about the safest outcome and restore order.

“We know that this has left our residents feeling unsafe and abandoned and has tarnished our own reputation and that of our City. We deeply regret this,” said Bell, who is interim chief following the abrupt resignation Tuesday of former chief Peter Sloly.

“There are many questions being asked about how we got here. We all know that there will be full review and we all welcome it so we can learn from the events of the last three weeks.”

Bell’s vow came at a dramatic city council meeting Wednesday in which Coun. Diane Deans was unseated from chairing the Ottawa Police Services Board.

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A whole term of acrimony that has been bubbling in council came to a head in the evening hours during a closed session of a special meeting and spilled over into the public portion. The “siege” of Ottawa, as so many people have described the “Freedom Convoy” occupation, has shaken city hall.

Council, with a vote of 15-9, removed Deans from the police services board in response to the board’s oversight of the police force during the crisis. The motion to change the board was presented by councillors Scott Moffatt and Laura Dudas.

Earlier Wednesday, city police had handed out notices to protesters encamped on the streets surrounding Parliament Hill warning the Emergencies Act gives them the power to seize vehicles that are part of the nearly three-week-long occupation and ban people from travelling within a certain area.

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Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino tabled motions Wednesday evening in the House of Commons on the specific powers in the act, and the invoking of the act itself.

The motion is to be debated Thursday, while the Senate must also pass separate motions on the specific powers in the act.

The Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois say they will not support the motion, but NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh signalled his party will hold up the minority Liberals, calling the situation a crisis.

The Liberal government has characterized the blockades at the borders and in Ottawa as being connected by a highly co-ordinated, targeted and partly foreign-funded criminal attack on Canadian interests.

Meanwhile, the City of Ottawa continued to advise residents to avoid non-essential travel in the downtown core.

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With snow in the forecast for Thursday and “the demonstration situation remaining very fluid,” the city said that it intends to focus on pedestrian and emergency routes through the area, clearing and treating sidewalks and aiding the safe movement of emergency vehicles, “where possible.”

But the demonstrations have made accessing areas closed to the Parliamentary precinct difficult, city hall said.

Continuing closures Thursday include the Rideau Centre, Ottawa City Hall, and the Main and Rideau branches of the Ottawa Public Library. Ottawa Public Health’s vaccination clinic at the University of Ottawa Minto Sports Complex remained closed.

Traffic disruptions were expected to continue. Bus routes with service downtown were expected to remain on detour, but detours were modified Tuesday with “more reliable access to roads in Centretown” including sections of Bank Street, Gladstone Avenue, Albert Street and Bronson Avenue.

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Residents who need to travel in and out of the downtown core were advised to use O-Train Line 1 but Rideau Station can only be accessed through the William Street entrance.

The National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Canadian Museum of History remained closed.

The University of Ottawa is moving classes online until Monday in light of the demonstration.

The university said earlier Wednesday evening that security will be enhanced starting Thursday as it previously has been during the weekends while the protest has been in town.

“We recognize that the current situation may be distressing, and we encourage you to make use of our available mental health support,” the university said in its notice.

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-Postmedia staff, with files from The Canadian Press

READ MORE COVERAGE OF THE ANTI-VACCINE MANDATE PROTEST IN DOWNTOWN OTTAWA