The police department and Ottawa City Hall were aware that thousands of convoy protestors intended to stay put for at least a month.
A week before the first trucks entered the nation’s capital, on Jan. 21, local officials learned about the alleged “Freedom Convoy” protests, according to records submitted to the Public Order Emergency Commission and made public on Monday.
According to Peter Sloly, a former chief of the Ottawa Police Service, the force lacked information regarding the projected length of the event. However, data made public on Monday reveals that top city authorities were fully aware of the possibility of a big and protracted protest.
Steve Kanellakos, the city’s top bureaucrat, testified Monday that the city’s hotel association warned him of a surge in long-term hotel bookings days before heavy trucks and protesters ground downtown Ottawa to a halt.
According to a Jan. 25 email given to Mayor Jim Watson’s office, the “fleet” of the demonstration consisted of about 10,000 people who planned to stay in Ottawa for between 30 and 90 days.
Watson’s head of problems and communication, Mathieu Gravel, stated in an email to senior municipal officials, “The truckers are starting to reach out to hotels to book stays of at least 30 days after having earned $3+ million through the crowdfunding project.”
“Basically, (their strategy is to) leave their vehicles in place, chain them together, and try to prevent anyone from entering the city. ”
The federal government’s decision to use emergency powers to disperse the protests on February 14 is the subject of the Public Order Emergency Commission, an impartial judicial investigation. The inquiry will ultimately decide whether Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, was justified in his unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act.
However, throughout the six weeks of hearings that are set, it will also question provincial and municipal authorities on the circumstances that led to the choice to use the most unusual law available to the federal government.
The main issue is whether the federal government had cause to use the Emergencies Act, and whether the demonstrations, which included blockades of the Canada-U.S. S. Without emergency powers, border crossings in Windsor, Ontario, and Coutts, Alberta, could not be resolved.
And a large portion of the inquiry relates to how the protests were handled by the Ottawa police, followed by the Parliamentary Protective Service and RCMP.
On Jan. 24, a convoy organiser reportedly informed city hall that they should anticipate up to 50,000 protesters who intended to “camp out at Parliament Hill forever” and “attempt a citizens’ arrest on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”
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Despite the warning, the Ottawa police only planned a three-day deployment and expected 300 trucks, which was a much smaller number than what actually showed up on January 28 and 29.
The Ottawa Police increased their estimate to 800 “trucks, cars, waggons, and tow trucks” on January 27. ”
What followed was well-documented: weeks of demonstrations; continuous truck horn noise; and, ultimately, the federal government using previously untapped emergency powers.
in February
The primary issue for the judicial commission will be the 14 ruling. However, those who experienced what the police described as a “occupation” in Ottawa will gain a lot of insight into how the city handled the matter along the way.
Documents show Ottawa police and City Hall anticipated convoy protests.
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