Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly hesitant with ‘Freedom Convoy’ because of G20 experience in Toronto, documents show
OTTAWA - As Ottawa's police chief, Peter Sloly was reluctant to crack down on so-called Freedom Convoy" protesters blocking the streets around Parliament Hill last winter given his experience of mass arrests at the G20 in Toronto in 2010, documents introduced at the Emergencies Act inquiry show.
A memo tabled Tuesday that summarizes a Feb. 6 call among federal, provincial and city government officials show the Ottawa police - by then 10 days into the occupation - viewed the Wellington Street protest encampment as an eyesore" but the least risky" of all in the city.
Sloly believed it would be riskier to crack down on it, the notes written by a federal official show.
The inquiry, which is examining whether the federal government was justified in invoking extraordinary emergency powers last winter to end the protest heard, from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on Tuesday.
Watson insisted neither he nor the city council could direct the police" on operational matters, even as testimony and documents at the inquiry describe a police force that was operationally overwhelmed.
In the Feb. 6 call, Sloly referred to protests in Toronto during the G20 conference in 2010, when he was a deputy chief of Toronto police, and said he was concerned about utilizing mass arrests" given that experience.
The notes show that Sloly also said there was a newborn infant" in the crowd, and avoiding harm to vulnerable individuals was a primary objective" of the police.
It is not a road he is looking to go down because of the legal and human rights implication," says a summary of the meeting written by an unspecified federal official.
On the call that day were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser Jody Thomas, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault, and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, top federal deputy ministers, Sloly and Ottawa police deputy chief Steve Bell.
The notes reveal for the first time that CSIS was looking for but did not find substantial connections to foreign actors - either via fundraising or organizing - among the convoy protesters at that point.
There is no major organizing of truckers coming from USA to Canada as part of this convoy. It is primarily a domestic issue," the notes quote Vigneault as telling the others.
There are some individuals from other (...) causes who are hardened elements who will likely use violence but they see this as not their mission," the document says. Vigneault indicated that they were spread across the country - on Parliament Hill, as well as in Quebec City, Toronto and Alberta -but said they were not actively participating or organizing it and are likely using this as a recruiting ground."
There is no foreign actors identified at this point supporting or financing this convoy," the notes show Vigneault said.
Vigneault said the federal assessment was supported by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), as well as banks, which he said were tracking the GoFundMe and other fundraising platforms for the convoy organizers.
CSIS has also not seen any foreign money coming from other states to support this," Vigneault said, according to the document.
The deputy public safety minister, Rob Stewart, asked whether there could be a core group of negotiators from Ontario, Canada, (Ottawa police), etc" to more quickly diffuse the protest in order to satisfy the political objectives of the federal government."
Sloly responded that he believed much of" the solution could be found through negotiations," which he stressed were the first option" even for the most volatile" encampments, but only once the Ottawa police had more boots on the ground.
According to the document, Sloly estimated it would take two to three days to get the worst actors out of the encampments."
Once done, the remaining seven core organizers are reasonable and can be negotiated with," Sloly is quoted as saying.
At one point the city looked at naming mediators, the document shows, including former senator Murray Sinclair (high trust and low-name recognition"), United Nations Ambassador Bob Rae (low trust and high-name recognition") or former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour, who was not described. Ultimately, it was Mayor Jim Watson's office that negotiated with protest organizers and tried to strike a deal to move trucks out of residential areas onto Parliament Hill a week later.
Sloly recognized the situation in Ottawa was much different than the one he faced in Toronto in 2010. He said on the Feb. 6 call that 3,000 vehicles had come to the city but, from a tactical perspective, the trucks in Wellington do not need to be moved."
He noted, however, that another encampment of protesters who gathered at Rideau Street seem to resemble a quasi-motorcycle group." They adopted an aggressive stature," blocking access routes to hospitals, pushing for fuel supply, says the meeting memo.
By this time, the Ottawa police had 120 to 130 officers -a mix of Ottawa, OPP and RCMP personnel - working at the protest,some of whom had been there for 14 days straight.
The city needed reinforcements to relieve them and eventually requested an additional 1,800 officers, Watson testified Tuesday.
We needed help," Watson told inquiry commissioner Paul Rouleau.
Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga
Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc