Ottawa police chief expected ‘Freedom Convoy’ to leave after one weekend despite OPP assessment, inquiry hears
OTTAWA-Ottawa's police chief misjudged how long the so-called Freedom Convoy" would stay in the nation's capital, faced racism and dissent within his own ranks, and wanted to resign midway through the crisis, the emergencies inquiry heard Wednesday.
Diane Deans, the former chair of the city's police services board, told the inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act that Peter Sloly downplayed the potential seriousness of the approaching convoy protests in late January, stating he would be very surprised" if the demonstrators stayed in the capital more than two or three days.
He said to me, What are you so worried about?'" Deans said Wednesday.
That assessment turned out to be drastically wrong, as the demonstrators entrenched in the city for three weeks in an occupation that helped prompt the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 for the first time since it was created in 1988.
It also clashed with intelligence that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) had gathered in the days before the convoy arrived in Ottawa, the inquiry heard.
An OPP intelligence bulletin dated Jan. 26, which was tabled at the inquiry on Wednesday, said the convoy organizers had stated an intent to remain at Parliament Hill" until the government lifted the COVID-19 health measures they were protesting.
The bulletin also said the protesters were planning to stage disruptions that may gridlock areas around Parliament buildings and parts of Ottawa," and that the organizers had no expressed departure date for when participants will disperse or the action will end."
One of Sloly's deputy chiefs, Trish Ferguson, also briefed the police board that day in an email that warned, This will be a significant and extremely fluid event that could go on for a prolonged period."
Asked about the OPP intelligence bulletin on Wednesday, Deans said she would have liked to have seen that information, but stressed that, based on her contact with Sloly before the convoy arrived, they believed that (the protesters) were going to leave."
She added that she later realized this might have been wishful thinking."
A summary of interviews conducted by inquiry lawyers with Deans prior to Wednesday's testimony paints Sloly's term as Ottawa's police chief as a troubled one, which ended with his resignation on Feb. 15, a day after the federal Emergencies Act was invoked to give police extraordinary powers to end the blockades.
According to the interview summary with Deans, Sloly was an outsider who faced racism from within the Ottawa police force and the community as the city's first Black police chief, and was perceived as an outsider by the union and some rank-and-file officers. He had difficulty building bridges" in the broader community and with infighting among the force's senior officers, and could not consolidate the support he needed when the protesters arrived.
When the convoy occupation had lasted almost two weeks-and after Sloly had signalled there might not be a police solution to the crisis-he requested an additional 1,800 law enforcement personnel to end the situation. The inquiry has heard that officials in Ottawa were frustrated that the provincial and federal police agencies did not provide this support sooner, after it was formally requested on Feb. 7.
In the interview summary, Deans said she believes Sloly did not get the additional officers sooner because he did not have an operational plan ready to end the protests. She also suggested that a bad relationship" between Sloly and federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair could be the cause of the delay."
Blair is a former Toronto Police chief under whom Sloly served as a deputy chief.
Deans told the inquiry it was never clear to her why the resources were not provided earlier." She said once an integrated command centre was set up with the Ottawa police, OPP and the RCMP, things started to change."
She said she called a police board meeting on Feb. 5 to identify the resources Ottawa police needed to end the occupation. At that point she said the police plan was unclear - notes from the meeting tabled at the inquiry say the board expressed frustration" at the lack of a clear plan - and Sloly presented his need for 1,800 personnel the next day.
The board was increasingly becoming concerned that there wasn't enough of a plan," Deans told the inquiry.
There was some pressure being brought to bear on the chief for more detail around that plan."
Deans also revealed for the first time that Sloly first expressed some interest" in quitting in a conversation with her a week before he finally resigned on Feb. 15, according to the summary of her interviews with inquiry lawyers. Deans told the lawyers that Sloly suggested there were conditions upon which he might resign."
The next week, according to Deans, it was she who called Sloly to ask if he was serious about leaving. The day after that, Sloly said he would step down and they began negotiating the as-yet-unknown specifics of his departure."
Deans said she didn't believe that the civilian oversight board had the legal authority to fire a police chief.
Sloly's lawyer Tom Curry has already suggested at the inquiry that Sloly stepped aside once he was confident the additional outside police resources were in place to end the protests, and to restore public trust in the Ottawa police that he felt had been lost during the blockades.
The inquiry lead by commissioner Paul Rouleau is tasked with probing why the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with the protests.
The controversial decision created special police powers and compelled banks to freeze protesters' bank accounts for the next nine days. Civil liberties groups and other critics allege the use of the act was an unconstitutional government overreach, and say the inquiry's top job should be to clarify how the law should be used in the future.
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