A TENTS SITUATION
NCC workers install no camping signs at Confederation Square beside the National War Memorial on Thursday but protesters showed no immediate intent to leave.
No-camping signs were erected Thursday at the National War Memorial in Confederation Square, where a group of people with a wide range of complaints against the government has been squatting since Canada Day.
The signs also serve notice of the Public Works Nuisances Regulations that say no one is allowed to “occupy, reside, camp or sleep in or upon” a public space.
The signs also say: “notice is hereby given requiring you to cease your activity, to remove your personal property from and quit the public work and to not thereafter resume the activity to which this notice applies.”
The property is managed by Public Services and Procurement Canada and policed by the Ottawa Police Service. Ottawa police would not say Thursday if the campers had been given a deadline to leave or if police had been asked to take action, directing all questions to PSPC.
PSPC said the signs went up Thursday morning.
Members of the encampment, now in its 16th week, say they belong to a group called the Canadian Revolution and have espoused a litany of complaints, including claims that the government deliberately allowed COVID-19 into the country, and opposing the wearing of masks during the pandemic. They call their encampment the “freedom siege” and one member has livestreamed video of himself accosting NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and a Radio Canada reporter he apparently thought was a member of Parliament.
About a dozen tents were still in place Thursday night on a small patch of grass on the west side of the square, opposite the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council, but there appeared to be little activity on a wet evening. Another smaller tent was pitched on the east side of the cenotaph.
PSPC Minister Anita Anand was asked about the encampment last week.
“The first thing we have to remember is that all Canadians have the right to peaceful protest, but, in respecting memorials, it is important that Canadians are able to pay their respects without harassment and other troubles that may be in the surrounding area,” Anand said.
PSPC has said it “engaged” Ottawa police in the matter and that the harassment by people in the encampment had to stop.
Next week marks the sixth anniversary of the killing of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he stood guard at the war memorial, just metres from the encampment.
The National War Memorial will be the site of a scaled-down Remembrance Day service on Nov. 11.