Emergencies Act inquiry hears that residents felt 'abandoned' by the city, police

Two Ottawa city council‐ lors have told the public in‐ quiry probing the federal government's use of emer‐ gency powers to end last winter's protest convoy oc‐ cupation of downtown Ot‐ tawa that they struggled to convince city police to de‐ ploy resources to residen‐ tial neighbourhoods.

"It was a general sense of fear, terror and dismay, that they felt abandoned by their city and by their police," Catherine McKenney, a coun‐ cillor for a core downtown ward, told the inquiry on Fri‐ day.

The Public Order Emer‐ gency Commission is review‐ ing the circumstances that led up to the government's deci‐ sion on Feb. 14 to invoke the Emergencies Act to end an an‐ ti-vaccine mandate protest that had taken over the downtown. The legislation — which the Trudeau govern‐ ment deployed for the first time in the act's 34-year histo‐ ry — requires that a public in‐ quiry be held after it is in‐ voked.

WATCH | McKenney says Ottawa residents felt 'abandoned' by city and po‐ lice:

McKenney appeared alongside Mathieu Fleury, who represents a ward just east of the parliamentary precinct. They testified to what they heard from resi‐ dents about the impact of the protests and their experi‐ ences with city hall and the police service.

Both councillors said they felt that police officers weren't properly serving the residential neighbourhoods just outside of what police called the "red zone" around Parliament Hill.

"There were incidents — vehicles on sidewalks, police nearby not taking ac‐ tion," Fleury said.

"It grew into a lot of ques‐ tions from all of us, including residents and business .... 'Are we in a state of chaos?'"

Fleury is not running for re-election in the upcoming Oct. 24 municipal elec‐ tion, while McKenney is run‐ ning to be the city's new may‐ or.

The second day of the in‐ quiry saw a number of email messages between McKen‐ ney, Fleury, their residents, other city councillors and Ot‐ tawa police read into evi‐ dence.

Emails show safety con‐ cerns were raised

In one email presented to the inquiry, the Château Lau‐ rier, a historic hotel down‐ town, said that a sprinkler fail‐ ure had triggered a fire alarm. Hotel staff said in the email that no fire truck could get to the hotel, and they worried about what would happen if someone at the hotel called for an ambu‐ lance.

Fleury flipped the email to then-Ottawa police chief Pe‐ ter Sloly, calling it an "ex‐ tremely dangerous" chal‐ lenge.

"Did you ever get a sub‐ stantive response to that?" asked Paul Champ, a lawyer for a coalition of businesses at the commission.

"No," Fleury said. In another email, the head of the Rideau Centre, a major mall in the city's downtown, wrote that it took more than 24 hours to remove a fuel truck from the mall's under‐ ground parking lot.

Fleury called that situation unacceptable as well.

On Feb. 8, McKenney wrote to Sloly and other councillors regarding con‐ cerns about vehicles blocking Metcalfe Street, according to an email entered as evidence.

Questioned by commis‐ sion counsel Natalia Ro‐ driguez, McKenney said they doesn't recall receiving a re‐ sponse from Sloly.

Both councillors expressed frustration with Mayor Jim Watson, their fellow city coun‐ cillors and city hall, saying they failed to heed their calls for a plan to handle the protests.

WATCH | Witnesses' lawyer: ''It became an envi‐ ronment of anarchy in downtown Ottawa":

Under cross-examination, a lawyer for the Ottawa Police Service, David Migicovsky, questioned the councillors on the force's resources.

"I don't know if you've had the unfortunate experience of being in a hospital in recent years, but just as in a hospital, patients get triaged in emer‐ gency," he said.

"That was going to happen with the police as well."

Migicovsky also said mov‐ ing officers to other zones could have posed an opera‐ tional risk.

Residents describe feel‐ ing trapped

Their testimony capped a day that focused on how the protests affected local resi‐ dents and businesses last winter. Several witnesses de‐ scribed a sense of help‐ less anxiety.

"I found myself trapped," said Victoria De La Ronde, one of the first people to testify before the Public Or‐ der Emergency Commission.

De La Ronde, who testified that she has trouble with her eyesight, said the protesters who blocked streets and filled the air with fumes and the sound of honking horns last winter left her feeling "trapped and helpless."

WATCH | 'I felt trapped and helpless,' Ottawa resi‐ dent says of convoy protest:

She said she takes pride in her independence and relies on sounds, like crosswalk sig‐ nals, to get around in her dai‐ ly life. She also said she uses food delivery services and taxis.

That changed when the Freedom Convoy rolled into town, she testified Friday morning.

"It was such an experience of helplessness, especially during the event where the horn blowing was so loud and continuous. There was ab‐ solutely no place for me to go in my own unit, there was no place that had any less sound," De La Ronde said.

"There was no escape to that."

De La Ronde told the in‐ quiry that eight months after police moved in to disperse the crowd, she is still dealing with the protest's lingering impact on her hearing.

Zexi Li, an Ottawa resident who helped secure an injunc‐ tion against protesters to si‐ lence their incessant honking, said the noise made her anx‐ ious.

"It didn't feel safe. My guard was up all the time," Li said of the experience of walk‐ ing in Ottawa's downtown at the time.

"It was incredibly difficult to get anything done because of the noise .... Sleep depriva‐ tion was one of the things that affected me personally."

Call with Sloly left BIAs 'shaken'

The commission also heard from local business as‐ sociations about how the protests affected stores and restaurants.

Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier Busi‐ ness Improvement Area (BIA), which covers a part of the city east of Parliament Hill, said many businesses felt it wasn't safe to open

"Unlike what happened to businesses during COVID, businesses were completely crippled, and that has to be understood by this commis‐ sion because there were no deliveries," Carrier said.

Carrier said one of the mo‐ ments that shook her during last winter's convoy protest came during a call with Sloly.

"I remember the chief say‐ ing at one point, 'You guys are scared. I get it. I'm scared, too,'" Carrier said, her voice trembling during her testimo‐ ny.

"I thought if the chief of police is scared, something much bigger is happening here than a protest, and that personally scared me. And I think a lot of us on that call were shaken."

WATCH | 'I remember being scared,' Ottawa resi‐ dent says of convoy protest:

Sloly resigned on Feb. 15 after being roundly criti‐ cized over his handling of the truck convoy protest.

Carrier, who appeared alongside Kevin McHale, exec‐ utive director of the Sparks Street BIA, said she couldn't remember the exact date of the call but believes it was af‐ ter the first weekend of the protest.

Tom Curry, one of Sloly's lawyers, pushed back on that statement during cross-exam‐ ination, claiming that his client was merely saying that he understood people were frightened.

"At no time did Chief Sloly say he was scared or fright‐ ened personally. Would that be fair to him?" Curry asked. "No," Carrier responded. "He was very candid with us .... I think he was relating that he, too, was scared."

Carrier said the manager of a Canadian Tire told her on the third weekend of the protest that the store's stocks of "knives and bear spray" had sold out.

"That is something I re‐ ported immediately to [the Ottawa Police Service]," she said.

Mayor Jim Watson ap‐ pearing next week

During cross-examination, Brendan Miller, a lawyer for the convoy organizers, asked Carrier if she saw anyone wav‐ ing a knife and if she could be certain it was protesters who were buying bear spray and knives.

"Most people I know that hunt with knives don't wave them around,'' Carrier re‐ sponded.

Next week, the inquiry will hear from a number of city of‐ ficials, including Mayor Wat‐ son and Patricia Ferguson, the acting deputy chief of Ot‐ tawa police, along with mem‐ bers of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Hearings are scheduled to wrap up in late November.

The final report of the commission, headed by On‐ tario Court of Appeal Jus‐ tice Paul Rouleau, is due in February.