Downtown residents still 'traumatized' by convoy, lawyer tells commission

People who lived through last winter's convoy protest and occupation of downtown Ottawa remain "traumatized" by the expe‐ rience, a lawyer represent‐ ing residents and business groups told the public com‐ mission probing the federal government's unprece‐ dented use of emergency powers to clear the capital.

Paul Champ made the comment during introductory remarks on the opening day of the Public Order Emer‐ gency Commission, kicking off six weeks of highly anticipat‐ ed hearings into the events of January and February. On‐ tario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau is presiding over the commission.

Many people in Ottawa felt like they were prisoners in their own home. - Paul Champ, lawyer

"The people in Ottawa are still traumatized, commission‐ er. They're bewildered, they're upset, and I can say, commis‐ sioner, these 30 days that you have, we could have residents line up every day to testify, to tell you their stories."

Champ described an at‐ mosphere of chaos and dan‐ ger during the three weeks that the protesters occupied several blocks of the city's downtown, including Welling‐ ton Street.

He reminded the commis‐ sion that Ottawa's downtown core is home to 15,000 people who live, work and shop there.

"People see the Parliament Buildings and they think this is all government and so forth in downtown Ottawa, but there are people, there are children, there are schools — there's a public elementary school that's about six blocks from here — and the impact on Ottawa for those three weeks of harassment, street blockages, ear-splitting air and train horns, and general lawlessness was unprecedent‐ ed," Champ said.

Residents felt 'aban‐ doned'

Champ described a dan‐ gerous mix of carelessly stored gas cans and propane tanks, and fireworks "pinging" off buildings. During that time, vulnerable residents were denied access to public transit and other basic city services, while shops, restau‐ rants and even the Rideau Centre were forced to close their doors.

"Many people in Ottawa felt like they were prisoners in their own home, and they felt abandoned and they felt un‐ safe," Champ said.

Testimony will begin Friday morning with Ottawa-based lawyer Victoria De La Ronde and Zexi Li, the down‐ town resident who helped se‐ cure an injunction against the protesters. It will continue with Nathalie Carrier, execu‐ tive director of the Vanier BIA, and Kevin McHale, executive director of the Sparks Street BIA, who are expected to de‐ scribe the impact of the protests on downtown busi‐ nesses.

The hearings are sched‐ uled to continue Friday after‐ noon with testimony from two Ottawa city councillors, Catherine McKenney and Mathieu Fleury.

Their testimony is expect‐ ed to conflict with that of oth‐ er witnesses, including pro‐ testers, who argue there was insufficient justification to in‐ voke the Emergencies Act.

Situation downtown 'be‐ came volatile'

On Thursday, the commis‐ sion also heard introductory remarks from David Migicov‐ sky, counsel for the Ottawa Police Service, who echoed some of Champ's comments.

"The protest became dan‐ gerous and the situation be‐ came volatile. This was an un‐ precedented situation, and it required an unprecedented response by the Ottawa Po‐ lice Service," he said.

Migicovsky told the com‐ mission that protests are "a fact of life" in the nation's cap‐ ital, and police have "a well-es‐ tablished process" for dealing with them, including commu‐ nicating with protest organiz‐ ers.

"What you will hear is that this protest was unique in Canadian history," Migicov‐ sky told the commission. "The police had little time to pre‐ pare. The genesis of the protest had only begun a cou‐ ple weeks before it arrived in town, and it gained momen‐ tum with time."

Adding to the confusion was the fact that many of the protesters joined the convoy just prior to its arrival in Ot‐ tawa, Migicovsky said, so the anticipated number of partici‐ pants was "difficult to impos‐ sible to gauge." By the time the main convoy reached the city, it was 40 kilometres long and contained thousands of vehicles, he said.

"That could not have been predicted," Migicovsky said

Nor were police adequate‐ ly prepared for a prolonged occupation, or its impact on downtown residents, he said.

"What none of the intelli‐ gence predicted in the very brief period of time prior to the convoy's arrival was the level of community violence and social trauma that was in‐ flicted upon the city and its residents."

Ex-chief to testify

A lawyer representing for‐ mer Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly, who resigned at the height of the protest, agreed with Migicovsky's assessment that the intelligence about "what was coming Ottawa's way" was lacking.

Sloly, who spoke to a sepa‐ rate parliamentary committee last week, will offer the com‐ mission 11 recommendations to prevent a similar incident when he testifies, Tom Curry told the commission. Sloly could appear before the com‐ mission as early as next week.

Champ said the coalition of residents and business groups he's representing doesn't plan to take a posi‐ tion on the government's de‐ cision to invoke the Emergen‐ cies Act.

"But make no mistake, it was a crisis in downtown Ot‐ tawa. There was disorder, there was chaos," he said.

"It's going to take a while for this city to heal internally."