Former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly says he’s not looking to assign blame
Head officer left the job at the height of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests
A lawyer for the Ottawa police suggested Monday that former chief Peter Sloly was concerned about losing his job — and was already looking for someone else to blame — several days into the “Freedom Convoy” protests that gridlocked the capital city last winter.
The accusation led to a tense exchange as Sloly, who resigned as Ottawa’s police chief at the height of the demonstrations, continued his testimony at a public inquiry investigating the federal government’s use of emergency powers weeks into the crisis.
“You were pretty concerned that you would lose your job and be blamed for what had happened?” Ottawa police lawyer David Migicovsky asked Sloly.
The former chief emphatically denied the suggestion.
“Absolutely not, sir,” Sloly responded.
“And what you were looking for was to blame somebody else?” Migicovsky pressed. “Absolutely not, sir,” Sloly said. The commission of inquiry is examining the circumstances that led to the Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time on Feb. 14, the day before Sloly stepped down from his role. The Emergencies Act, which became law in 1988, is meant to be used when an urgent, critical and temporary situation threatens the lives, health or safety of Canadians, the provinces are thought to lack the capacity or authority to respond and the crisis cannot be handled effectively with existing laws.
The inquiry has so far painted a picture of conflict and confusion within police services and among all levels of government after the convoy’s arrival in Ottawa in late January. Sloly, blamed by other police witnesses for a disorganized response, told the inquiry on Friday that as the protest dragged on and pressure mounted, he felt his leadership being called into question.
In another exchange on Monday, Migicovsky argued that Sloly was looking to blame Steve Bell, who was then his deputy chief, for failing to plan for the protest.
He presented notes from another deputy chief, Patricia Ferguson, that made a similar accusation.
“Advised chief is looking for emails to support I/we purposely left him out of the information look on the demo coming,” said Ferguson’s notes from Feb. 14. The documents were submitted as evidence to the inquiry.