Ottawa police was plagued by ‘constant’ infighting and an ‘insurrection’ against chief during Freedom Convoy protest: inquiry
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OTTAWA – The chair of the committee overseeing Ottawa’s police says there was “constant” infighting within the force and an “insurrection” against chief Peter Sloly that hampered its ability to deal with the Freedom Convoy protests.
The infighting within the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) got so bad that it caused an operation to take down a blockade in the core of downtown to be called off even though 400 officers were already mobilized and ready to move in, according to testimony provided to the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) by city councillor Diane Deans.
The commission’s mandate is to determine if the federal government met the legal threshold to invoke the exceptional powers contained in the Emergencies Act in February.
Deans, who chaired the Ottawa Police Service Board (OPSB) during most of the winter protests, told commission counsel in August that the infighting within police was “constant” but it got even worse during some “flare ups”, such as each of the four times the OPS incident commander was changed.
She also said that Sloly, who became Ottawa’s first Black police chief in 2019, faced challenges to this authority “from the outset” which only got worse as the Freedom Convoy protests progressed.
She said he faced “racism” within his own organization and was perceived as an “outsider” by some factions of the police because he arrived from the Toronto Police Service.
“There was infighting within the OPS and certain complaints against Chief Sloly were brought to the OPSB’s attention,” reads a summary of the august interview with Deans.
“He struggled throughout his time and was never able to develop deep support from the rank and file and perhaps even the Senior Officers within the OPS.”
By the time the Freedom Convoy protests began and Sloly required strong support within the OPS, “that support was elusive, which caused frustration and a lot of stress for him,” Deans told the commission.
“There seems to be an attempt to use this crisis to undermine the chief further,” Deans testified Wednesday, twice describing it as an “insurrection” against Sloly.
Sloly is set to testify to the commission in the next few weeks.
She also wondered if the federal government was slow to send RCMP support to the OPS because there may be a “bad relationship” between Sloly and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair.
Sloly and Blair led the Toronto Police Service together nearly one decade ago, when the former was deputy chief and the latter was chief.
But Deans also said that in the days leading up to the convoy’s arrival in Ottawa on Jan. 29, Sloly reassured city councillors that protesters would only stay for one weekend despite receiving intelligence from provincial police that they planned on staying longer.
Deans said that as the Freedom Convoy converged towards Ottawa, she asked Sloly on Jan. 27 if he expected protesters to stay downtown longer than the first weekend.
Sloly told her local police were not receiving warnings form intelligence agencies that it’s anything “other than protests” and that he would be “very surprised” if protesters were still in the city on the following Monday, she recounted.
“You know, the more I was watching this, the more concerned I was getting. And he said to me, ‘What are you so worried about now?’,” she added.
But what she says she did not know at the time was that Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) was sending intelligence briefings to the OPS warning Freedom Convoy organizers planned on staying in Ottawa much longer.
“Once in Ottawa, Freedom Convoy 2022 organizers have stated an intent to remain at Parliament Hill until the Federal government concedes to repeal all COVID-19 public health restrictions and mandates,” reads Jan. 26 “situational awareness bulletin” by the OPP’s provincial operations intelligence bureau.
“Organizers have indicated they are planning to stage disruptions that may gridlock areas around Parliament buildings and parts of Ottawa. There is no expressed departure date for when participants will disperse or the action will end.”
A separate OPS email sent to police and some city staff on Jan. 28 also warned that “all open source information and our interactions with organizers indicate that this will be a significant and extremely fluid event that could go on for a prolonged period.”
Deans told the commission that the police service board had not receive any copy or even “high-level summary” of that intelligence. She said with the benefit of hindsight, she wished they had.
She also said she was not aware of a Jan. 26 email to some city councillors from the city’s hotel association warning that convoy members were looking to rent hotel rooms for 10,000 to 15,000 people for up to 90 days.
The OPP intelligence briefing document also warned the convoy protest “may create” a situation where “ideologically motivated extremists” could join the demonstration, and that some could “escalate actions beyond what is peaceful and lawful.”
By the Tuesday following the first weekend of protests, Sloly already started referring to the protest as an “occupation.”
Deans recalled that it was on Feb. 3 that conversations with the convoy negotiators “had broken down” and that it appeared that more people would be coming back to Ottawa to protest for a second weekend.
“It really resonated with me that perhaps it was a bit of wishful thinking that they were going to be able to get this wrapped up and gone after that horrific first weekend,” she said.
“And then the thought of going through second weekend with more people, wreaking havoc in our neighborhoods in the downtown core was disturbing.”
Deans said she was told by OPS that she needed to limit the number of meetings that were being called because “police resources were stretched thin” and boots were needed on the ground, but decided to call another meeting on short notice on Feb. 5 with OPS to try to get answers.
“Something more had to be done. Something had to change and I was getting frustrated,” she said.
Minutes from the Feb. 5 meeting show that “although the Board expressed frustration at the lack of clearly outlined plan that would result in the end of the demonstration, the Service noted having articulated a framework aimed at their surge and contain strategy”.
The notes also confirm that the OPS “had planned for a weekend-long demonstration and were prepared for that”.
The next day, on Feb. 6, Sloly provided a bit more detail of the resources needed to end the protest and mentioned needing 1,800 officers.
Ottawa Solicitor General Sylvia Jones wrote back to Ottawa on Feb. 10 Mayor Jim Watson and Deans confirming she had redirected requests for additional operational resources to the OPP and RCMP.
Deans said it appeared that “the continuing tension” was that Ottawa was not getting the resources it needed and that resources were flowing “easier to other locations” such as Coutts, Alta., and Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont. “So it was a point of contention,” she said.