Ottawa is in a state of emergency as the trucker protest continues to paralyze parts of the nation’s capital and frustrated downtown residents had their day in court, being granted an injunction to stop the incessant truck horns.
The federal government is proposing a three-pronged meeting with provincial and municipal governments to lay out plans to end the protest, as the truckers continue to dig in.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called for the House of Commons to hold an emergency debate regarding the trucker protest, saying in a statement that the situation in Ottawa has reached a “crisis point.”
- Read more: Fed propose special meeting to end convoy protest
In a police briefing Monday afternoon, Ottawa Police Service Chief Peter Sloly said, since the announcement of “sxjmtzywurge and contain” procedures regarding the protest, there have been 20 criminal arrests and charges of individuals connected to the convoy, and more than 500 tickets issued.
Sloly said police “went after the funding,” which led to GoFundMe removing its online fundraiser for the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”
“There are other funding avenues that we continue to aggressively go after through intelligence information, co-ordination with financial institutions and all three levels of government,” he said.
Promising to be “relentless,” Sloly said the police are also going after the fuel deliveries allowing the protesters to stay in place on city streets, citing the operation Sunday night that saw a heavily armed police force seize more than 3,000 litres of fuel, according to protesters.
However, pictures and video on the ground in Ottawa Monday show many demonstrators carrying fuel containers, freely walking among parked vehicles and on the street without being stopped or questioned by police.
Every time the police “knock something down” in relation to the convoy, there are “attempts for it to pop up in four or five other locations,” Sloly said.
“We are stretched to the limit,” he continued, adding that “every available” officer has been working over the past four days and that the service has cancelled time off.
“Some officers are on their 14th day straight of 12 hours in a row,”Sloly said. “We have to end this demonstration, we cannot do it alone…. our people are on the breaking point.”
The Chief said the police would be sending a “formal request” to the Mayor’s office to request a significant increase in police resources.
During a question-and-answer segment after the briefing, Sloly replied to allegations that the protesters’ intentions were well known before arriving to the capital, and that police seemed unable to handle the convoy.
“This is an unprecedented protest, never seen in Canada,” Sloly said. “There were certainly indications [that] this would be a demonstration, all of our negotiations with the core convoy stated they would be here on Friday and they would leave on Sunday.”
Sloly said those three-day negotiations were “well in place” days before the convoy arrived.
“While there were fringe elements that said everything from insurrection through to negotiation, our core negotiations were a demonstration for three days in the nation’s capital and the return of those vehicles and demonstrators to the parts of Canada that they came from, that is what we planned for, that is what we executed,” he continued. “There was a success around containing that as it turned into more than a demonstration, [and] we have pivoted and we pivoted immediately. We need more resources to deal with an occupation.”
Despite Sloly’s remarks, a “memorandum of understanding” prepared ahead of the truckers’ convoy protest converging on Ottawa vowed the protest would persist until all mandates are lifted.
INJUNCTION GRANTED IN CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT
One of downtown Ottawa residents’ major complaints, the incessant honking, spurred the filing on Friday of a $9.8 million class-action proposed lawsuit on their behalf.
The residents asked for an injunction to be issued to prevent truckers parked on the city streets from honking all day and night. Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean heard the arguments Monday afternoon and granted an injunction for 10 days.
Lead plaintiff in the class action suit, Zexi Li, described the current living situation for residents in downtown Ottawa as “unbearable.”
“There are people who have had to evacuate their homes because they can’t stand the noise because it is literally, quite literally, torturous to us,” Li told CTV News Channel on Monday. “And we are not going to stay quiet anymore because people need to understand the real damage this is doing to real people.”
Li said she took action because she wanted her community to be heard, and that while she “understands that not everyone is a bad actor” in the convoy, their occupation of the streets is “creating the environment for hate, violence and a general sense of unsafety [sic] and fear to accumulate.”
“The residents of Centretown don’t deserve to be collateral damage in this demonstration,” Li said.
Speaking directly to the “Freedom Convoy,” Li acknowledged they have every right to protest, but said their actions are hurting businesses, residents, animals and children.
“There is a way to do a protest and this, quite frankly, is not it,” she said. “I have witnessed countless violations of the law, and a lot of individuals just act with utter impunity and with no respect to the residents.”
Paul Champ, an Ottawa lawyer who is representing Li and the other residents in the class-action suit, told CTV News Channel Monday that it is really focused on the trucks’ air horns.
“On the ground it’s about 100 decibels, and in your apartment you’re looking at 95 to 90 decibels which is basically like having a lawn mower running in your living room all day,” Champ explained. “It’s torture for the downtown residents in Ottawa.”
Champ said the lawsuit centres on the concept of “private nuisance,” in which others’ actions affect the complainants’ ability to enjoy and use their private property.
“There is precedence on this that for loud noise going for prolonged periods in a day, an individual can get several hundred dollars per day of sound and that’s what we’re seeking on behalf of the downtown residents,” he said.
Champ said Monday’s hearing is to seek an injunction to stop the horns immediately, which gives the police more powers to address the issue.
“This protest has taken on a completely different dimension, it stopped being a protest a long time ago,” Champ said. “ Downtown residents are being harassed in the street, businesses are being closed because of the harassment, there is safety issues and these horns are just really creating a completely unacceptable and intolerable situation.”
PROTEST CONTINUES
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday that the state of emergency declared on Sunday offers “more flexibility” for city staff to get equipment and supplies without going through extra processes.
“It helps administration do its job, and helps the police do their job,” Watson said, adding that he was happy to see the police be more “proactive” Sunday night. “We’re not interested in making those people comfortable who are illegally blocking city streets.”
“This group says they’re all about freedom and against lockdowns, well they have created a lockdown in our downtown core,” Watson said. “Our number one priority is to end this thing peacefully.”
Watson said the city will be bringing in more police and resources to end the demonstration in the coming days.
Former RCMP officer Calvin Lawrence said the more “boots on the ground” Ottawa Police has to deal with the convoy, the better.
“The strategy might be to cut off their fuel supplies and their ability to function everyday doing the same thing without approaching them directly,” he said on CTV News Channel Monday. “If you cut off the fuel supply and logistics it makes it harder.”
When asked if there is a risk of residents taking matters into their own hands regarding the convoy due to frustration with how the police and city officials are handling it, Lawrence said it’s a “possibility.”
“This isn’t a demonstration this is an occupation…some people just might take matters into their own hands,” he said. “If the police are not being seen as able to take care of this in a timely fashion, that is a possibility.”
The trucker convoy protest has been described as a “siege” an “occupation” and “out of control” by Ottawa officials, with an estimated 5,000 people and 1,000 trucks and personal vehicles joining the protest this weekend, compared to the estimated 3,000 trucks and up to 15,000 protesters the weekend before.
Several other protests took place across the country in support of the main convoy in Ottawa.
A counter protest at Ottawa City Hall took place on Saturday, with demonstrators calling for the convoy to go home.
Ottawa city council will also be holding a meeting Monday afternoon to discuss the convoy, including talk about raising the fines for excessive noise complaints.
The main organizers of the convoy are still determined to stay until all COVID-19-related mandates are lifted, with former RCMP officer Daniel Bulford, who acts as the convoy’s security, issuing a video statement to convoy participants, shared on TikTok, to “hold the line.”
Despite their more than $10-million fundraiser being removed from GoFundMe, the truckers are still fundraising through other online platforms, including bitcoin wallets.
This is a straight reup operation, carrying back filled diesel cans right past police. https://t.co/aWYEnLzsEt pic.twitter.com/AdSETuWed5
— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) February 7, 2022
RELATED IMAGESview larger image
A protester drinks red Gatorade from a fuel container as a joke for onlookers, a day after police seized thousands of litres of fuel from an encampment in an attempt to quell a protest against COVID-19 restrictions that has been marked by gridlock and the sound of truck horns into its second week in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
