The commission of inquiry into the emergency law heard its first witnesses yesterday. Citizens, business officials and elected community officials testified before Judge Paul S. Rouleau, painting a frightening and chaotic portrait of life in the heart of Ottawa during the occupation by the “Freedom Convoy” protesters. They paralyzed the city center of the federal capital from January 28th to February 20th. This commission, which will work over six weeks, is to investigate the Trudeau administration’s use of the Emergency Measures Act last winter, a first since 1988.
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CHAOS AT THE OTTAWA CITY COUNCIL
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Council members Mathieu Fleury and Catherine McKenney described the chaos caused by Freedom’s convoy.
Local councilors Catherine McKenney and Mathieu Fleury detailed their helplessness in the face of the ongoing chaos caused by the convoy and deplored the lack of initiative by authorities at all levels.
On February 4, with the trucks well lined up on Wellington Street, Catherine McKenney sent an email to Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Sloly and Federal Secretary of Public Safety Marco Mendicino, “begging” those he spoke to. . “do something” to put an end to the situation.
The response from a colleague on the local council recalls the impotence of the authorities in Ottawa at the time: “I want us to have the power to do anything but watch. »
According to Mathieu Fleury, the city could have applied for a court order against noise long before it was granted to a citizens’ group and before the Emergency Measures Act was invoked.
For her part, Catherine McKenney, who is very active in the counter-demonstration, said she had “not received a call from Mayor” Jim Watson or any outstretched hand from him to find solutions.
“There was no urgency on the part of the mayor to answer questions from citizens,” she said.
RESIDENTS STALLED
The first two people to testify before this historic commission were two citizens, Victoria De La Ronde and Zexi Li, who spoke about their ordeal for more than an hour.
Ms. Li launched a class-action lawsuit against protesters on February 4, which was joined by a group of downtown Ottawa residents.
She said the horns could start as early as 7am and sometimes stop in the middle of the night around 1am. Her neighbors “had mental breakdowns from the stress, the noise and the terror they were feeling,” she noted.
Victoria De La Ronde said she heard “phantom horns” some time after the events, when the horns could push decibel levels in the street to nearly 100, according to Zexi Li, who calculated the thing.
THE POLICE CHIEF WAS AFRAID
According to an official with a merchant group in the city of Ottawa, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly had directly told her to be “scared” during a phone call.
“I said to myself, the police chief is afraid, something much more important than a demonstration is happening here,” Nathalie Carrier told the commission, fighting back tears. I remember being scared myself. »
She testified to a note Ottawa Police received at their office prior to the convoy’s arrival, which raised the possibility of a “significant and extremely fluid event that could continue for an extended period of time.”
“It was clear to me that the 70-kilometer convoy of trucks crossing the country would not come to a small one-day demonstration,” she advised.
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