OTTAWA | The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) warned the Ottawa Municipal Police (OPS) that participants in the “freedom convoy” were being organized to stay long and that several groups, including “right-wing extremists” calling for “major disruption” were falling down on the town.
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A series of emails exchanged between OPP and OPS officers in the days before the first trucks arrived were submitted in evidence to the Emergency Response Inquiry Committee this morning.
Yesterday, Pat Morris, who heads the OPP’s Provincial Operations Intelligence Office, told the commission that his office submitted a report to the OPS on Jan. 20, more than a week before the convoy arrived.
The report was commissioned by former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly. It suggested that protesters intended to stay until sanitation measures were lifted, however long it might take.
Still, OPS continued to plan its actions as if it were just a weekend protest, assuring city officials there was no need to worry and the protesters would be gone within two or three days at most,” said Diane Deans, former chair of the Police Department City of Ottawa, yesterday.
Peter Sloly will be interviewed in the coming days. This morning, acting Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Patricia Ferguson is at the grill. She explains that her services questioned the OPP warnings because of the misinformation and online propaganda surrounding conspiracy groups.
Police mutiny
As early as Monday, seeing that protesters were not leaving as planned by the OPP after the first chaotic weekend, Mr. Sloly called on his deputies to develop a new plan of action to issue the order, as emerges from an exchange by E – Mail emerges this morning before the Commission proved.
Failing that, he proposed a plan himself, but Ms Ferguson tells the commission the boss’s requests have met with staff shortages.
Ms Deans said on Wednesday that Mr Sloly, Ottawa’s first black police chief, was the target of racism within his ranks and was facing “some sort of insurgency”. She said there was even a conflict between him and the assistant director, Ms Ferguson, midway through the cast.
Ms Ferguson explains that some of the police, including herself, wanted to negotiate with the protesters, even though it took longer to resolve the crisis.
Fear of the Farfadaas
She points out that she was worried about the safety of her troops, particularly given the Quebec conspiracy group the Farfadaas, who linked Ottawa police to illegal motorcyclists. We were also concerned about the presence of former police and military personnel among the protesters.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) was clearly dismayed at Ottawa Police, according to notes filed in evidence with the commission this morning. The OPP bluntly describes incompetent leadership. We even wondered if the OPS was worth getting help from other police services.
“We weren’t at our best,” Ms Ferguson admitted.