While a significant portion of the documents provided to the Commission so far are copies of pandemic public health orders and statements, as well as clippings from media coverage of the “Freedom Agreement,” there have also been transcripts or summaries of high-level phone calls, exchanges email and texting and internal reporting, with probably more to come. The evidence presented so far has shed new light on some of the internal machinations within and between various levels of government and police forces in the preparation for and response to the protests. Here’s a summary of some notable information gleaned from the documents to date.
CSIS IS CONCERNED ABOUT PROTEST ‘SAMPLING’
According to a summary report of a call between federal, provincial and city of Ottawa officials on Feb. 6 — in the middle of the “Freedom Convoy” protest — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) raised concerns about the protests potentially being used as a “recruiting place”. CSIS Director David Vigneault, on a call with then-Deputy Minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart, Ottawa City Manager Steve Kanellakos, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, then-Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly and others, did this comment regarding Ottawa, Quebec. Protests City, Toronto and Alberta. “There are some people from other causes who are the hardened elements who will probably use violence, but they don’t see that as their mission… They don’t actively participate or organize it and probably use it as a recruiting ground,” the document says. Vigneault also noted that at that point, the protest was “primarily a domestic issue” and said that despite concerns to the contrary, CSIS did not see a large organization of American truckers, nor were foreign actors identified as funding the convoy. A separate Ottawa Police Service (OPS) document from a week later appeared to contradict this, indicating that international “money and support” had been identified. On that call, the core team of emergency response officials also discussed how at that point the number of trucks in the capital was “significantly lower than the peak”, but pointed out that while some camps were “restricted”, there was concern that the road Rideau section of trucks blocking off the area were driven by “well organized” “bad actors”. Also, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser, Jodi Thomas, spoke of negotiations at the Confederation Park camp, which she saw as “a victory to avoid ‘guns pointed’ at the park.” There has also been talk of this call for a possible “interlocutor” to help continue negotiations with protest organizers, with former senator Murray Sinclair, ambassador and former politician Bob Rae and former Supreme Court judge Louise Arbour. Amidst all this, Sloly seemed to suggest, according to the summary report, that at this stage he was not interested in continuing with “mass arrests”, citing the experience of protesting the 2010 G20 summit and the “legal implications and Human Rights”.
OTTAWA POLICE WARNED FOR ‘WITNESSES’
Confidential minutes from a Feb. 5 Ottawa Police Services Board meeting revealed that, at that point in the protests, OPS was cautious about continuing to make mass arrests of anti-COVID-19 and anti-government protesters, saying all scenarios performed were “high risk”. This was because the agency’s information “suggested that [sic] some participants, arrest, injury, or even killing was seen as achieving a level of torture rather than deterring it.” There were also some signs that “rifts” were developing between the various protesting groups, with Sloli suggesting that OPS could try to “exploit” this. “Chief Sloli raised the need for more levels of government to get involved in the unprecedented protests. He noted that the protesters do not belong to a single agenda and are a well-organized and funded group,” the minutes read elsewhere. The minutes also noted that OPS had brought in a mental health specialist to help liaise with teams on the ground, “acting as a crisis management negotiator”.
‘ZERO RESPONSE’ FROM PROVINCIAL OFFICERS: BLAIR STAFFER
In several documents submitted to the commission, it’s clear that both city and federal government officials were frustrated by the Ontario government’s lack of involvement as the protests continued. In addition to the notable exchange between Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Trudeau, in which the prime minister believed that Ontario Premier Doug Ford was “hiding from his responsibility for political reasons,” there are other examples of key players questioning where the province is located. An example of this was in an iMessage exchange between Emergency Preparedness Secretary Bill Blair’s chief of staff, Zita Astravas, and Watson’s chief of staff, Serge Arpin. On Feb. 8, according to screenshots provided to the commission — just days before Ontario declared a state of emergency — the two were discussing whether there was any indication the province was willing to join a tripartite table to talk about the situation. “Not yet,” Astravas said early that morning. When Arpin followed up around 3 p.m. to see if the situation had changed, Astravas said then-Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones was a “hard no” and that she had received “zero response” from officials. He then discussed how they could strategize to bring the province to the table. In separate evidence, according to a letter Jones sent to Watson and then-Ottawa Police Services Board president Dianne Deans in response to a request for additional police support, Jones wrote that she had forwarded their request to the OPP. While pledging that her ministry was “committed to supporting our police partners,” she wrote that on a political level, the government would continue to “encourage all those participating in the Ottawa protests to govern their actions in a way that ensures they are peaceful.” .
Weekend 1: “AIM TO KEEP THE PEACE”
While there have been a number of accounts and documents indicating differing perspectives on how serious information about how many truckers were coming to protest and how long they planned to stay was received, one thing is clear: Sloli seemed confident in the initial police response. . Despite indications that OPS had blocked vehicular access to key downtown streets, protesters would not be able to stick to the downtown core, in a summary of a Jan. 31 meeting with the mayor, Sloly said efforts of the police had been a “massive success”. On the same note, however, Sloli pointed out that the protests “are moving from a demonstration to an occupation despite negotiations.” A day earlier, according to an email exchange entered into evidence, after Ottawa Emergency and Protective Services Director General Kim Ayotte updated council on how the first full day of convoy protests was going, councilor Shawn Menard asked if the city was will be ticketing and towing vehicles. Ayotte said his view was that the police did “a great job of maintaining a good balance between a peaceful demonstration and a potential riot”. He also suggested that intervention could be a “tipping point”. Kanellakos agrees, asking “where would we put the towed vehicles?? The goal is to keep the peace.”
‘WISH WE HAD THE STRENGTH’ TO DO MORE THAN WATCH
An email thread in which Somerset Ward councilor Catherine McKenney expressed her dismay at the “complete absence of police” on some streets in her ward in the midst of protests showed some councilors felt powerless and sympathetic. After sharing a response from Ottawa police that said they had 20-25 officers patrolling Centretown over the weekend of the Feb. 4-6 protests—plus an unspecified additional back-up force from other forces—McKenney dismissed a friend as saying he didn’t saw. any visible police while on a walk at night. Here’s how fellow councilor and then-Ottawa Police Services Board member Carol Anne Meehan responded: “I’m so sorry Kathryn. I wish we had the power to do something besides watch.” Those who participated in that exchange included a mix of City of Ottawa officials and councillors, then-Chief Sloli, as well as Ottawa Center MP Yasir Naqvi and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. Councilor Mathieu Fleury then chimed in, adding Ottawa Vanier MP Mona Fortier to the thread and saying, “No police at ByWard Market/Rideau,” linking to coverage from CTV News.
SHOULD TRUCKERS TAKE LRT?
One final item worth noting—especially for Ottawa residents—is that prior to the convoy rolling through the city, city officials were discussing allowing the Ottawa Baseball Stadium parking lot on Coventry Road to be used as a parking zone for incoming trucks transportation. Naturally, this area ended up becoming a stronghold for convoy protesters. it was created as a supply camp and closed to foreigners. But before that lot became a camp, the city had suggested “if Wellington was too congested, vehicles would be asked to attend there and participants could go downtown.” Framed as “overflow” for that first weekend, a city official said the parking lot was “ideal” because protesters would then be a “quick” train ride into the downtown core. There was no mention in the email thread that the mask mandates — the kind of public health restriction that the truckers and their supporters came to…
