The City of Ottawa “lost control” in the city center during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protest in February, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said at the Act’s inquiry on Tuesday emergencies
The result, he said, was “anarchy” in the area of Ottawa labeled the “red zone” during the demonstration — a three-square-kilometre area in the city center that spanned Parliament Hill and several residential areas.
“We lost control in the red zone,” Watson told the committee.
“In the red zone, it was lawlessness. People were having parties. There were open fires. They were setting off fireworks that posed a fire hazard to heritage buildings in the city centre. They were harassing people in restaurants, tearing off their masks.”
Watson impressed upon the inquiry that “these are not made-up stories … they are all documented during the occupation of the convoy”.
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In a memo sent to Ontario Premier Doug Ford during the protests, which was made public during Tuesday’s hearing, Watson wrote that the protest was “the equivalent of psychological warfare.”
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Watson spent the day offering his long-awaited testimony about the city’s efforts to manage the three-week demonstration, after his chief of staff and Ottawa’s city manager appeared on Monday.
“We had some people dancing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We had other people urinating at the cenotaph. We had a group that went to steal meals from Shepherds of Good Hope (a homeless shelter),” Watson said. .
“We placed ‘end of term’ signs on the Terry Fox statue. It was completely despicable behavior by these individuals.”
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While Ottawa is no stranger to protests, he said the vast majority of protesters in the convoy “were not being respectful.”
“I think (they) were hurting their cause, frankly, when you saw the Shepherds of Good Hope … to bully people into getting a free meal, it was despicable,” Watson said.
Watson expresses his support for the invocation of the Emergency Act
The commission is tasked with examining whether the federal government’s invocation of the Emergency Act in mid-February was justified.
People protesting the public health measures for COVID-19 had descended on downtown Ottawa, as well as several border crossings, and dug in for weeks. The streets of the city of Ottawa were snarled and businesses were forced to close their doors as residents were subjected to non-stop honking.
While giving evidence at the inquiry on Tuesday, Watson said he supported the Prime Minister’s invocation of the Emergency Act.
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“That solved our problem,” he said, referring to the use of the controversial legislation.
“It’s easy to sit back and be a Monday morning quarterback, but the people who suffered the most were the people of Ottawa.”
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Watson said he doesn’t think tow trucks would have arrived to help clean up downtown Ottawa and the border crossings if the Emergency Act hadn’t been used.
“When the Emergency Act was brought in, all of a sudden there were tow trucks,” Watson said.
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“So I think the cause and effect was, yes, the Emergency Act required them to.”
The tow truck operators made it “very clear” that they “wouldn’t come to our aid unless they were required to by law,” Watson said.
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“That’s what the Emergency Act did,” he said, though he said he doesn’t know that was “definitely” the reason tow truck operators changed their minds.
The environment the demonstrations created was hostile, Watson said. He said most local politicians, as well as the police chief, were harassed and threatened during the protests.
“Every member of the council was feeling the pressure because they were getting emails from all over the world, you know, pretty foul language and a lot of threats against people, including me,” he said.
A “couple of people” were charged in connection with the threats, Watson said, including “a guy from New Brunswick (who) came here with guns in his trunk to shoot me.”
Even as the protest began to settle down, lingering protesters continued to harass people downtown, requiring an ongoing police presence, according to Watson. He described walking through downtown Ottawa and being called a homophobic slur by a group carrying protest paraphernalia, including upside-down Canadian flags.
“The police had to maintain a presence in the neighborhood and the urban core because there were still people who wanted to harm our citizens and also our property, public and private,” he said.
Watson’s testimony raises concerns about Ontario’s response
While the federal and municipal governments hastily planned meetings at all three levels of government, Watson described a reluctance on the part of the Ontario government to participate in the talks.
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“The prime minister said he didn’t think it would be helpful to have three levels of politicians sitting around the table,” Watson said.
“I think he felt it would be a waste of time.”
Watson compared February’s political response to a three-legged stool, warning that if that stool only has two legs, “it’s not that sturdy.”
“You need all three,” Watson said.
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When Ontario Premier Doug Ford finally joined the discussions, according to Watson, “it worked.”
“We had the cops, we had the RCMP and we were all in the same book. But this should have been resolved in the first week, not the third week,” he said.
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According to a transcript of a call between Watson and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which was made public during the hearings, the Ottawa mayor was not the only politician frustrated with the provincial response.
“Doug Ford has shied away from his responsibility for political reasons,” Trudeau said, sharing the inquiry made during the call.
While criticizing the provincial government’s early response, Watson also told the committee counsel that “there were many points of failure along the way.” For example, if the federal government had secured RCMP resources earlier, the situation could have been resolved more quickly, Watson said.
“All three areas of government and the police did not respond quickly enough,” Watson said.
“We allowed that main street, and it bled into the residential streets, to be occupied by a group of people who had no respect for the law or the people of our city.”
The investigation continues with councilors and police witnesses
The inquiry into the federal government’s use of the Emergency Act will also be heard from Kim Ayotte, the director general of Ottawa’s emergency and protective services, on Tuesday afternoon.
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Ottawa City Councilor Diane Deans was also scheduled to speak on Tuesday, but will now testify on Wednesday. Deans chaired the local police services board during the crisis and was removed from the role just after the federal emergency was declared,
Senior officers from the Ottawa Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police will also speak at the public inquiry this week.
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Watson’s testimony comes days before Ottawa’s municipal election next Monday, in which neither he nor Deans are running for re-election.
The hearings are expected to last six weeks and include testimony from 65 witnesses, including government officials, police and convoy organizers.
Here are the next six witnesses on the list, who are expected to appear before the commission this week:
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- Coun. Diane Deans, the former president of the Ottawa police services board. Deans, who is not running for re-election, was an opponent of the convoy protest and clashed with Watson over how to treat…