Ottawa’s ex-police chief says force could not have done anything different in response to Freedom Convoy

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OTTAWA – Former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly told lawyers for the Emergencies Act that his police force could not have done anything significantly different in response to the Freedom Convoy protests.

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And if the three-week “occupation” by the convoy was allowed to move into Parliament Hill on January 29 and continue for so long, it is because of serious “structural deficiencies that have existed in public institutions, including police and national security, for years.” , according to a summary of the chief’s interview with seven investigating lawyers.

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“Chief Sloly does not believe that OPS could have done anything materially differently on an overall level given the unprecedented national security crisis OPS has faced,” the abstract reads.

The commission is in the second of six weeks of public hearings as part of its mandate to determine whether the federal government has reached the legal threshold to invoke the extraordinary powers of the Emergency Act to deal with Freedom Convoy protests.

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Sloly was questioned by attorneys for the Public Order Emergency Commission between August 23 and October 5, 2022. He is scheduled to testify publicly this week.

The 61-page synopsis of his previous interviews with the Commission stands in stark contrast to testimonies from his then-deputy chiefs Steve Bell and Patricia Ferguson, as well as from some members of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Bell and Ferguson spoke of a directionless police force, understaffed and “exhausted”, unprepared for the convoy, unable to devise a plan to clear the streets when the protest became “occupation”, and plagued with serious leadership problems.

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Ferguson also agreed with an OPP assessment that the Ottawa police response was not “intelligence led.” Bell disagreed.

In his interviews, Sloly reportedly agreed that the force was undermanned and officers tired well before the convoy arrived on January 28. But his interview synopsis also describes a police chief stuck in the middle of a city council tearing itself apart. while coping with significant conflicts and fluctuations within police leadership, as well as a growing distrust of him from other police forces and Ottawa residents.

He told commission lawyers that claims during the protests that Ottawa police had no plan were “misinformation” and that he “never heard” doubts about the force’s early plan to give the convoy the entrance to downtown Ottawa to allow.

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The summary also reveals that he was extremely critical of Canadian intelligence agencies, which he said had an “undue focus on Islamist extremism at the expense of other threats to Canada’s national security” and therefore misjudged the convoy protesting COVID health restrictions .

“The fact that OPP’s Project Hendon played such a significant role in assessing national security threats was indicative of structural deficiencies, as a national security agency should have filled that intelligence role. But the OPP had to fill that void as a provincial police service because no national security agency appeared to be doing it,” Sloly told the commission’s lawyers.

When the convoy arrived in Ottawa the week of Jan. 21, Sloly said he had no idea the protests would be anything more than the typical demonstration Ottawa police were used to handling. He was also led to believe that there was no legal right to prevent protesters and their vehicles from entering downtown.

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Sloly said he was not “aware” of any intelligence information that suggested “the convoys would occupy and blockade Ottawa, that the occupation would last for months, would involve thousands of trucks and protesters, and would be able to use the capabilities of OPS.” to defeat,” the summary said.

However, OPP’s intelligence branch compiled reports that Sloly received warning a week before the convoy’s arrival that the protesters were planning a “long-term stay”. Another on January 28 said protesters would remain in Ottawa “at least until” Friday February 4 after a week of protests and some would stay beyond the first weekend.

Sloly said he understood most of the protest would last a weekend and there would be a few remaining stragglers that would be easier to handle. The OPP intelligence chief told the commission last week he wanted to say protesters were planning to stay for weeks, possibly a month or longer.

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Sloly’s assessment of the convoy changed dramatically on the first day. As Sloly walked amid the protesters on Jan. 29, “he began to believe that the Freedom Convoy could become a national-level threat,” although he had no evidence of this, the summary said.

Three days later, Sloly was told by his staff that the convoy was already so entrenched that officers would need help from every single Ontario police force, as well as others outside of the province, to clear the downtown “red zone.”

In the days and weeks that followed, Sloly told the commission, he managed many changes among “event commanders,” followed by an escalation in threatening behavior from certain downtown protesters.

On the night of February 4/5, Sloly received an email detailing how “protesters were expanding the zone they were occupying and stockpiling propane gas. City workers were attacked for installing barriers. Algonquin elders had failed to negotiate with protesters to leave Confederation Park and had to be rescued before they were attacked and an OPS sergeant was swarmed at the junction of Kent Street and Queen Street.”

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At the same time, the former police chief is getting more and more pressure from citizens, politicians and police partners to come up with a “detailed plan” for dealing with the convoy. He also pushed hard on suggestions he should hand over command to another police force.

Sloly said he didn’t realize at the time that his colleagues at the OPP and RCMP were becoming increasingly impatient with his organization and leadership.

Sloly said he was “surprised” by OPP chief Supt’s February 15 statement. Carson Pardy, who told his boss, Commissioner Thomas Carrique, that “the elephant in the room is all we’ve done so far – (was) blocked by the OPS boss”.

Ultimately, the summary said he resigned on February 15 because the “growing lack of trust” in the Ottawa Police Department and its leadership had become a “significant public safety issue.” It also says he felt that this distrust meant the force was not quickly getting the resources it was asking for from police partners.

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One of Sloly’s biggest regrets was a notable public statement on February 2, when he told the Freedom Convoy just five days after arriving in Ottawa that “there may not be a police situation.”

The vague comment drew a backlash from community members, the media and politicians, who wondered if he meant military intervention was necessary.

Sloly said his comment was “misunderstood and misrepresented in a number of ways” and that he was not calling for military assistance. What he meant was that OPS had neither the capacity nor the resources to end the occupation on its own and would need the help of the government and other police services.