When protesters descended on the city last winter, Ottawa police did their best under “inhuman circumstances,” according to the force’s former chief.
On Friday, Peter Sloly testified at an inquiry into Canada’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests, saying that police were under enormous pressure at the time.
The protests began on January 29 and lasted three weeks.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on 14 February.
Mr Sloly resigned as chief of Ottawa police on 15 February amid criticism of his force’s response to the protests.
Testimony presented before the Public Order Emergency Commission so far has suggested the force was dealing with power struggles, communication gaps and infighting as it scrambled to control the anti-vaccine mandate and anti-government protests.
In an emotional defence of police actions on Friday, Mr Sloly said his force tried to deal with the protests while facing a lack of resources and staffing issues.
“It was too cold and it was too much. But they did their very best. And I am grateful to them,” he said.
The Public Order Emergency Commission began six weeks of hearings on 13 October, and in other recent developments:
- Some police forces were weighing bringing in military assistance in early February to help with the protests, according to tabled documents, though Mr Trudeau was saying publicly at the time he was wary of such a move.
- Canadian intelligence services believed the protests to be driven largely by domestic concerns and did not see signs of funding from “foreign actors” despite money flowing in from Canada and elsewhere to online fundraising platforms in support of the protesters.
- The inquiry has summoned Ontario Premier Doug Ford to testify, believing he has relevant evidence to share as his provincial government worked to end the protests with Mr Trudeau and Ottawa. Mr Ford has challenged the summons in court.
The winter protests paralysed much of Ottawa’s city centre with hundreds of heavy trucks, while smaller, shorter-lived protests elsewhere blocked two key US-Canada border crossings.
The protests in Ottawa – deemed an illegal blockade by police and the federal government – were eventually cleared by police on the weekend of 18 February.
The public inquiry, which is required under law when the Emergencies Act is invoked, will hear from more witnesses over the coming weeks, including Mr Trudeau.
His government has said that the use of the Emergencies Act – for the first time since it became law in 1988 – was a necessary “last resort” to deal with unprecedented protests.
A final report on the inquiry’s findings will be released early next year.