The former Ottawa police chief never saw fit to announce Freedom Convoy’s illegality directly to protesters who occupied his city prior to the invocation of emergency measures, a- he admitted on Monday during the Rouleau commission.
“With all the media coverage, the media, social media, it would be difficult to believe that an individual would have understood that there was no illegality”, justified Peter Sloly before Judge Rouleau.
Monday was devoted to the cross-examination of the ousted police chief by lawyers from different parties, such as his former employer, the federal government or even certain Convoy demonstrators, gathered under the banner of a company called Freedom Corp.
“The Ottawa Police Service, or your office, at any time prior to the report [des mesures d’urgence], had not given formal notice to the demonstrators to the effect that it was an illegal gathering and that they had to leave? asked the protesters’ lawyer, Brendan Miller. “That’s right,” replied Mr. Sloly.
The duty collected numerous testimonies from demonstrators present during the blockades in the federal capital last winter, who believed their action was legal, even protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ottawa police began distributing warnings on vehicle windshields within days of invoking emergency measures on Feb. 14. The demonstrators decided to defy the authorities.
The day the illegality of the occupation was announced on giant loudspeakers, February 18, coincides with the methodical police operation that put an end to the motorized demonstration against sanitary measures. Peter Sloly had already resigned from his position at this time.
A negotiator unappreciated by the chef
The 13e The Emergency Commission’s day of public hearings also provided further details on disagreements between the Ottawa Police Chief and an Ontario Provincial Police negotiator.
These disagreements would have led Peter Sloly to evoke the castration of Dave Springer, a member of the Provincial Liaison Team (PLT, according to the jargon), according to the notes of Mr. Sloly’s assistant.
The day before, on February 9, Constable Springer had sent an e-mail advising to reach an agreement with demonstrators who were blocking Sussex and Rideau streets, a street corner associated with the Quebec group of “Farfadaas”, to allow them to join the main demonstration in front of parliament. That day, a major police intervention aimed precisely at dislodging them from this place was derailed because of internal debates on the dangerousness of the operation.
According to notes from Ottawa Deputy Chief of Police Patricia Ferguson, the provincial officer reportedly showed up at a commanding officer’s office to “tell him what to do,” a visit that was discussed at a meeting. “The chef responded by saying that if he did that he would chop off Dave Springer’s balls,” the handwritten notes read.
Asked about it on Monday, Peter Sloly said he does not remember the incident, and that “he never said anything like that”. On the other hand, he criticized Ms Ferguson’s “extremely editorial” note-taking, which makes him look bad. She had notably criticized the chief for his micromanagement of police operations, and had described the internal climate in the police force as “insurgency”.
$185,000 in consultants
Chief Sloly mainly continued on Monday his testimony started on Friday, in which he denied having had anything to reproach himself for during this crisis. “All I hear about me are rumours,” he defended himself.
The commission made public an invoice from the communications consulting firm Navigator. During the Freedom Convoy crisis, $185,992.85 in public funds was spent to analyze articles, columns, and social media posts that tarnished Chief Peter Sloly’s reputation.
Documents also show that the chief had suggested names of “interlocutors” to negotiate with the participants in the occupation of the Freedom Convoy. Mr. Sloly saw the former aboriginal senator Murray Sinclair, the Canadian ambassador to the UN Bob Rae, or the lawyer with international tribunals Louise Arbor negotiating on behalf of the government with the leaders of the Convoy.
He reiterated on Monday that the Freedom Convoy protests were beyond the capabilities of the Ottawa police since, he said, it was a provincial, national event, “with even an international aspect.”