Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly resigns, OPP and RCMP join protest response

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/02/2022 (948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—With the surprise resignation of Ottawa’s police chief in the middle of the city’s largest policing emergency, federal and local political leaders are promising that Ottawa’s trucker blockade will be broken up soon now that the RCMP and OPP are there to “share and assume command and control” of a crackdown on the so-called Freedom Convoy.

Peter Sloly, the embattled police chief who came under fire for allowing big rigs to jam up the downtown core, gave no immediate explanation for why he quit. In a statement posted to Twitter, Sloly said only he was stepping down “with a heavy heart” and that he had done “everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis.”

He also took credit for what may come in the days ahead. “We have acquired new resources and enforcement tools, and stood up the new Integrated Command Centre,” he wrote, referring to the recently created body to help Ottawa police, RCMP and OPP co-ordinate their responses to the convoy protest. “I am confident the Ottawa Police Service is now better positioned to end this occupation.”

Two policing sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified to discuss confidential matters, told the Star that Sloly had a temper, had angry “outbursts” and yelled at colleagues, and that he had swapped out three incident commanders during the protest crisis. One source said Sloly had intended to remain in command of the massive policing operation right up until Tuesday.

Sloly did not respond to requests for comment from the Star on Tuesday.

However at a special meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board Tuesday afternoon, chair Diane Deans said that Sloly and the board had landed on a “mutually agreeable separation.”

“As such, Chief Peter Sloly is no longer employed with the Ottawa Police Service,” Deans said, offering no public explanation for Sloly’s abrupt departure, even as she said the “carnival of chaos” should end. “As this is a labour relations matter, no further comment will be made.”

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Sloly’s decision was a “personal” one that was not influenced by the federal government.

Mendicino emphasized that with the federal government assuming emergency powers and the formation of an “integrated command centre” between the Ottawa police, Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the lawlessness of the past three weekends in the nation’s capital should swiftly be brought under control.

“Our focus is to ensure that the Ottawa Police Service, as well as the OPP and the RCMP, have all of the tools that are necessary to restore public order in Ottawa,” he said.

The federal public safety minister did not formally thank Sloly for his service, but did acknowledge his career milestones. “This is an individual who has served many years on the front lines of the public service, has crashed through many barriers in rising to the position of being a chief of police, and I think that there is an important reflection there,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a federal state of emergency Monday in response to the chaos in the nation’s capital and at border crossings, where demonstrators have gathered to protest COVID-19 vaccination requirements and public health restrictions. “Despite their best efforts, it is now clear there are serious challenges to law enforcement’s ability to effectively enforce the law,” Trudeau said.

Ottawa police Deputy Chief Steve Bell has been named interim chief as the city’s police services board works to develop a new command structure and appoint Sloly’s replacement “very soon,” Deans said.

Bell provided no details on the numbers of officers now available, nor a timeline for enforcement action.

However, he told the civilian oversight board there is now “absolutely a plan that has been developed through our partners with the OPP and RCMP to have an integrated approach and response to ultimately end the occupation in our streets, so that plan continues to be refined and developed and exists.”

But the federal emergency powers won’t immediately bring to an end the Ottawa demonstrations because they are not yet “fully understood,” Deputy Chief Trish Ferguson said.

“We continue to await for official details before operationalizing it. We have been working with our legal team and those of our provincial and federal partners to understand the implications of the various orders and actions and consider the impacts on our ultimate mission,” she told the board.

Much like Sloly, the senior Ottawa police officers were grilled in Tuesday’s meeting for asserting the police response to the protests had been “adequate and effective.”

Bell said the force needed to “collect better, more timely intelligence information,” while Ferguson admitted Ottawa police have not always been able crack down on wrongdoing due to “security and safety” concerns.

Alok Mukherjee, a former chair of the Toronto police board, was a Sloly backer when both men were in Toronto. Mukherjee said he believes Sloly was being “scapegoated” — made the fall guy in a complicated situation that involved multiple levels of government and a well-funded protest movement with “dangerous elements.”

As the Star first reported, federal officials appealed to Ottawa police and the city authorities not to allow trucks to enter and park in the downtown core at the outset of the demonstrations.

It was Sloly who provided assurances that protesters would only have access to three lanes, and that the demonstration’s organizers would leave within three days.

That never happened.

The Star reported that a week after Sloly asked for 1,800 reinforcements, he still had no detailed plan for how to use those extra officers or how to end the blockade.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Tuesday that Sloly was “a fundamentally decent man faced with a very difficult job.”

“Frankly, I’m very saddened by this turn of events, and at the same time, I think there’s an important job yet to be done to restore order and provide effective policing services to the people of Ottawa,” Blair said.

Sloly had been widely perceived as a top candidate to replace Blair as Toronto’s police chief in 2015. He was seen as a progressive, change-minded leader who had acknowledged the social ills of the controversial practice of “carding” by Toronto police and its disproportionate impact on racialized citizens.

But he was also a starkly divisive figure within the Toronto force, with critics who said he didn’t work well with others and could be controlling. Ultimately, Sloly was passed over in favour of Mark Saunders, who was considered a more traditional choice with greater support from the rank and file.

Wesley Wark, a national security expert and senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said Sloly seemed determined to take a “very lenient approach” to the protests from the outset, “essentially welcoming the protest convoy into downtown Ottawa.”

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis