Ottawa police say children on trucks add complication to ending trucker protest

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This article was published 07/02/2022 (954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—Police say the job of ending Ottawa’s trucker demonstration has been complicated by the discovery of children in about 100 of the 419 trucks lining downtown streets.

Ottawa Deputy Chief Steve Bell insisted Tuesday police are stepping up enforcement actions and want to end the occupation “as soon as possible” but he said the risk to officer safety is a concern as demonstrators are more “volatile” and on Monday “swarmed” an officer trying to block the transport of fuel jerrycans.

He said police have asked for help from the Children’s Aid Society to ensure the safety of truckers’ children “who could be at risk during a police operation” and because of concerns about the effect on them of carbon monoxide and diesel fumes, noise levels, the cold, and the lack of sanitation, but Bell said the police are not planning any “enforcement activity” to remove the children.

On Tuesday, several security sources, who spoke to the Star on condition they not be identified, lamented the failure of Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly to act at the outset to secure a perimeter around the downtown core to block access from the start and to move more decisively against demonstrators.

The Star has learned that federal officials appealed to Ottawa police not to allow trucks to park in front of Parliament and the Prime Minister’s Office on Wellington Street, but Ottawa police assured them protesters would only have access to three lanes, while another lane would be kept open.

Sloly said this week he had acted on information from the protesters that they would leave after three days. But his critics say it was clear in public pronouncements by convoy organizers they intended to stay until their demands, which include the replacement of the Trudeau government, were met.

Several sources who were reluctant to put all the blame on Sloly say other factors plagued his response, including the fact his force has long been pressured by the Police Services Board to replace officers with community services workers, and that he could get no guarantee at the outset that police officers’ overtime would be covered. Those sources blamed city councillors for failing to back the force and embracing calls to “defund the police.”

Sloly has now requested 1,800 more police officers and legal support — and had his request endorsed by the mayor and the civilian oversight board. But there was no indication Tuesday whether those reinforcements will arrive or from where.

Now in its 12th day, the truck blockade still paralyzes the core of the city with many businesses closed and residents continuing to experience harassment by protest supporters. To date, Ottawa police have made 22 arrests, issued more than 1.300 tickets, and have 79 ongoing criminal investigations.

Ottawa police say they need reinforcements to end the blockades even as protests spread to other cities like Toronto, Winnipeg and Quebec City, where they have been more effectively controlled.

The federal government insisted Tuesday it has confidence that Ottawa police have all the “tools and authorities” they need, yet they promised additional help.

Ontario Provincial Police media relations spokesman Bill Dickson said the OPP have received Sloly’s demand for extra resources, but he would not say how the OPP will respond or how many OPP officers had already joined the effort, citing “operational details.”

The RCMP said it is providing “around-the-clock support” with Mounties from the national capital region and elsewhere in Ontario and Quebec, along with operational assistance via its command centre (which has cameras all over the parliamentary precinct).

Federal cabinet ministers Marco Mendicino and Bill Blair condemned the spread of protests now jamming traffic at the Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge and blocking one lane at the Coutts border crossing between Alberta and Montana. At the Windsor-Detroit bridge, U.S.-bound traffic is continuing to cross, but traffic was blocked coming into Canada.

But Blair said that as an elected official, “it is not for me to pass comment or judgment” on how the Ottawa police are handling the tense situation.

The Trudeau government made clear it will not negotiate or meet with convoy organizers.

Retired OPP commissioner Chris Lewis told a television interviewer Monday the crisis is a result of a failure of police leadership.

Other police officials in current leadership or union positions are careful not to criticize Sloly’s handling of the demonstrations amid the crisis, saying only there will be time for lessons learned after it all ends.

Matt Skof, the president of the Ottawa police union, in an interview said the police are responsible for the “logistical” management of the protest, but “the issue in this case,” which he said was complaints about vaccine mandates, “is not with the police.”

Asked why any government would talk to a group demanding its defeat, Skof said every demonstration sees people make demands which may be unreasonable, “And in this case … the effort has not even been made to have the conversation.”

On Tuesday, groups of children played with blocks and other toys in the crosswalk of Wellington Street. Others stood with parents around a nearby barrel fire, as a man sang and played guitar and urged everyone to be polite to the police as a cruiser slowly puttered by.

Near the iron gates of the steps leading up to Parliament’s West Block, which holds the House of Commons, another group of children held signs with messages that denounced the media and called for health restrictions to be lifted.

With a file from Alex Ballingall

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