People walk in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022, on the first day of the Freedom Convoy protest. (Noé Chartier/The Epoch Times)
The City of Ottawa considered seeking a court order to help dislodge trucks and protesters that had settled in its downtown core last winter, but refrained from doing so in part because it thought a defeat in court would cause harm to its reputation.
This was part of the testimony of Ottawa councillor and former Ottawa Police Services Board chair Diane Deans before the Public Order Emergency Commission on Oct. 19.
Determining whether all options were exhausted and if invoking the Emergencies Act to clear the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa met the proper threshold are issues being weighed by the commission.
While on the stand, Deans was prompted about her conservation with city solicitor David White on the issue of seeking an injunction.
She was asked specifically whether White had told her the two reasons why the city would not go down that route.
One of the reasons was a concern Ottawa police would be unable to enforce the injunction and the other related to being embarrassed if the court denied the injunction.
“Well, I think it was the latter and perhaps partially the former too,” said Deans.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told the commission the previous day then-chief of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Peter Sloly had asked the city’s legal staff to consider an injunction on Jan. 30.
Heavy trucks had started pouring into Ottawa a few days earlier and thousands of people attended the protest over the weekend of Jan. 29 and 30.
Evidence presented to the commission also reveals there seemed to be a consensus among law enforcement that an injunction was not a preferred option.
“Everyone we’ve spoken to, we are not feeling that an injunction is the best way to go. clear indication that injunction might be the worst way to go,” said an unidentified speaker in minutes from a Feb. 1 OPS briefing on the convoy.
Deans commented on that statement and said she believed it referred to concerns about the injunction being written in a way that would be denied by the court.
RCMP Advises Against Injunction
It was suggested during the hearing that the RCMP also recommended against obtaining a court order to remove protesters early on.
Brendan Miller, the lawyer representing the protesters at the commission, asked Deans whether she was aware of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki telling chief Sloly on Jan. 31 not to seek an injunction.
“[Lucki] told him not to get the injunction because it would be an official movement to another stage, that it would involve the whole country, and that anything official will spark a national response,” said Miller.
Deans said she did not recollect such information.
Miller asked Deans whether the Ottawa police would have been able to remove the protesters with a court order and enough resources, instead of relying on the Emergencies Act.
“I don’t think I’m the person to assess that,” said Deans.
Mayor Watson told the commission on Oct. 18 that the ability to secure tow trucks was the most important factor derived from the declaration of the public order emergency by the federal government on Feb. 14.
