Declaration of Emergency Committee on Oct. 6th, 2022

[Larry W. Campbell]

I'd like to move to the mayor and his negotiations with Ms. Lich. What were your thoughts on that? You're the person in charge of what's going on there, and yet you say you had no ongoing information on any of this. What were your thoughts on that from a [Technical difficulty—Editor] of view?

[Peter Sloly]

Just to be clear, I took no part and, to my knowledge, none of my officers took any part in the actual negotiations. I understood in principle that there were negotiations to remove vehicles from the red zone area and the downtown core area, particularly in the residential areas, to other areas of the city or outside the city. In principle, I was supportive of that general aspect of negotiation.

My simple statement back to the city manager who informed me of this was that if it contravened our operational planning, then I would not allow for that to happen.

[Larry W. Campbell]

It just seems counterintuitive to me that you're leading on the street and somebody is cutting deals behind your back, and you aren't part of it. It just does not seem to be conducive to moving forward.

My last question, if I have time, is this. With 20/20 vision, in hindsight, everything is perfect. Now that you've seen everything that's gone on, what major changes would you bring about to ensure this does not happen again, and if it does, that it will be dealt with in a different way?

[Peter Sloly]

Sir, I've actually given quite a bit of thought to that, and I appreciate your question.

I actually have a two-page document with 11 points and a lot of detail associated to it. I'm not sure if I have the time to go through that—I look to the chair for her guidance— but that is something I'd be happy to provide later on.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

If you can table it with us, that would certainly suffice.

[Peter Sloly]

I'm not sure what the term “table” means.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

Just share a copy with us.

[Peter Sloly]

Okay. It is not a completed document, just to be clear. It is still very much a draft document, but I will provide what I have in draft for the committee to consider.

[Larry W. Campbell]

Those are my questions.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Just to answer your question, Mr. Sloly, I think the committee would be happy to see the draft, but if you think the completed copy would better serve the committee, I think we'd be open to that as well.

[Peter Sloly]

I'd prefer to complete it and then submit it as a completed document.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

I'm seeing agreement around the table. Thank you.

[Peter Sloly]

Thank you.

[Larry W. Campbell]

I wish you luck, Chief.

[Peter Sloly]

Thank you very much, sir.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

We'll move to the second round.

We have Mr. Brock for four minutes.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good evening, Mr. Sloly. I too want to thank you for your decades of policing domestically, and your tours of service internationally.

I understand as well that an operational plan in terms of the ultimate conclusion to this protest is not something new to you. In fact, you've been involved in operational plans for decades, in other protests outside Ottawa. Is that fair to say?

[Peter Sloly]

Yes, sir.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

You and your service, as well as the City of Ottawa, had weeks to prepare and discuss a strategy with the organizers of the protest as to where the staging would take place.

Quite frankly, I appreciate your frankness in answering that affirmatively when the question was posed to you by my colleague, Mr. Motz, unlike interim chief Bell, who had some difficulty getting to the truth of that when he testified on May 17, 2022.

Leaving that aside, during the protest I was able to go on the OPS website and found a seven-page document that indicated, in very bright letters, “Ottawa police, Ottawa truck convoy”. It listed details of protesters travelling eastbound on Highway 417 and Highway 416, and westbound on Highway 417. There were descriptions of tractors with no trailers, tractors with open and empty trailers, trucks with box trailers. There was conversation and detail about staging areas. A very brightly worded document, it set out very clearly where these protesters were to set up shop and where their supplies ultimately would be. In fact, there was a very detailed description as to how many tractor trailers could actually park on Wellington Street.

Would you agree with me that this document does exist?

[Peter Sloly]

Sure.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Now, one of the areas that I want to confirm with you is that the government has not shared that detail with Parliament and certainly has not shared that detail with Canadians, because there is a sense out there that this was something that was controlled by the organizers, that they took those steps without consultation with your service and the City of Ottawa to park.

That's not true, correct?

[Peter Sloly]

I may have missed the question in there. I'm sorry, sir.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

The question is the narrative from the Prime Minister that was not shared with the government was that there was an actual plan, an authorization—you didn't want to use the word “permission”, but an authorization—to park their vehicles in specific locations in the parliamentary precinct.

[Peter Sloly]

I won't presume to speak for any other organization, including the Prime Minister's Office. As a standard practice, police liaison teams will negotiate with any demonstrator coming into the city for any reason to try to align that as much as possible to good public safety outcomes using best practices.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Sloly, the Prime Minister described the protesters as “a fringe minority” who held “unacceptable views” and were racists and misogynists. That divisive rhetoric was shared numerous times in the House, in the press and by members of the government.

What impact did incendiary rhetoric like this have on your ability to enforce the law during the convey protests?