Evidence of meeting #16 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was police.
A video is available from Parliament.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much.
I want to go back to the day the protest was brought to an end.
Mr. Kanellakos, you've been around the environment for some time in terms of both policing and as a city manager. Have you ever seen anywhere in the country where that type of enforcement has been required?
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Would it be fair to say that in the negotiations, discussions and the information you were able to glean from the three weeks...?
Let me give you the forefront to this and say that I am sympathetic to Mr. Motz' point that there were many people there with a variety of views. What started out, perhaps, as a single grievance morphed into many grievances. As you know, you start negotiating with someone, and then you find out they can't lead, and they switch. There's a different group in charge and such. I think we all understand that's a convoluted situation to try to figure out.
When I look at the police operation that took place that day.... The mayor mentioned it was exceptional. I would say that it's beyond exceptional; it's unprecedented. I look at G20 and G8 summits, where we would have had.... This would have been in your city at some point earlier.
I look at the operation, and I think of the skill, but I also think about the risk to the police officers. We were fortunate that day that they were able to complete that operation in such a professional way.
Would you agree with me that part of the success they had on that particular day was because some people chose to leave when they were given notice?
City Manager, City of Ottawa
Mr. Chair, I would agree with that, yes.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Some people chose to leave; some people chose to stay, and some people decided to face down the enforcement after three weeks of what had essentially become.... I think it gives you the range of people who were there. Would you agree with me?
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
When you look at it in terms of lessons learned, which I think both you and Mr. Ayotte spoke about, what's the number one lesson you learned from the incident?
City Manager, City of Ottawa
I think that the assumptions that were made leading into the first weekend were that it was within the usual paradigm of the hundreds of protests we have every year in the city of Ottawa and that the advanced planning that would have been required—to some of the other questions we've been asked—to effectively deal with that weekend were not in place, so we got behind as a city and as a police service. We got behind the event and could not get ahead of it then because the resources were not adequate to meet it.
The biggest lesson, in my mind—and there's been a lot of discussion at the public inquiry—is that the intelligence translating into strategy was a big gap.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Absolutely.
In that vein, have you...? I look and I think as a Canadian.... I can tell you that a friend of mine from New Zealand sent me an email and asked me what we were exporting from Canada to New Zealand, because they ended up being faced with it.
Have you had inquiries or such from other cities outside of Canada trying to seek information?
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Have you had them from other cities across the country?
City Manager, City of Ottawa
We had words of encouragement, but nothing beyond that.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Is there a debriefing taking place within the city that would allow other cities to learn from this incident, including the actions of the police?
City Manager, City of Ottawa
Yes, we do, as part of our emergency management bylaw, have after action reports, but they've been put on pause because of the public inquiry and because of the work of this committee. Our auditor general, who has also been seized with an independent officer of council, is also conducting a parallel audit of the entire process. We've put it on hold until we receive all that, and then we'll do our after action report.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
I'll just make a quick suggestion: Be careful waiting too long, because the lessons you learn you may need at another time.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you, Senator.
Senator Carignan, it's now over to you for five minutes.
Senator, Quebec (Mille Isles), C
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mayor Watson, if I have understood your comments properly, you had a great deal of confidence in Police Chief Sloly. Am I wrong?
Mayor, City of Ottawa
Yes, I backed Chief Sloly. I think it is the role of a mayor, in the midst of a crisis, to support their chief of police, and I did. I saw no reason for him to switch out. Obviously, we're receiving more information as to what happened behind the scenes. Based on my observations, I had confidence in him and his deputies.
Senator, Quebec (Mille Isles), C
On February 12, on its website, the Ottawa Police Service published a news release stating the following: “All available officers were deployed last night. We have a plan to end this unlawful occupation and await the necessary reinforcements to do so.”
Did you discuss this plan with Mr. Sloly?
Mayor, City of Ottawa
Senator, I had almost daily—if not every couple of hours—discussions with either the chief or deputy chief, in my office, through Zoom calls or on conference calls. Again, the theme of almost every call was, “We can't move until we have more officers, because our police force still has to police the rest of the city. We can't put all of our resources downtown. We also have suburban and rural communities.”
Most of my time, during that lead-up to getting the okay for the 1,800 officers, was spent lobbying the provincial and federal governments. Ultimately, we were successful, and they moved in. As Senator Boniface mentioned, we often forget there were no deaths during this protest or occupation, and no serious injuries.