Declaration of Emergency Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2022

[D/Chief Patricia Ferguson]

I can tell you that for a large period of time during the first few weeks, it was a very volatile and agitated situation out on the road. Police officers have discretion in any situation when they feel intervention will worsen the situation or make it more violent for people around or for themselves if they're going to be putting themselves or other members of the public at risk—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

So Ottawa police were not enforcing the law.

[D/Chief Patricia Ferguson]

That's not what I'm saying. We were allowing our officers to exercise discretion and potentially enforce the law at a later stage, gathering evidence while they were standing there taking information on plates, on people around, and collecting evidence in that way, and charges could have been laid later.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Later.

The testimony here this evening from both of you has been to the effect that you had a plan that was ready to move forward on February 15. That is one day after the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Respectfully, what in God's name was the OPS doing for the three weeks prior to February 15, during which our nation's capital was under siege?

[D/Chief Patricia Ferguson]

I can tell you that after the first weekend, we were situating ourselves with what the situation now was and determining what the best course of action was—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

For three weeks?

[D/Chief Patricia Ferguson]

It's no surprise to you, I'm sure, that we were overwhelmed by the number of people who had arrived in our city. Our staffing levels at that stage were not measured to be able to answer in a way that we finally ended up needing to.

We took all sorts of steps in terms of negotiation with some of the protesters. We took steps to identify where our main areas of concern were, and we evolved and began developing plans at that point in time.

For a plan of this size to take place, it takes a number of weeks, and eventually it took 2,200 officers, which we did not have ready here in our city to be able to deal with that.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you.

Chief Bell, you confirm that there was no plan prior to February 15 and prior to your arrival.

[Chief Steve Bell]

I don't believe I indicated there was no plan there. I said that when I arrived, there was a plan that was built and ready to be executed—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Why wasn't it executed?

[Chief Steve Bell]

It was executed starting on the 17th—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

That was after the Emergencies Act was invoked. Why wasn't a plan executed prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act, Chief Bell?

[Chief Steve Bell]

I believe you heard Deputy Ferguson say that as we went through, we were in the process of building plans. We did build plans. We were very clear about our resourcing needs and the needs to bring people in to help us assist in the execution—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Did the OPP respond to your resource requests in an effective manner?

[Chief Steve Bell]

I believe they did, as we moved through the process—

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

I'm sorry. Ms. Bendayan may get another round. Thank you.

We'll move to Madame Normandin.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Chief Bell, I'd like to go back to your opening remarks. You named four things that the Emergencies Act made possible, namely the establishment of an exclusion zone, the ability to freeze funds, the removal of the oath requirement and the ability to requisition tow trucks.

Is this correct?

[Chief Steve Bell]

That is correct.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

Let me come back more specifically to the issue of the funds that were frozen. You said that it helped you, because people started to leave on their own when the Emergencies Act was invoked. That was one of the impacts of the act and the announcement that funds could be frozen.

[Chief Steve Bell]

That is correct.

I also indicated that most of the work around the freezing of the accounts was done through the coordination of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

You did mention that this measure had been useful.

Are you able to tell me how it was not helpful, but necessary to freeze the funds?

[Chief Steve Bell]

Again, I will refer you to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who were responsible and more active in the financial restraint component.

I think it's important to remember that at that point we were part of a unified team, a unified command system, so I'm speaking of the overall impacts that we saw through the Emergencies Act with all of our partners.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I'm reminding you of the answer you gave me.

I asked you when the first account was frozen. You replied that you did not know. Is this correct?

[Chief Steve Bell]

That is correct.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

You mentioned that the possibility of freezing funds had been a deterrent to protesters.

Can you tell me how many people were targeted by this measure?

Proportionately, how many of the protesters were at risk of having their accounts frozen, which would have deterred them from staying put?