Yes, I believe so.
Evidence of meeting #19 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 industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #19 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 industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you, Mr. Naqvi. You're out of time.
Mr. Green, can you please take the chair?
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Dilkens, I understand that you asked for 100 additional police officers to bring the protest to an end. You got 500. Do you know where they were from?
Mayor, City of Windsor
They came from multiple police agencies across Ontario. There were RCMP officers who were sent to Windsor as well. I don't know where their normal detachments are. The OPP, obviously, had a very large presence. We had London police. We had police from all sorts of different police services throughout the province.
Bloc
Mayor, City of Windsor
After the folks were cleared out on February 14, there was a very large police presence that remained for several weeks thereafter. They started to dissipate over time. I don't have direct knowledge of how many left every day, but you could see the presence diminish over a period of weeks.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Did you ever receive a request from the Ottawa Police Service, the OPP or the RCMP to send those officers or some of your officers to Ottawa?
Mayor, City of Windsor
Not at that particular time, but we responded to a request to help support Ottawa, and Windsor police sent officers to Ottawa subsequent to the clearing of the blockade in Windsor.
Bloc
Mayor, City of Windsor
It wasn't immediately thereafter, but it was within a couple of weeks—probably a week—that officers were sent.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
I see. If I understand correctly, your officers were not involved in the effort to clear Wellington Street, in Ottawa.
Mayor, City of Windsor
I don't know what tasks they performed when they were in Ottawa, but it was to help support the overall effort.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
You said they came a few weeks later, so my understanding is that it wasn't in the days or weeks that followed.
Once you had cleared the Ambassador Bridge on February 14, no one at Public Safety Canada, the RCMP or anywhere else told you that the 100 or 500 officers had to go to Ottawa, because they were needed there. Is that correct?
Mayor, City of Windsor
No one said that to me, but the police chief made the decision to send officers to Ottawa. I just don't know what date that decision was made.
Bloc
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you, Mr. Dilkens.
I am back in the chair.
Go ahead, Mr. Green. You have three minutes.
Bloc
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Green.
Mr. Dilkens, there were other costs associated with the disruption along Huron Church Road, because there was inclement weather.
Can you describe what those costs were to the city to support the police officers and their safety there, as well as other people who were on the ground?
Mayor, City of Windsor
I think all of the costs were wrapped up in the $5.7 million. That was for overtime costs, Jersey barriers, food and lodging. It really ran the gamut of expenses, including city expenses for overtime to deal with traffic control, signage and all of the things you would anticipate would be required from a municipal operation to help support a policing effort like the one that happened in Windsor.
