Four people were arrested in downtown Ottawa Thursday evening, as thousands of people began arriving in the capital for Canada Day celebrations.
Ottawa police say officers responded to a “situation” in the Wellington Street and Elgin Street area, and the incidents included “assaulting officers.”
CTV News’ Mackenzie Gray said the people were arrested at the National War Memorial, where some gathered to welcome Canadian Forces veteran James Topp following his March to Freedom.
Ottawa police said late Thursday evening the investigation into the incident continues.
“We are reviewing video and investigating the incident at the National War Memorial this evening,” police said on Twitter. “The initial investigation finds that an interaction with officers became confrontational and 1 officer was choked. Other officers immediately responded, 4 people were arrested.”
The arrests were announced hours after the police chief encouraged people to visit downtown Ottawa and LeBreton Flats to celebrate Canada Day, promising it will be a “safe environment.”
Police officers in cruisers, on foot patrol and on bicycles are patrolling the Parliamentary Precinct, the ByWard Market and the so-called “motor vehicle control zone,” as the city prepares for Canada’s 155th birthday celebrations and possible protests.
“Come, don’t be worried. This is a festival. This is to celebrate Canada, that’s why we’ve gone to the extent we have to put the plans in place and the resources around it,” interim Chief Steve Bell told The Evan Solomon Show. “It’s going to be a safe environment tomorrow, that’s why we’re here to ensure that.”
Tens of thousands of people are expected to visit LeBreton Flats for Canada Day celebrations or visit restaurants and attractions throughout the downtown core. Several protests are planned in downtown Ottawa on Thursday and Friday.
Bell says Ottawa police and its policing partners are prepared for anything.
“It is going to be big tomorrow because it’s Canada Day, so there could be in excess of 100,000 people down in and around this area,” Bell said. “In amongst those will be those people lawfully engaged in protesting. That’s what we’ve planned around so we’re prepared for whatever eventuality comes.”
Officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, RCMP and municipal police forces have been deployed to Ottawa to assist with Ottawa police.
A motor vehicle control zone has been set up from Colonel By Drive/Sussex Drive in the east, Booth Street in the west, Wellington Street in the north and Laurier Avenue in the east, along with the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
“Officers are being vigilant about what’s coming in, trying to keep the normal flow of traffic coming in through the area.”
Motor vehicles taking part in any form of demonstration, event or protest will not be permitted in the downtown area. There will be no on-street parking or stopping on roads in the control zone.
Ottawa Bylaw said that since 8 a.m. Wednesday, officers have issued 234 parking tickets and towed 59 vehicles located in the vehicle control zone around the Parliamentary Precinct.
On Wednesday, officers stopped a small convoy of vehicles in the area of Pinecrest Road and Hwy. 417 and several tickets were issued. In an interview on CTV News Ottawa Wednesday evening, Bell defended the actions of officers to stop vehicles in the capital region.
“We actually have good legal grounds for the plans we’ve put in place. We make sure that we stay on legal grounds because that’s very important as a police service,” Bell said. “We’re comfortable with the posture we’re taking and the actions officers are taking, and it’s all in the name that we ensure public safety and we can have a good, festive Canada Day.”
FOUR PEOPLE ARRESTED DOWNTOWN
Ottawa police say four people were arrested when officers responded to a “situation” in the Wellington Street and Elgin Street area Thursday evening.
“Incidents include assaulting officers,” police said on Twitter.
The area of Wellington and Elgin is at the National War Memorial, where hundreds of people had gathered.
POLICE OPERATION
Ottawa police say one person was arrested for breaching their bail conditions in the east end.
Police were involved in an ongoing operation on Highway 417 at Anderson Road Friday morning.
Police say the person was arrested for breaching bail conditions, which included not entering Ottawa. A vehicle was also towed.
LEBRETON FLATS
Preparations continued through the day Thursday for Canada Day festivities at LeBreton Flats.
“It’s great to finally be back again and be back at it,” said vendor Paul Baker. “Missed it the last few years.”
Tourists began arriving in Ottawa for the birthday celebrations.
“I am most excited to be on Parliament Hill,” said Ann Health, who is visiting from the United States. “This is super exciting. Just to feel the energy.”
Hamzrah Riaz is visiting Ottawa from Kitchener.
“We are looking forward to joining the celebrations tomorrow night. The fireworks and all the amazing stuff that’s going on here.”
The Royal Canadian Air Force announced the Snowbirds fly-past over Ottawa on Friday has been cancelled, following a problem with the aircraft’s emergency ejection parachute that grounded the fleet for nearly a week.
PARLIAMENT HILL
Visitors to Parliament Hill will need to pass through a security checkpoint, and be searched by a Parliamentary Protective Service officer.
A sign on the fence along Wellington Street says several items are restricted, including tables, speakers, barbecues, aerosols, weapons, fireworks and sporting equipment.
MOTOR VEHICLE CONTROL ZONE
A motor vehicle control zone remains in effect around the Parliamentary Precinct, downtown Ottawa and roads near LeBreton Flats.
The zone stretches from Colonel By Drive/Sussex Drive in the east, Booth Street in the west, Laurier Avenue in the south and Wellington Street in the north, along with the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and Albert Street west of Booth Street.
The roads in the motor vehicle control zone are not closed today; however, motor vehicles taking part in any form of demonstration, event or protest will not be permitted in the area. There will be no on-street parking or stopping on roads in the control zone.
The city of Ottawa says a motor vehicle control zone will be in effect from Wednesday at 8 a.m. until July 4 at 6 a.m. (City of Ottawa/Twitter)
TICKETING AND TOWING VEHICLES
Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services says officers are out ensuring all parking regulations are observed in the motor vehicle control zone.
“All vehicles found failing to observe the no-stopping zones will be ticketed and towed. Parking time limits and no parking zones outside the centre core will also be strictly enforced,” the city said.
Ottawa Bylaw will also be focusing on the following bylaws to ensure residents and visitors obey the rules over the Canada Day weekend.
No unnecessary motor-vehicle or other noise, including speakers or shouting
No unnecessary motor-vehicle idling
No encumbering a sidewalk or roadway by any means, including setting up tents or other illegal structures
No public urination and defecation
No open air fires
No littering
Discharging of fireworks – contravening any regulations under Fireworks By-Law.
DOWNTOWN PARKING
Ottawa City Hall and the underground municipal parking facility will be closed all weekend.
City Hall and the parking structure will be closed from 5 p.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. on Monday.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
