It wasn’t the most confidence-inspiring of news conferences.
On the sixth straight day of the protest that has immobilized the core of the nation’s capital and harassed local residents, Ottawa officials still gave nothing approaching a timeline of when this all might come to an end.
“I can’t give you a definitive, ‘It’s one day, it’s two days. It’s one week, it’s two weeks,'” police Chief Peter Sloly told council members during a public briefing Wednesday afternoon.
No sense of an end date isn’t what anyone wanted to hear. Even more disturbing, the chief floated the unsettling idea that policing alone won’t end this mess.
The situation is fluid and potentially dangerous. Earlier this week, police apprehended and charged a man with a knife and baton.
While the number of protesters has shrunk to hundreds from thousands last weekend, those who remain set up on downtown streets with their vehicles seem determined to stay until they get what they want.
The demonstrations have gone on for nearly one week, with no obvious end in sight. (Alexander Behne/CBC)
But what they want isn’t exactly clear. Some insist the national vaccine mandate for truckers must be cancelled, others such as the organizers behind a Wednesday news release want general COVID-19 restrictions — largely the provincial government’s measures — lifted.
Although police are in contact with some of the convoy “captains,” these folks in no way represent all of the protesters in the city. The chief said participants are associated with dozens and dozens of groups, not to mention the many “lone wolf” types who have attached themselves.
Police negotiations and finger-wagging from politicians at all levels of government haven’t convinced the hardcore to roll out of town. So it may be understandable that Sloly, who’s been open that his approach is to de-escalate and avoid violence, can’t offer an end date to this situation.
What’s far less understandable is why Sloly would float the idea that politicians need to get involved in this protest for it to end, without quite saying so or stating plainly what he meant.
‘Element outside of the police’ needed, says chief
Here’s exactly what he said: “The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced there may not be a police solution to this demonstration.”
WATCH | Ottawa’s police chief on the hurdles to a solution:
‘There may not be a police solution to this demonstration’
23 hours ago
Duration 1:18
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly says the hostile and volatile nature of the convoy protest means local police may be unable to bring it to an end without national assistance. 1:18
In fact, he said that a number of times. He explained that this protest isn’t a mere local event but provincial and national in scope. The demands being made by the protesters, however one may view them, are political.
And that’s not any police chief’s purview.
“I don’t have a singular mandate in this city, this province or this country, to negotiate the end to any demonstration. There always needs to be an element outside of the police for any truly successful end to any demonstration, particularly one of this size,” he said.
But asked directly by reporters what he meant, he repeated some version of his above comment. Asked if by non-policing elements, he meant politicians or perhaps the military, he responded, “I think you just listed most of them right there.”
He didn’t elaborate.
WATCH | Ottawa’s most recent former police chief on the protest:
Protest’s ‘potential for escalation is huge,’ says former Ottawa police chief
3 hours ago
Duration 6:45
Calling the situation in Ottawa ‘volatile,’ former police chief Charles Bordeleau says politicians taking photos with protesters are ‘adding fuel to the fire.’ 6:45
Calling in the military is a rare and unlikely scenario, unless the situation escalates to a level of ugliness none want to see.
Sloly did include asking for military help as an option, along with calling in the RCMP (no formal request has yet been made to either), requesting more provincial police help, or filing for a court injunction.
He added he could only recall two incidents in recent history when the armed forces were dispatched: the Oka Crisis in 1990 and the October Crisis in 1970— not exactly reassuring historic examples.
So that leaves politicians.
It’s not clear what Sloly is suggesting. Should Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or someone in his government speak with the protesters? That’s not happening, say government sources. After all, some fly racist flags and have taken up the “F–k Trudeau” slogan.
WATCH | Some of Trudeau’s comments on Monday:
Trudeau speaks out on anti-vaccine mandate convoy in Ottawa
3 days ago
Duration 1:46
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says hate speech and racist symbols must not be tolerated in Canada. 1:46
Does the chief think the federal government should open a channel to discuss reducing pandemic restrictions? Again, this seems very unlikely.
Maybe the premier should step in? But Doug Ford is in another city and besides telling protesters to leave and condemning hate symbols and disrespect of monuments, doesn’t seem eager to engage.
It is certainly possible that Sloly is right, that some agency that isn’t his force — or the OPP, or the RCMP, or the army — needs to deal with these folks’ demands. Clearly, pleading with them to leave for the good of the fed-up local community isn’t working. But it’s not responsible to float that possibility before he’s ready to be more precise.
A woman stops to take a photo of signs attached to the fence around Parliament Hill in Ottawa during an ongoing protest against COVID-19 public health measures on Feb. 2, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
One reporter asked Sloly if the Prime Minister needs to get involved. The chief said “That’s a question for politicians to decide.”
It was a little late to be so circumspect. Mayor Jim Watson, who was at the same briefing and is a politician, didn’t answer either.
So we’re left with no clear end date for this protest, with citizens starting to take things into their own hands by organizing their own protests, escorts and food deliveries, and with the police chief vaguely suggesting that some course of action other than policing will be needed.
People hold signs outside the Ottawa Police Service’s headquarters on Feb. 2, 2022, as demanding the force do more to remove protesters who’ve been rallying against COVID-19 public health mandates and blockading downtown streets for nearly a week. (Jillian Renouf/CBC)
Oh, and one more thing: This weekend, we expect protest reinforcements to come to town and crowds in the downtown to swell again.
If police can’t restore normalcy, then who’s got the solution?
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.
