Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s office would not return a call from the Parliamentary Protective Service during the height of the “Freedom Convoy,” its acting director told a committee Thursday evening.
Larry Brookson, the acting director of the service, told members of Parliament and senators during a joint committee hearing that he attempted to reach out to Watson and Ottawa’s city manager during the protests that occupied downtown Ottawa for three weeks in February.
But he said he received responses from both of their offices that they weren’t available to talk.
Brookson added that the mayor’s office did not communicate with the protective service, which is responsible for security on Parliament Hill, about a failed deal between the city and convoy organizers to bring the protest to a negotiated end during its height.
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brookson told the committee that he supports the extension of the parliamentary precinct to include Wellington Street, a change that is currently under review, and said that things would have gone differently if the road fell under his jurisdiction.
Despite his concerns, he said that the city and Ottawa police granted protesters permission to drive and park on the street, which faces Parliament but is not governed by parliamentary security.
“The streets would’ve been blocked” if he had been in charge, he said. “There would’ve been no vehicles permitted to come onto Wellington Street.”
While police services provided updates on their operations that Brookson said were satisfactory, he said that because the security service is not a law enforcement body and was not part of joint operations between police forces, he sometimes lacked situational awareness about what was happening outside the Hill — and he was not informed about the “daily posture” of police.
He said he was disappointed not to have more of a say in the decisions around Wellington Street.
“I think part of my disappointment is I thought I had more influence than what I actually did with the policing partners. I’ll have to talk back with them on that one. I mean, it saddened me throughout,” he said. “To suggest that people have to come to work and be under that sort of torment, irrelevant of where it was coming from, just doesn’t sit well with me.”
Brookson said that “tabletop exercises” are now being conducted with policing partners and “I’m very pleased and happy with the changes that seem to be occurring at the Ottawa Police Service.”
Also testifying at the committee were sergeant-at-arms Patrick McDonell, who is the corporate security officer for the House of Commons, and his Senate counterpart Julie Lacroix.
The parliamentary hearings are underway as part of a study on the federal government’s declaration of an emergency under the Emergencies Act.
Parliament’s security actors testified that they did not receive any new powers under the state of emergency, and Brookson said he did not think that such powers would be necessary for the protective service to be able to govern a jurisdiction that includes Wellington Street.
Peter Sloly, who resigned as Ottawa’s police chief in mid-February, had previously testified at the committee that placing Wellington Street under the protective service’s jurisdiction would make sense but could be costly because the service is less equipped to respond to daily policing issues on the street.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
