Peter Sloly has resigned as Ottawa’s police chief and will publicly announce his resignation after the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting today, sources tell CBC News.
The former chief has been criticized over his handling of a truck convoy protest that has caused major disruptions to Ottawa’s downtown core.
In his resignation letter, Sloly said that he was proud of his ability to overhaul the force’s culture to better reflect the “diversity of the community we serve.” He also said that he was leaving the force confident that it can handle the protests.
“Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis,” he said. “We have acquired new resources and enforcement tools, and stood up the new Integrated Command Centre.
“I am confident the Ottawa Police Service is now better positioned to end this occupation.”
Please see my statement below. <a href=”https://t.co/2tfUDPiKTI”>pic.twitter.com/2tfUDPiKTI</a>
Sloly’s resignation comes as sources tell CBC News he’s been accused of bullying and volatile behaviour that has damaged relations with senior leadership and compromised the force’s ability to cope with the truck protest.
Multiple sources have told CBC News that Sloly allegedly belittled and berated senior Ottawa Police Service officers in front of their colleagues, and has failed to put forward a solid operations plan to end the crisis.
Sources say he allegedly has come into conflict with members of the OPP and RCMP tasked with assisting the city’s law enforcement efforts during the crisis.
Sources both inside and outside the police service said Sloly has a short fuse and is quick to yell at members of his senior leadership team.
Since the protest and subsequent occupation of downtown Ottawa began, at least three incident response commanders have been reassigned after working with Sloly, the sources said.
Security expert says Sloly resignation should prompt investigation
7 hours ago
Duration 5:11
Former national security analyst Stephanie Carvin said she hopes Peter Sloly’s resignation as Ottawa police chief prompts an investigation into why protesters were able to establish such a foothold in the city, and why police didn’t enforce the law. 5:11
One incident commander who was reassigned described Sloly as having no rationale for his decisions.
“This will all come out in a review,” another reassigned incident commander told CBC News. “I can’t say any more.”
The sources spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named because of concerns about career repercussions.
Chief sidesteps allegations
CBC News emailed Sloly and the Ottawa Police Service on Sunday and multiple times on Monday to seek comment on the allegations. The response provided to CBC News did not directly address or refute the allegations levelled against him by multiple sources.
“Chief Sloly and the Ottawa Police Service have been working, with our policing partners, around the clock for three weeks to end this illegal occupation of our city,” the statement said.
WATCH | Ottawa councillor unsurprised by Sloly’s resignation:
City councillor not surprised by resignation of police chief amid protest ‘paralysis’
4 hours ago
Duration 1:29
Coun. Catherine McKenney says residents were upset about a lack of police enforcement that allowed protesters to occupy residential neighbourhoods, criticism that ultimately led to calls for change in police leadership. 1:29
“This unprecedented situation, well beyond the experience of any municipal policing body in Canada, has put tremendous strain on all our officers.”
The statement said the Ottawa Police Service is working with the OPP and RCMP to establish a joint incident command that it says will see more resources and expertise made available to help end what many are calling the occupation of the nation’s capital.
“In future there will be an opportunity for a full review of the operation, but right now it is time to work together with our partners and focus on ending this illegal occupation,” the statement said.
OPS media relations told CBC News no one was available for an interview.
A protester sings on a stage as another works on a giant TV screen in front of Parliament Hill on Friday, Feb. 11. What began as a truck convoy to protest COVID-19 public health measures has grown into a broader anti-government protest that Sloly suggested Ottawa police were not equipped to deal with. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
The Globe and Mail recently noted that while Sloly has faced criticism for his handling of some issues, he was not known in policing circles as someone quick to resort to heavy-handed measures.
During a special meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board Friday, police board chair Coun. Diane Deans defended Sloly’s response to the crisis, saying that despite requests for help issued to the province and the federal government the OPS still did not have the resources it needed to end the occupation of the city.
The Ottawa Police Service is “working tirelessly with the resources they have and there has been some progress. There have been over 1,700 tickets issued, there have been at least 25 arrests, police have been working to seize fuel, they’ve made progress on clamping down on the encampment at Coventry Rd. and in Confederation Park, but it’s not enough,” Deans said at the meeting.
“We do not have the resource requirement that we have asked for at this point.”
Deans declined an interview request from CBC News Monday when asked about specific allegations related to Sloly’s behaviour as chief of police.
WATCH | Police board chair criticizes Ottawa police response to ‘carnival of chaos’:
Chair of Ottawa police board criticizes response to ‘carnival of chaos’ downtown
3 hours ago
Duration 1:04
Coun. Diane Deans, chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, criticized the Ottawa Police Service for failing to quell the ongoing protests despite having weeks to put together an enforcement plan. 1:04
‘Ottawa Police Service is paralyzed’
Police and provincial sources have told CBC News that the Ottawa Police Service’s failure to provide the OPP and the RCMP with a firm operational plan for the 1,800 officers it has asked for has delayed the arrival of those extra officers.
Sources within and outside the OPS say they are concerned the force’s leadership is burned out and has reached a breaking point.
“Right now the Ottawa Police Service is paralyzed,” one source told CBC News. “They are paralyzed at the front line. They’ve been waiting for directions from the senior leadership team and are frustrated with how they’re being viewed by the public because of the spectacular failure of their leader.”
Just days into the protest, Sloly suggested that his force was not equipped to deal with it.
“The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced there may not be a police solution to this demonstration,” he said.
A protester yells ‘Freedom!’ at a person who attempted to stick a paper sign on a truck criticizing the convoy protest on its 18th day in Ottawa on Monday. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Sloly became chief of the Ottawa Police Service in October, 2019 with a mandate to help the force address systemic racism, improve its response to mental health calls and rebuild trust with the city’s Black community.
About a month after he took the position, a report found that Ottawa police were stopping a disproportionate number of people of colour in traffic stops.
In response to that report, Sloly, a Jamaican-born person of colour who had served 27 years on the Toronto police force, said he wanted to eliminate racism from the Ottawa Police Service.
“We should all have that sense of fierce urgency. Not enough is being done, it’s not being done fast enough and it’s not being done well enough,” Sloly said.
WATCH | Emergency preparedness Minister Bill Blair ‘saddened’ by Sloly’s resignation:
Emergency preparedness minister reacts to news of Ottawa police chief’s resignation
7 hours ago
Duration 2:11
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says the federal government will continue to work with local police to put an end to the convoy protests. 2:11
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
