The scenes that unfolded in downtown Ottawa over the past three weeks have been described by people living there as disruptive and frightening. For people right across the country, they’ve also been eye-opening.
Anyone who thought this kind of dug-in, angry occupation of streets in a capital city would never happen in Canada was proven wrong by how quickly and easily Ottawa was brought to a standstill by the so-called Freedom Convoy.
What’s more, as the days of diesel-spewing truck idling and intrusive horn-honking went on, there has been disbelief at how little anyone seemed willing — or able — to do. Peter Sloly resigned as Ottawa police chief on Tuesday, after days of criticism over how the convoys were handled from the beginning.
Experts, including some who have spent time in the crowds, say the occupation will probably have some lasting effects, but it is unlikely to become the new face of protest.
Thousands of people first descended on Parliament Hill on Jan. 28. In the ensuing days and weeks, trucks and people dug in, occupying and blocking streets around Parliament Hill. (CBC / Radio-Canada)
Shattered norms
It’s not known why Ottawa police allowed the convoy protesters to set up where they did in the downtown core or expected them to leave after a few days.
But Regina Bateson, who studies human rights and the political consequences of conflict and violence, says that’s a key question.
“I think there needs to be a very active look at what real racial bias or preference may have played in how the group was initially assessed and why they were deemed to be not particularly threatening, even though they clearly are,” she said.
“Other protesters, in particular Black and Indigenous groups have been treated much more harshly in the past.”
Bateson, an assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said the events that unfolded in Ottawa have “shattered norms” and that the participants have established new tactics and “pushed the envelope of the possible in Canada.”
“What we’ve seen in Ottawa is something that had elements of a protest to start with, that then morphed into an illegal occupation, that now has significant foreign involvement, as well as more organized militia-style activity happening,” she said.
She believes other groups are unlikely to succeed if they decide to emulate their tactics.
‘What we’ve seen in Ottawa is something that had elements of a protest to start with, that then morphed into an illegal occupation,’ said Regina Bateson, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. (Vivek Krishnamurthy)
Protests generally involve the gathering of people to express a collective disagreement about a government policy or something going on in society.
The Anti-Defamation League cites a number of goals a protest can have, including to influence public opinion, draw attention to and share information about a perceived injustice or gain a wider audience for the cause.
Sometimes protesters do break laws in the course of their actions.
“They have some sense that there are laws, that they may try to disturb a bit, but they know they’re breaking the law,” said Joao Velloso, associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of law. “When an Indigenous group is blockading a train from passing, they’re going to tell you that they’re breaking the law to achieve a certain thing.”
Velloso spent several days in the streets of Ottawa during the truck blockade, speaking to the people who were part of it.
“Most of these guys downtown, they don’t believe they are breaking the law,” he said.
Velloso described what happened in Ottawa as akin to holding people hostage.
University of Ottawa associate professor Joao Velloso spent several days in the streets speaking to members of the convoy. He says they told him they were not breaking the law, but acting the best interest of Canadians. (David Richard/CBC-Radio Canada)
Loss of public support
If the goal was to influence public opinion, the convoy members lost the support of the general public pretty quickly.
An Angus Reid poll out this week suggests nearly three-quarters of Canadians (72 per cent) believe the convoy members should go home. Further, 44 per cent of those polled said they are now more likely than before the convoy action to support vaccine requirements at the Canada-U.S. border and indoor mask requirements in their communities.
Colleen Coffey has been organizing and taking part in protests for more than 30 years, most recently as Atlantic Regional Executive Vice-President for the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
“I probably have broken the law more than once,” she said. “But not in such a way that I was going to cause harm to any individual or group of people.”
She said she has always operated from the position of “you make your point, and that’s it. And it’s not about hatred or inflicting suffering on people.”
Colleen Coffey, who has been organizing and taking part in protests for decades, says they have never been about hatred or inflicting suffering on others. (Submitted by Public Service Alliance of Canada)
Bateson recalled a video that circulated of one member in particular, who was angry about COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
“His rationale for why they were blowing the horns was to make other people suffer the way he had already suffered. So it was actually a rationale of retaliation and not about, like, expressing anger to authorities.”
And the problem, she said, was that police failed to act promptly.
WATCH | How the convoy is forcing the end of some relationships:
Unfriended: Protest convoys create rifts with family, friends
7 days ago
Duration 2:11
As deeply divisive pandemic protests continue across the country, some Canadians say it’s taking a toll on their relationship both on and off social media. 2:11
‘A fundamental epic failure’
“Nothing really went right here,” said Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Royal Military College and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
The security expert says there was clear failure by all three levels of government when it came to preparing and dealing with the onslaught of trucks.
“A modern state has three basic functions: security, prosperity, democracy,” he said. “If you don’t have security and safety for your population, you won’t have a prosperous country and you won’t have a democratic country.
“And what we see in Ottawa is a fundamental epic failure of all levels of government to provide for the most basic function of the modern state.”
Security expert Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, says there was a clear failure to act on the convoy from all three levels of government. (Submitted by Christian Leuprecht)
Leuprecht said the problem runs even deeper than simply police inaction.
“From the beginning, we have people thumbing their noses at the rule of law and the Constitution and our democratic institutions. Making claims they want to bring down the prime minister,” he said. “Clearly seditious type of activity among a minority — or perhaps a majority of the protesters, who knows? But the state was nowhere to be seen.”
Leuprecht said a much heavier-handed approach should have been used from the onset, and warns what happened did not escape notice abroad.
“You can also bet that our adversaries in Moscow and Beijing and elsewhere are also watching, as well. How do you bring down Canadian democracy and disrupt Canadian democracy? Support a few fringe groups that resort to unlawful protest measures.”
Wellington Street seen on Feb. 14 still lined with trucks, after city officials negotiated to move some trucks towards Parliament and away from downtown residences. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Leuprecht thinks the intelligence as the convoy was approaching Ottawa was flawed, and only concerned with a certain type of extremist group.
“For 20 years, we’ve been so singularly focused on jihadi terrorism,” he said.
“Imagine if instead of that Confederate flag, that would have been an ISIS flag carried by a guy in a beard who identifies publicly as Muslim,” he said. “Do you think the enforcement might have been just a tad different?
He says there should be a Royal Commission to figure out exactly what went wrong in Ottawa and to ensure it never happens again.
“Our law enforcement and national security system came under limited stress by a few thousand protesters, and the system completely collapsed, as far as I can tell,” he said.
“That suggests to me we need a complete overhaul of our institution, of our capabilities, of our legislation. The system is not working.”
WATCH | Why the government says it needed the Emergencies Act to dismantle the convoy:
Why the government invoked the Emergencies Act
4 days ago
Duration 2:38
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair talks to Ian Hanomansing about why it was necessary to invoke the federal Emergencies Act to try to end the protests. 2:38
Angus Reid surveyed 1,622 Canadian adults online from Feb. 11-13, 2022 who are members of Angus Reid Forum. The margin of error of is +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the arrival of Swifties, the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to descend on the downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars — the city estimates more than $282 million in economic impact — some worry it could worsen Toronto’s gridlock by clogging streets that already come to a standstill during rush hour.
Swift’s shows are set to collide with sports events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Raptors game on Friday and a Leafs game on Saturday.
Some residents and local businesses have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area and its planned road closures.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window,” he said.
Dayani says the group rescheduled the gathering for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, suggested his employees avoid the company’s downtown offices on concert days, saying he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” Sinclair said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Swift’s concerts are the latest pop culture moment to draw attention to Toronto’s notoriously disastrous daily commute.
In June, One Direction singer Niall Horan uploaded a social media video of himself walking through traffic to reach the venue for his concert.
“Traffic’s too bad in Toronto, so we’re walking to the venue,” he wrote in the post.
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been working for more than a year on plans to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
“We are preparing for something that would be akin to maybe the Beatles coming in the ‘60s,” he said.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to transit routes around the stadium, and the TTC has consulted the city on potential emergency scenarios.
Green will be part of a command centre operated by the City of Toronto and staffed by Toronto police leaders, emergency services and others who have handled massive gatherings including the Raptors’ NBA championship parade in 2019.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
Metrolinx, the agency for Ontario’s GO Transit system, has also added extra trips and extended hours in some regions to accommodate fans looking to travel home.
A day before Swift’s first performance, the city began clearing out tents belonging to homeless people near the venue. The city said two people were offered space in a shelter.
“As the area around Rogers Centre is expected to receive a high volume of foot traffic in the coming days, this area has been prioritized for outreach work to ensure the safety of individuals in encampments, other residents, businesses and visitors — as is standard for large-scale events,” city spokesperson Russell Baker said in a statement.
Homeless advocate Diana Chan McNally questioned whether money and optics were behind the measure.
“People (in the area) are already in close proximity to concerts, sports games, and other events that generate massive amounts of traffic — that’s nothing new,” she said in a statement.
“If people were offered and willingly accepted a shelter space, free of coercion, I support that fully — that’s how it should happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans lined up outside the gates of Toronto’s Rogers Centre Wednesday, with hopes of snagging some of the pop star’s merchandise on the eve of the first of her six sold-out shows in the city.
Swift is slated to perform at the venue from Thursday to Saturday, and the following week from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, with concert merchandise available for sale on some non-show days.
Swifties were all smiles as they left the merch shop, their arms full of sweaters and posters bearing pictures of the star and her Eras Tour logo.
Among them was Zoe Haronitis, 22, who said she waited in line for about two hours to get $300 worth of merchandise, including some apparel for her friends.
Haronitis endured the autumn cold and the hefty price tag even though she hasn’t secured a concert ticket. She said she’s hunting down a resale ticket and plans to spend up to $600.
“I haven’t really budgeted anything,” Haronitis said. “I don’t care how much money I spent. That was kind of my mindset.”
The megastar’s merchandise costs up to $115 for a sweater, and $30 for tote bags and other accessories.
Rachel Renwick, 28, also waited a couple of hours in line for merchandise, but only spent about $70 after learning that a coveted blue sweater and a crewneck had been snatched up by other eager fans before she got to the shop. She had been prepared to spend much more, she said.
“The two prized items sold out. I think a lot more damage would have been done,” Renwick said, adding she’s still determined to buy a sweater at a later date.
Renwick estimated she’s spent about $500 in total on “all-things Eras Tour,” including her concert outfit and merchandise.
The long queue for Swift merch is just a snapshot of what the city will see in the coming days. It’s estimated that up to 500,000 visitors from outside Toronto will be in town during the concert period.
Tens of thousands more are also expected to attend Taylgate’24, an unofficial Swiftie fan event scheduled to be held at the nearby Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, Destination Toronto has said it anticipates the economic impact of the Eras Tour could grow to $282 million as the money continues to circulate.
But for fans like Haronitis, the experience in Toronto comes down to the Swiftie community. Knowing that Swift is going to be in the city for six shows and seeing hundreds gather just for merchandise is “awesome,” she said.
Even though Haronitis hasn’t officially bought her ticket yet, she said she’s excited to see the megastar.
“It’s literally incredible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Via Rail is asking for a judicial review on the reasons why Canadian National Railway Co. has imposed speed restrictions on its new passenger trains.
The Crown corporation says it is seeking the review from the Federal Court after many attempts at dialogue with the company did not yield valid reasoning for the change.
It says the restrictions imposed last month are causing daily delays on Via Rail’s Québec City-Windsor corridor, affecting thousands of passengers and damaging Via Rail’s reputation with travellers.
CN says in a statement that it imposed the restrictions at rail crossings given the industry’s experience and known risks associated with similar trains.
The company says Via has asked the courts to weigh in even though Via has agreed to buy the equipment needed to permanently fix the issues.
Via said in October that no incidents at level crossings have been reported in the two years since it put 16 Siemens Venture trains into operation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
