On 3rd weekend of protests, is any help in sight?
Provincial declaration of state of emergency may do little without more reinforcements
At the start of this week, Ottawa's police Chief Peter Sloly somewhat shocked the city when he said he needed 1,800 more bodies in order to end what he and other leaders are calling a siege of the nation's capital, now spilling into its third weekend.
It was an aggressive ask. Consider that the Ottawa police services has about 1,500 sworn officers; Sloly was looking to more than double that with help from the RCMP, the OPP and other municipal forces from across the province.
The chief himself recognized it was an ambitious request unlikely to be completely met. But even if amplified for political effect, it was a startling admission of how much more help he believes he needs to bring the demonstrations to a quick and peaceful end.
But five days after city officials made the formal request to federal and provincial leaders, there is no clear answer to the question of how much help is coming, or when. Instead, we've been treated to vague talk, buck-passing and a slew of new legal measures that police may not be able to enforce.
In fact, CBC News has learned that as of Friday night, only a small fraction of the requested reinforcements were on the ground working with the local force. That could change, of course, but it's not a promising sign of a swift end to this demonstration or of what to expect over the weekend.
2 full weeks before province moves
Many residents living among the 400 trucks clogging downtown streets have complained of fumes, being harassed — even of being assaulted in some cases — and have called more than 150 criminal complaints into police.
The gravity and longevity of what was happening on the streets of our usually staid capital became clear shortly after the protest's first weekend.
So why did it take 14 full days for Premier Doug Ford to declare a state of emergency?
One reason Ford may have acted now is the international border crossing blockade that popped up in Windsor this week, which is causing so much economic harm that it required an immediate response. And it was probably a good idea for the premier to be seen bringing in tough measures on the day that it was reported, courtesy of CTV, that he'd been snowmobiling up at his cottage last Saturday.
But the question that remains unanswered is how the measures under the state of emergency — which basically amount to a six-figure fine and possible jail time for actions that are already illegal — will help quell the 16-day demonstration without more enforcement.
Perhaps the tough penalties may persuade some protesters to depart. But by the looks of Friday evening's dance party and the trucks lining Wellington Street and beyond, the downtown occupiers don't appear to be quaking in their boots.
And as Ottawa protests have dragged on, more have emerged in other cities, making it that much harder for this city's police to secure the extra help it says it needs.
"Simple requests we made this week to provincial and federal counterparts are now being met with multiple requests from multiple other jurisdictions for similar resources to come to their areas," Sloly said yesterday. "That is the situation that we are in right now."
No clear answer of help
No police force — whether federal, provincial or municipal — will say how many of their officers they have on the ground, citing operational reasons. In other words, you don't want the other side to know your strengths and weaknesses.
(That did not stop Solicitor General Sylvia Jones from issuing a statement last weekend that the province had sent 1,500 OPP officers to aid Ottawa police since the start of the protest. However, she initially failed to clarify that the number was spread out over more than a week, and amounted to 150 a day or, spread out over three shifts, up to 50 additional people on the ground at one time. It's unclear if Ottawa is receiving even that level of support right now.)
It is understandable that some operational details must remain secret. But it's also in the public interest to know whether your local police force is being properly supported during a period of on-going civil unrest.
And right now, instead of our leaders providing reassuring facts, they are taking jurisdictional shots at each other.
On Friday afternoon, in response to a question about what more the federal government can do to help Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he didn't "accept the contention that the city of Ottawa has exhausted their tools and resources."
Coun. Diane Deans, who chairs the city's police services board, did not agree, calling the prime minister's words "a little unfair" and said the city does not have the resource requirement they asked for "at this point."
So who's right? We likely won't know for some time. But we do know that we're in for another weekend of disruptive protesting, with little reassurance of how it will end or who will end it.
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