Some top police brass eyed crisis firm with suspicion during convoy, inquiry hears
Former chief's reliance on Navigator during convoy protest was 'inappropriate,' Steve Bell tells commission
Ottawa's current interim police chief had serious misgivings about the use of a private crisis communications firm by former chief Peter Sloly to stickhandle communications during last winter's convoy protest, the ongoing Emergencies Act inquiry has heard.
Steve Bell, who took over interim command of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) after Sloly resigned on Feb. 15, testified Monday at the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa.
According to a summary of Bell's pre-inquiry interview with commission counsel, which was entered into evidence at the commission, Sloly had "engaged Navigator Ltd. (Navigator) to provide strategic communications advice" to Ottawa police.
CBC reported on the hiring of Navigator, which bills itself as "Canada's leading high-stakes strategic advisory and communications firm," on Feb. 4.
Sloly took part in "regular, ongoing meetings with Navigator that Interim Chief Bell was not privy to, including more than one meeting on certain days," according to the summary.
"As the Freedom Convoy event continued, Navigator's role expanded and Chief Sloly used Navigator as a conduit to engage with City of Ottawa, provincial, and federal politicians, to develop communications information, and to participate in discussions about operational matters."
'Inappropriate' talks with firm
Shortly after noon on Feb. 11, Bell — then serving as a deputy chief — attended a meeting with Sloly, acting deputy chief Trish Ferguson and a representative or representatives from Navigator.
During the meeting, "Sloly engaged with Navigator in open discussions that generated ideas about how to pursue police operations, including how police were managing the operation and how to communicate police operations to the public," according to the summary.
"Interim Chief Bell understood that Chief Sloly found it to be appropriate to involve Navigator in these discussions."
Bell told commission counsel that the following day, Navigator executive chairman Jaime Watt — who had been working out of Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street — entered his office and "began discussing police operations with him."
According to the summary, Watt told Bell it was a "problem" that police hadn't actively responded to a group of protesters who had removed fencing around the National War Memorial earlier that afternoon, and recommended to Bell that police take a "more active approach."
Bell "did not receive Mr. Watt's request well because he viewed Mr. Watt's involvement in operational discussions as inappropriate," according to the summary.
Bell had concerns
Bell emailed Watt the following day thanking him for his advice. He told commission counsel he did so "because Chief Sloly had chosen to involve Navigator in OPS's response to the Freedom Convoy and he did not want to burn bridges with Navigator as a result."
However, counsel noted that during the interview, Bell "expressed concerns about the involvement of Navigator in operational discussions" for privacy reasons, and because he felt it was "inappropriate for Navigator's communication strategy to drive police operations."
Bell felt any communication strategy should be based on operational strategies developed by police, not the other way around.
According to a summary of Ferguson's interview with commission counsel, she also had concerns about Sloly's reliance on Navigator.
"In the last several weeks, there have been daily Navigator prep meetings for command," the acting deputy chief wrote in her notes on Feb. 14. Those notes are quoted in her interview summary.
"I have begun to decline them because I believe it has begun to drive our operations and influence the Chief's decision around things like enforcement — which we know has been putting our officers @ risk for safety reasons."
Company hired before convoy
Last week, Coun. Diane Deans, who was ousted as the chair of Ottawa's police services board during the protest, testified the force had hired Navigator "months and months" prior to the convoy's arrival after the board suggested police "amp up" their communications.
According to a summary of Sloly's pre-inquiry interviews with commission counsel, Navigator had initially been hired to help with Ottawa police "change management projects." The company was tapped to help during the convoy protest because the force's own communications branch was short-staffed.
Navigator wrote media releases, helped develop a social media strategy and assisted Sloly and Deans on how to "manage issues in [police board] meetings," according to the summary.
Bell noted that Sloly also had "a long-term relationship" with another company, Advanced Symbolics Inc. (ASI), whom the chief had asked to use open-source information such as social media to determine the impact of the force's messaging about the protest, and how it was being perceived by the public.
According to Sloly's summary, the force never used Navigator or ASI "to attempt to predict or prevent protester behaviour" because it wasn't written into the contract with either company, nor did he use either company to "model negotiations."
"To his knowledge, operational decisions were not based on Navigator or ASI assessments," the summary states, however, "ASI information was shared with the command team to provide situational awareness."
According to his summary, Bell terminated the Ottawa police contract with both ASI and Navigator after he was appointed interim chief.
"He explained that he did not believe that their assistance was effective to help resolve the occupation of Ottawa. He also mentioned that OPS had in-house communications staff and that he was confident in their ability to manage communications without outside assistance," the summary said.
'Not a huge issue,' lawyer says
Paul Champ, a lawyer representing a coalition of resident and business groups in downtown Ottawa, said neither he nor his clients are dwelling on any role the companies played during the protest.
"It looks like that was some of the fodder for the Ottawa police in-fighting. It's not a huge issue for us," Champ said.
"I haven't seen anything that would suggest that there were other operations that the police were considering, that they didn't follow through on because Navigator was recommending something else."
Champ said police should have instead considered hiring a firm to help communicate to protesters the impact their activities were having on the people of Ottawa.
"Quite frankly, I wish they hired a PR firm to do that."
Bell will continue to serve as interim chief until mid-November, when Eric Stubbs from the RCMP will become Ottawa's next chief of police.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
