Ottawa’s chief of police has resigned amid the ongoing Freedom Convoy trucker protests in the nation’s capital city.
“It is with a heavy heart I am announcing I have stepped down as Chief of the Ottawa Police Service,” Chief Peter Sloly announced. His resignation comes just after Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the “Federal Emergencies Act” granting the government additional power and authority.
“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. 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.” He said.
Occupation is a completely inappropriate term repeatedly used by government officials like Justin Trudeau.
The definition of “occupation” according to Oxford is “the action, state, or period of occupying or being occupied by military force”. The Freedom Convoy, however, is not acting with any military capacity. Members of the protest wave signs, cook food, and dance in the streets.
Their members are not using military weaponry to terrorize the residents of Ottawa, nor have they ever attempted to act militarily. Instead, the truckers and other Canadian citizens stand in protest, peaceably assembling until their government hears their calls for justice.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has made clear that they do not believe the threshold to invoke the Emergencies Act has been met. The Association’s executive director has warned that normalizing the use of emergency powers “threatens our democracy and our civil liberties.”
The Freedom Convoy seems to have tested the Canadian government. How far would politicians go to prove their authority and squash political opposition? Like a child throwing a temper tantrum, Trudeau seems ready to do whatever it takes.