No direct request for Emergencies Act from Ottawa police, interim chief says

The Ottawa Police Services did not formally request that the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act during the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest, the city’s interim police chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Interim Chief Steve Bell was speaking before a committee that’s looking into expanding federal jurisdiction over parliamentary precinct security onto Wellington Street and Sparks Street.

Bell was asked by Conservative MP Andrew Scheer whether Ottawa police made a request to the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act.

“We were involved in conversations with our partners and with the political ministries,” Bell said. “We didn’t make a direct request for the Emergencies Act.”

Wellington Street was the focal point of the trucker occupation in February, with large trucks parked there for about three weeks until a police operation to remove them.

It remains closed to traffic.

The federal government invoked the Emergencies Act several days before a large police operation that cleared protesters and trucks out of the downtown core. Bell and other law enforcement officials have said its invocation gave them additional tools that helped them end the occupation.

Those included access to tow trucks to remove big rigs parked downtown, as well as increased powers to block people from joining unlawful assemblies.

Last week, RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki told a parliamentary committee that the Mounties were consulted on the Emergencies Act decision, but they did not request that it be invoked.