Ottawa police chief vows to rebuild public trust following 'Freedom Convoy' protest

Ottawa’s interim police chief is vowing to rebuild public trust in the service after the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests led to unprecedented upheaval among its leadership and oversight body.

“We are and will remain an organization focused on cultural and systemic change,” Steve Bell said in a lengthy ‘message to the community’ on Monday, much of which was geared toward the city’s marginalized communities.

“Together with the community, we will rebuild public trust, continue to address systemic racism and violence against women, promote equity, diversity and inclusion, increase diversity-focused hiring and contribute to our communities through neighbourhood policing,” Bell said.

Bell became interim chief after Chief Peter Sloly resigned during the convoy protests that paralyzed the city’s downtown for three weeks.

Sloly was Ottawa’s first Black police chief and faced pushback in some of his efforts to make the service more progressive, such as when he acknowledged the existence of systemic racism in policing in an op-ed in September 2020.

The police services board, meanwhile, has entirely new members. Chair Diane Deans was ousted when she tried to bring in a new police chief after Sloly’s departure, and other members resigned amid that turmoil. The province’s three appointees all resigned last week after it came to light that one of them attended the convoy protest.

Bell said these drastic changes naturally bring questions which he wanted to address directly.

“I want to thank Chief Sloly for his leadership. He shared the progressive view of many in our organization and in policing across the country that our institution needs to change,” he said.

“Our culture needs to be more inclusive. We are at our best when we reflect the community we serve and respond to its needs,” he added. “We are working to be better, and we know we have a lot of work to do.”

Bell said he has been reaching out to community leaders and said his door is always open.

“We continue to acknowledge that racism and sexism exist in policing. That marginalized, Racialized, Black, Faith, and 2SLGBTQQA+ communities have real grievances and legitimate concerns about policing,” he said. “I want to re-affirm our commitment to continue to reach out to them to develop approaches collaboratively and respectfully to policing to earn their trust.

Bell also announced new measures, including a committee to review reports on police use of force incidents, a new diverse hiring class, and hiring an equity and race data specialist to increase reporting on data on traffic stops and arrests.

“You have my commitment that we will proceed with a progressive agenda that leads us to where the community wants us to be,” Bell said.