Chrystia Freeland Is Really Good At Avoiding Questions...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n1e_Se32R8&ab_channel=Laura-LynnTylerThompson
Bill C11 - The Bill To End Independent Journalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDjCvTnRnk&ab_channel=Laura-LynnTylerThompson
I Came Across The Border from the US to Canada - This Is What Happened!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEz5nsBT7To&t=1s&ab_channel=Laura-LynnTylerThompson
When is the Government Going to Accept Responsibility? With Tom Marazzo
https://twitter.com/DavidRaymondAm1/status/1542932252321091589
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/freedom-convoy-protesters-canada-day-ottawa-arrival-1.6507855
Freedom Convoy protesters return to Ottawa for Canada Day
'We are not coming to occupy your city,' says one organizer
Many protesters involved in the Freedom Convoy and Rolling Thunder protests in Ottawa earlier this year are back in the city, co-ordinating events on Canada Day.
James Topp, a veteran marching across Canada to protest remaining COVID-19 vaccine mandates, ended his journey with his supporters Thursday at the National War Memorial.
He was joined for a portion of his final leg by Conservative Party of Canada leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre.
After Thursday evening's speeches at the war memorial, Ottawa police said they made four arrests, including for assaulting police officers, and are continuing to investigate.
Veteran
James Topp, in the orange vest, is flanked by supporters as he arrives
at Hog's Back Park in Ottawa on June 30, 2022. Topp marched across the
country to protest remaining COVID-19 vaccine mandates. (Jean Delisle/CBC)
March, dance party planned
Organizers will hold a "freedom music concert" featuring entertainers who became popular during the Freedom Convoy for performing on a stage that was set up in front of Parliament Hill on Wellington Street.
Protesters are also planning to march to Parliament Hill and hold a dance party there.
As was the case during the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in April, many of the Canada Day events are being co-ordinated by Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F), a group formed by central figures involved in the Freedom Convoy's weeks-long winter protests.
Andrew MacGillvray, a veteran and member of the V4F steering committee, said while thousands of people are expected, it's tough to gauge how many will actually attend.
"We're hoping to get a lot of different groups of workers who have been affected by the mandate," he said.
"Whether it be paramedics, whether it be postal workers or carpenters or, you know, teachers and all the different professions or workers who — across the country — have had been negatively affected by the mandate."
Police say officers will allow legal protests but will shut down illegal activities, like setting up structures or speakers without a permit or making threats of an occupation.
"[We've] planned, we're prepared and we have the resources," said Steve Bell, Ottawa's interim police chief, earlier this week.
A
person is pinned to the ground by police outside the National War
Memorial. Ottawa police said they arrested four people after Thursday
evening's speeches. (CBC)
'We are not coming to occupy your city'
It's not clear if protesters have applied for or received permits for their planned events. MacGillvray said his group has been in contact with police and is aware they are "under a lot of pressure."
"We are going to be peaceful. We are going to be lawful. And if [police] want to try and crack down on us for peacefully protesting on Parliament Hill, then there's nothing we can do. We'll just have to deal with it at that time," MacGillvray said.
"But from us, it's going to be nothing but peace. And we're going to be lawful. And our organization has a code of conduct and we are not going to be breaking the law in any shape or form."
While V4F is co-ordinating many of the Canada Day events, other groups that continue to hold grievances with the government are also participating — and they've organized themselves as the Canadian Citizens Coalition.
"We're Canadians as well. We are going to be celebrating Canada on that day. We have the right to be able to do that and we have the right to be able do that where we want," MacGillvray said.
"We are not coming to occupy your city. You just happen to live in our nation's capital."
Many
of the participants in the Canada Day events have ties to the Freedom
Convoy, which descended on Ottawa's downtown earlier this year. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)
V4F's members also include Tom Marazzo, who was invited to come and help run the Freedom Convoy.
The man who invited him, James Bauder, is facing charges in Ottawa and continues to protest in British Columbia. Bauder is responsible for creating the Canada Unity group and website that helped develop the initial convoy plan to come to Ottawa and clog the downtown with vehicles.
Daniel Bulford, another key organizer who helped co-ordinate the Freedom Convoy, also joined Topp for the final leg of his journey.
Bulford is a former RCMP officer who was on the prime minister's security detail before quitting after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He was the convoy's head of security, and boasted of having strong relations to police agencies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-leadership-numbers-protest-1.6507221
Number of Conservative members surge: party says 675,000 eligible to vote in fall leadership contest
Leadership campaigns have until Monday to challenge list, request additions, removals
The preliminary numbers released Thursday indicate there are now roughly 675,000 members eligible to vote for the next Conservative leader, compared with the 269,469 party members that were able to vote last time around.
"What we have here is really an extraordinary and historic growth of the membership list," said Ian Brodie, chair of the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee.
Between February and June the party says roughly 613,000 thousand members signed up, although 45,000 of those are likely party renewals. Still, Brodie says the numbers show Canadians are engaged in the race.
"Campaigns have had an extraordinary reach across this country into the lives of Canadians to engage them in this race," Brodie said.
The preliminary list will now go to leadership candidates to review. They will have until Monday to request members be removed or added to the list.
Brodie said campaigns will have to substantiate their challenges by providing some valid explanation for why a member should be removed from the list. The basis for a challenge can, for example, include evidence that a member signed up twice, under two addresses.
Campaigns can also flag members that need to be added to the list if they were purged because they have, for example, the same name as another member.
WATCH | Power Panel: Conservative leadership race membership list released
Power Panel: Conservative leadership race membership list released
Campaigns can now use list to shop for votes
Roughly 6,500 sign-ups have already been flagged as non-compliant, meaning they didn't follow party or Elections Canada rules.
A party official speaking on background said a majority of the non-compliant sign-ups were dropped because they had been paid for by someone other than the member. The official said the number of non-compliant sign ups is in line with what the party has seen in past leadership races.
The party won't release information on how many members were signed up through individual campaigns, but a source on background said a majority of members were signed up online, including candidate web sites and the party's own web portal.
Releasing the preliminary list allows all of the campaigns to phone or email party members to try and bring them over to their side.
Conservative
leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre, left, and Patrick Brown share an
exchange during the Conservative Party of Canada French-language
leadership debate in Laval, Quebec on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Poilievre's support for the Freedom Convoy protesters has been a
contentious subject in the leadership debates so far. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
Brown considering running in Brampton mayoral race
The list may also help Brown decide on his future in the race. He told CBC News on Wednesday that he's considering a run for re-election in Brampton if it seems he's going to lose to Conservative Leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre in September.
"If it looks like Pierre is going to win, I would prefer to continue to serve municipally, rather than being a part of what will be an electoral train wreck of the Conservative Party," Brown told CBC News.
Poilievre's campaign has previously said they've signed up more than 300,000 members while Brown's campaign claimed to have signed up 150,000.
Poilievre marches with anti-vaccine protesters
Meanwhile Poilievre, the front-runner in the Conservative Leadership race joined a march against vaccine mandates in Ottawa Thursday as party fractures continued to emerge over how closely members should associate with protestors gathering in Ottawa for Canada Day
Army reservist James Topp marched through Ottawa Thursday in protest of vaccine mandates. Poilievre joined him for part of the walk, and appeared in videos online chatting with Topp and others protesters.
"Today I walked alongside military veteran, James Topp, who has travelled the country by foot for free choice," Poilievre said in a Tweet. "End all mandates. Restore our freedoms. Let people take back control of their lives."
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre marched with James Topp, an army
reservist who is protesting vaccine mandates. (Justin Tang/Canadian
Press)
Military police charged Topp in February with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for comments made while wearing his uniform. Topp has since been leading a four-month march to the capital from Vancouver.
When asked for comment on Poilievre's decision to join the protest, the Poilievre campaign directed CBC News to remarks he made to CTV News at the march.
"I think that [Topp] is advocating freedom of choice. People should have the freedom to make their own decisions with their own bodies and that's why, I think, he's walked across the country and that's why I thought I would give him a greeting and give him a hearing and see if he has any thoughts to share with me," Poilievre told CTV.
It's not the first time prominent Conservatives have met with anti-vaccine mandate protesters, including Topp. Last week a group of Conservative MPs, including leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis, met with organizers of the Freedom Convoy which occupied Ottawa in February.
Support for the Freedom Convoy protests has also been a contentious issue in the campaign's leadership debates, with candidate Patrick Brown accusing Poilievre of supporting Pat King, one of the Freedom Convoy's leading figures. Poilievre denied the charge, but defended his support of those protesting vaccine mandates.
Another leadership candidate, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, has also gone after Poilievre over his support of the convoy protesters.
"Mr. Poilievre ... supported an illegal blockade," Charest said in the first debate. "You can't make laws, and break laws."
But in a media statement Thursday, Charest placed blame for the current protests on the Trudeau government.
"This latest protest is a symptom of Trudeau's leadership failures," Charest said. "He continues to show more interest in wedge politics than moving out of this pandemic. Bottom line, so long as the protest remains peaceful, Canadians have the right to voice their frustrations."
Topp paused his march and drove to Ottawa to attend the meeting, which took place in a government building near Parliament Hill. Topp said he invited all MPs to attend, though only about 20 — all Conservatives — did. A spokesperson for Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen said her office was aware of the event, but did not help organize it.
Former Ontario MPP and current leadership Candidate Roman Baber also voiced his support for Topp on Thursday.
"He is peacefully marching to give a voice to millions of Canadians. Instead of demonizing Canadians, let's end all mandates and division. It's time to heal," he said in a statement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Canadian Press's Lee Berthiaume
I wonder if Patty Baby King and all his cohorts recall all the fun they had in Ottawa exactly 2 years ago???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4obxe7HSYxA&t=409s&ab_channel=AminaM
Norman Traversy July 1 2020 - A Historical Milestone. ALL CANADIANS MUST SEE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIjx7cLuTbM&ab_channel=AminaM
Norman Traversy V Justin Trudeau. Must See -Canadian Human Rights Part 1 -The Hill. May 30, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgODZGuMMs&ab_channel=CTVNews
What is the political future of the trucker convoy supporters? | Anti-vaccine mandate movement
1,228 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50kHdAumXvA&ab_channel=CBCNews
Protest convoy had 'worst display of Nazi propaganda in this country,' anti-hate advocate says
Ottawa: Arrival of first trucks Friday Jan 28th and installation on Wellington St 1-28-2022
21 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhaVsGFFiQ&ab_channel=AminaM
First Truck Rolls Into Ottawa!
20 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVJYjgHNJ5A&ab_channel=AminaM
Q&A Pat King & Kyle Kemper - Ottawa Truck Rally Part 1
58 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHXWaQRtWQk&ab_channel=AminaM
Live Kyle Kemper (JT's brother) & Pat King (Truckers Convoy Organizer) Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oapmAc4fEjE&ab_channel=AminaM
Morning Walk at the Truckers Rally with Norman Traversy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPgMqPuMMw&ab_channel=LiveFromTheShed
Live With V4F - Veterans in Ottawa all Summer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wmm3GbJX3k&t=762s&ab_channel=azcentral.comandTheArizonaRepublic
The Patriots: How a political movement took root and became a force in Arizona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXb9ZaBGJW8&ab_channel=FoxNews
Gabbard: This dangerously undermines our democracy
4,149 Comments
https://saultonline.com/2022/06/millroy-why-cant-pat-king-get-bail/
Millroy: Why Can’t Pat King Get Bail?
And, since police didn’t appear to have the will and/or the courage to attempt to get the truckers out, I fully supported Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invoking of the Emergency Act to give the federal government temporary powers to handle ongoing blockades and protests against pandemic restrictions.
It got the job done.
But although the Emergency Act has long gone away, some of the results of its use linger and not in a good way.
Pat King, one of the leaders of the convoy who lives in Alberta but
has a Sault background, as of this writing remains in jail 125 days
after being arrested for his role in the protest.
He has been denied bail.
I have to ask, as some of his supporters have, why?
Chris Barber, another key organizer, was arrested at the same time as Lich but released a day later under similar conditions. Barber faced charges including counselling to commit mischief, counselling to disobey a court order, counselling to obstruct police, and mischief that interferes with the use and enjoyment of property.
If they could get bail, why couldn’t King?
When King first applied for bail Justice of the Peace Andrew Seymour said he wasn’t satisfied that King, if released, wouldn’t commit offences similar to those he’s accused of. In delivering his ruling, Seymour said the evidence submitted by the Crown “paints a portrait of an individual who has clear intention to continue his protest and is indifferent to the consequences.”
But that was then and this is now. The protest is becoming distant memory.
Tyson “Freedom George” Billings, co-accused with King, was released on June 15 after having spent 116 days in jail. He got out by pleading guilty to counselling to commit mischief. The Crown withdrew other charges, including intimidation, obstructing police, mischief and disobeying a court order.
Billings was sentenced to time served and six-months probation under the condition that he keeps the peace.
King faces charges of intimidation, obstructing police, disobeying a court order, counselling intimidation, mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to obstruct police and counselling to disobey a court order.
You will note that although he faces more charges than Billings did, they are all pretty much the same.
The Crown should be offering the same deal to King; plead guilty to mischief and be on your way.
After all, to put things in perspective, it is not as if King or any of the leaders of the protest were charged with causing or attempting to cause physical harm to anyone, as was the case with a fellow who got bail recently in the Sault.
Travis Parsons, one of two men involved in a shooting on Beverley Street on May 29 that put a man in hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds, was granted bail, much to the chagrin of many in this city.
If you can get bail on a charge of attempted murder, the charge Parsons faces, surely you should be able to get it on the much-weaker charges King still faces.
Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger said he agreed to release Billings at the joint request of the Crown and defence because Billings accepted responsibility.
He said sentencing is not about retribution. He also said that it was OK to believe in a cause but that it can “get out of hand.”
Crown counsel Moiz Karimjee said in court he could have sought to prove the other allegations made against Billings and thus obtain a lengthier jail sentence but opted not to in light of the fact that Billings is the first figure in the convoy to accept responsibility for his actions.
“I don’t regret it. I’m a freedom fighter,” Billings said outside the courthouse, minutes after his release, to the jubilation of about 50 supporters, including some who took part in the February protests.
According to the agreed statement of facts read out in court, Billings was captured in social media videos disobeying police checkpoints designed to keep people out of downtown Ottawa during the protest and encouraging others to thwart the checkpoints too.
Billings also recorded himself being belligerent toward police and encouraging other protesters to “hold the line.”
Billings said he “went to jail for the kids,” to have mask mandates repealed in schools.
But there’s the rub in all of this.
You don’t take your complaints about masking and vaccines to the federal government, or in this case the Governor-General; they are the purview of provincial governments. One would think that someone among the hundred of protesters involved would have twigged to that.
All evidence presented at King’s bail review remains subject to a publication ban so we are not privy to what the Crown is producing in the way of evidence that would allow a judge to go along with keeping King in jail.
According to a legal expert, King has likely already served more jail time awaiting trial than he would if convicted and sentenced.
“We are already reaching a period of prior detention that overpasses the possible punishment,” said Joao Velloso, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.
Canada purports to be a nation of justice.
I don’t see where justice is being served by denying Pat King bail. I believe it goes against everything we in this nation stand for.
Make it right.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-canada-day-protest-occupation-police-roads-1.6502667
Ottawa police say they're ready to shut down Canada Day occupation attempts
Vehicle exclusion zone in and around downtown starts Wednesday morning
Ottawa city officials say they are prepared for a "unique" Canada Day, with plans to keep anti-government protests from turning into another occupation.
The traditional nationally broadcast shows are returning for the first time since 2019, this time from the plaza in front of the Canadian War Museum because of ongoing construction on Parliament Hill.
Ottawa police say they expect more protests and larger crowds than usual during Canada Day celebrations as groups related to the Freedom Convoy continue to plan demonstrations. Some in those groups have indicated they'd like to protest through July and August.
"This is expected to be a unique Canada Day, with larger crowds and a larger event footprint," interim Ottawa police Chief Steve Bell said during a Monday news conference.
"We've developed our plans in the shadow of the unlawful protests and Rolling Thunder event. We've been speaking with community members and businesses and we're very aware of the lingering trauma and concern about what they're hearing after those events."
Bell said officers will allow legal protests while shutting down illegal activities, including setting up structures or speakers without a permit and the threat of occupation, like on downtown streets in the winter.
He said police have been following online commentary and trying to talk to people who've said they're coming to protest.
Police
take a person into custody as they worked to clear an area on Rideau
Street during a convoy-style protest participants called Rolling Thunder
in Ottawa April 29, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
"[We've] planned, we're prepared and we have the resources," Bell replied when answering a question about whether police were ready to step in again like they did in late April, when attempts to gather near the Rideau Centre mall were shut down by officers.
Provincial police and the RCMP have offered help to shut down occupation attempts as long as there's a risk, he said.
At least 5 days of traffic control
Last week, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told people thinking of coming to the capital "not to be intimidated by individuals who may be coming to Ottawa to cause trouble."
He said Monday he wants this to be a safe, festive event for children and families and that people who "come to disrupt" will be dealt with, without a warning.
Overall, Bell said police are expecting hundreds of thousands of people downtown. For comparison, an estimated 56,000 people went to the shows on Parliament Hill in 2019 and that doesn't count everyone celebrating nearby.
About 16,000 people attended the noon show on the Hill in 2019. (CBC News)
There will be the traditional Canada Day road closures Friday July 1 and early Saturday, though there are more closures near LeBreton Flats because of that change in show location.
But Ottawa police are establishing another "vehicle exclusion zone" — similar to what was set up in late April for the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally — with no street parking at all and no protest vehicles allowed in from 8 a.m. this Wednesday until at least 6 a.m. on Monday, July 4.
Ottawa
police are controlling access to these parts of downtown, including two
river bridges. All vehicles that aren't involved in rallies or protests
will be allowed in, the city says, but drivers cannot park on the
street. (City of Ottawa)
Those plans may change if needed, officials said Monday. People are asked to plan ahead, expect delays and check city pages and local media for updates.
OC Transpo and Société de transport de l'Outaouais service is free July 1 and when it comes to OC Transpo, until 4 a.m. July 2.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mendicino-canada-day-emergencies-act-1.6500411
Protests are coming back for Canada Day — and officials don't want a repeat of winter chaos
Public safety minister says it's important to learn from protests earlier this year
"I think Canadians should celebrate Canada Day. We've been through a marathon of the pandemic and there's reason for hope and optimism," he said in an interview last week.
"I do think it is troubling that some are fanning flames … we don't want a replay of last winter and we don't want people engaging in illegal behaviour or violence that is disruptive to the community here in Ottawa or anywhere else."
Protest groups have said they plan to hold ongoing demonstrations throughout the summer, starting on June 30 and building toward Labour Day.
The Ottawa Police Service said they're aware of upcoming protests and are "planning accordingly."
The capital city's police force continues to face criticism about how it handled the anti-COVID-19 restriction protests last winter that gridlocked Ottawa for three weeks after protesters — some calling for the overthrow of the federal government — were able to park trucks and other vehicles on main arteries around Parliament Hill.
This week the sergeant-at-arms for the House of Commons said he was "flabbergasted" by police inaction at the time.
Protesters were eventually pushed out of the downtown core after the federal government took the never-before-used step of invoking the Emergencies Act. In the end more than 100 people were arrested, leaving a multi-million dollar policing bill.
"I think it's important that we take some lessons from last winter," said Mendicino.
"We'll continue to give [police] the tools and the support that is necessary to ensure that there's public safety as we celebrate Canada Day."
'We did what a responsible government would do:' Mendicino
Mendicino ended the spring sitting of Parliament, now on a summer hiatus, under intense questioning about how the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was made.
The legislation authorized a ban on travel to protest zones, allowed banks to freeze the accounts of some of those involved in the protests and allowed officials to commandeer tow trucks. It also enabled the RCMP to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offences as required.
The minister told a parliamentary committee investigating the issue that the government acted on "the advice of non-partisan professional law enforcement."
Ahead
of July 1 festivities in the capital, Public Safety Minister Marco
Mendicino says the government will help to maintain security ahead of
planned protests. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)
Under questioning, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell testified that they did not ask the government to invoke the act, although they have said the new powers served as a deterrent.
Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen has called for Mendicino to resign, accusing him of "lying to and misleading Canadians about the Emergencies Act."
Mendicino said his government was talking to law enforcement daily, sometimes hourly.
"We did what a responsible government would do, which is remain in contact with law enforcement for the purposes of making the decisions that were necessary to restore public safety," he said.
At the time of invocation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau argued its use was necessary to address "serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law."
But that reasoning has been questioned by the opposition and other critics who have asked whether other measures, including policing tactics, could have been used.
Mendicino pointed to testimony Lucki gave where she spoke about the ability to direct tow trucks to help move vehicles clogging Ottawa's streets.
"Other powers that were granted under the Emergencies Act were done with the benefit of the advice which we proactively sought from law enforcement prior to invoking the Emergencies Act. That's the way the system is supposed to work," he said.
"It made enormous sense for the government to be in conversation with police, identifying where gaps in existing authorities lay, and then filling those gaps with unique, exceptional time-limited and targeted powers."
Mendocino added that Lucki has "corroborated that" in her testimony.
'I'll never apologize for doing what is necessary:' Mendicino
Outside of the parliamentary committee, an independent inquiry will also soon begin digging into the reasons behind the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time.
"We hope we don't ever have to use those rare powers again," said Mendicino.
"But I'll never apologize for doing what is necessary to protect Canadians and invoking the Emergencies Act was the right thing to do."
Police
move in to clear downtown Ottawa near Parliament hill of protesters
after weeks of demonstrations on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022 days after the
Emergencies Act was invoked. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
The upcoming protests are scheduled to kick off when James Topp, a veteran marching across Canada against vaccine mandates, plans to end his cross-country journey at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa.
Last week the federal government lifted the vaccine mandate requirement for federal employees and for passengers wishing to board a plane or train in Canada.
Earlier this week Topp and other organizers met with Conservative MPs near Parliament Hill where he said the protest has become something bigger
"Their issue is not so much with mandates anymore, it's their satisfaction with the federal government," Topp said.
"There is a divide in this country I have never seen or experienced before — I've only ever seen it in a war zone."
Cypress Hills-Grasslands MP Jeremy Patzer said politicians of all stripes should listen to what the group has to say.
"I'm not willing to demonize or accept this narrative that people that have views that other people don't agree with, that they should be demonized for holding those views," he told CBC.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from David Fraser
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/cpc-mps-meet-freedom-convoy-organizers-1.6497910
CPC MPs meet with Freedom Convoy organizers
About 20 CPC MPs met with the group
A group of Conservative Party of Canada MPs met with some of the people planning protests in Ottawa this summer, including organizers of the Freedom Convoy that occupied downtown streets earlier this year.
James Topp, a veteran marching across Canada to protest against remaining vaccine mandates, is set to end his journey on June 30 but he drove into Ottawa Wednesday to take part in the meetings.
He was joined by Paul Alexander, a former official in U.S. president Donald Trump's administration, and Tom Marazzo, who served 25 years in the Canadian Forces and had a failed bid as an Ontario MPP candidate.
Marazzo was invited by James Bauder to come and help run the Freedom Convoy during protests in Ottawa earlier this year.
Bauder, who is facing charges in Ottawa and continued to protest in British Columbia after leaving the city in February, is responsible for creating the Canada Unity group and website that helped develop the initial convoy plan to come to Ottawa.
James Topp began walking to Ottawa in February, inspired by the Freedom
Convoy and disturbed, he says, by government overreach. (CBC)
Daniel Bulford, another organizer who helped co-ordinate the Freedom Convoy, was also at the meetings Wednesday.
Bulford is a former RCMP officer who was on the prime minister's security detail before quitting after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He was the convoy's head of security, and boasted of having strong relations to police agencies.
Taking place in a government building near Parliament Hill, just days after Ottawa suspended vaccine mandates for federal employees and passengers travelling to Canada, Alexander told MPs the "COVID-19 pandemic is over" and criticized what they call "government overreach" — in one instance, blaming lockdowns for the May 24 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that left 19 kids and two teachers dead.
Topp told the MPs that a number of groups formed out of the Freedom Convoy had come under one umbrella to continue protesting.
"Their issue is not so much with mandates anymore, it's their satisfaction with the federal government," Topp said. "There is a divide in this country I have never seen or experienced before — I've only ever seen it in a war zone."
Topp has been met with support in communities as he travelled across the country, and it's expected many will gather in Ottawa on June 30 to be there when he officially finishes his march. About 20 MPs greeted him in what he characterized as a "well-received" meeting.
"I get that they have busy schedules, I'm sure there are things going on in the background that I'm not aware of, that's their business not mine," he said. "The fact is the ones that showed up here did extend us the courtesy and did recognize what it took to get them in the room."
Cypress Hills-Grasslands MP Jeremy Patzer offered his support to Topp and his group, saying it's a message he has endeavoured to try to get out as well.
"These are just average citizens that have concerns. As members of Parliament, if we are unwilling to hear concerns of the average person, then we are failing to do our job," he said in an interview with CBC.
"I would encourage all members of Parliament regardless of their political striping to be willing to listen and to hear the voices of people like this, because they have a message that they want heard and we've got to be willing to listen to them."
He added he would "meet with anybody who wants to meet with me who has a concern" and said the group does not have extremist views.
"I'm not willing to demonize or accept this narrative that people that have views that other people don't agree with, that they should be demonized for holding those views," he said.
During the convoy earlier this year, some CPC MPs met with protesters parked near Parliament Hill, but others, including the prime minister, did not.
In total, around 20 MPs — all from the CPC caucus — were in attendance Wednesday, including leadership hopeful Leslyn Lewis, Warren Steinley, John Barlow, Ryan Williams, Dean Allison and Arnold Viersen.
Topp said he invited all MPs to attend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Trucker convoy organizers' coalition proposal 'a non-starter,' expert says
Trucks are parked along the sidewalk and on Wellington Street outside
the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council during a rally
against COVID-19 restrictions on Parliament Hill, which began as a
cross-country convoy protesting a federal vaccine mandate for truckers,
in Ottawa, on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
As the trucker convoy demonstrations continue stretch into their second week in Ottawa, organizers of the protest have suggested that they would be willing to form a coalition with opposition parties and the involvement of Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated no intent to meet or negotiate with them.
At an “emergency press conference” held by some of the protest organizers on Monday night and later posted on YouTube, self-declared spokesperson Tom Marazzo proposed that a core group of organizers and their supporters could sit at a table “with the Conservatives, and the NDP, and the Bloc as a coalition.”
Though this suggestion is “a non-starter,” according to Michael Kempa, associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa. “No other external party can become part of a coalition government. That's just not how a constitutional democracy works,” Kempa said in an interview Tuesday on CTV News Channel.
Generally speaking, federal governments in this country remain in power between elections so long as they maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. The Governor General’s role is limited, but does include the discretion to discern what happens after confidence is lost, whether an election is required or if other federal parties should be given a chance at forming government.
This latest coalition suggestion appears to be an evolution of a previous proposal from a widely circulated “memorandum of understanding” from a group called “Canada Unity” that is taking part in the convoy.
Put forward before the protests kicked off, the document suggested the Senate and Governor General could agree to join them in forming a committee to order the revocation of COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates. However, the document could not be used to leverage the unilateral revocation of pandemic policies and override federal or provincial lawmakers, despite the group’s belief.
On Tuesday, a notice posted to the “Canada Unity” page that hosted the document stated that representatives James and Sandra Bauder would be withdrawing the memorandum after collecting 320,000 signatures, as it “does not reflect the spirit and intent of the Freedom Convoy.”
“We do not want any unintended interpretations to continue. Our sole desire with the MOU was to have a document where Canadians could peacefully express their displeasure with current C19 mandates, and express their desire to be free. Canada Unity does not support or encourage any acts which tarnish democratic values held by Canadians,” reads the notice.
Over the last week, Rideau Hall has been inundated with calls and correspondence from supporters imploring the Governor General to play a role in the convoy’s aims, including a separate suggestion Simon could advance some form of a vote of non-confidence in current senior officials.
“The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG) has received a high volume of calls and emails in recent days related to the protest,” spokesperson Josephine Laframboise told CTVNews.ca in an email.
Asked to react to the “coalition” comments from the convoy organizers, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters on Tuesday that he thinks “Canadians would be troubled with anyone that associates or attributes themselves to the extreme statements that have been made by the purported leaders of this convoy that would seek to incite the overthrow of the government… That is just simply inconsistent with the way that our democracy functions.”
Mendicino also offered a thinly veiled caution to his Conservative counterparts who have been supporting and meeting with members of the convoy.
“I sincerely hope that we're all watching very carefully, those within our politics, who are embarking upon that, because it is a very troubling path, one that I would discourage all of my colleagues to really not embrace,” the minister said.
"Most Canadians understand that there is a difference between being tired and fatigued with the pandemic, and then crossing into some other universe in which you're trying to set up a parallel structure."
NEGOTIATING OR 'EXTORTING'?
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson suggested Monday that Trudeau could appoint a mediator to “try to find some common ground” between the parties involved. This suggestion has been dismissed by federal Liberals and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh who said that the convoy organizers have “made it clear their intention is to overthrow the government.”
Convoy organizer Marazzo said in the video he was “really disappointed” the mayor has not engaged, accusing Watson of “passing the buck.”
“We're here to talk, let's find a peaceful resolution to this. I want to go home… But I'm not. I'm not going until I'm no longer needed here,” Marazzo said. Though he also made an apparent reference to Trudeau saying he has a “.22-calibre mind in a .357 world."
The organizers also claimed that they had booked an Ottawa hotel room on Tuesday to meet with Trudeau.
“We can see clearly, the Liberals don't want to talk to us. We want to talk to them. We will talk to them. They are the official government of Canada, but can you just come in meet us at a table?” he said.
From the outset, Trudeau has taken the position that he has no plans to negotiate after expressing his disgust over the behaviour of some participants during the first weekend of protests, including those expressing hatred and displaying violent sentiments towards the prime minister.
As the protests have evolved, city officials have described what continues to transpire in the nation’s capital as an “insurrection” and a “mad democratic attack,” while organizers continue to say what they are doing is “peaceful.”
Kempa suggested that requesting a written list of demands from organizers could be a next step, but in his view “you can only negotiate with people who have legitimate democratic political aims.”
“There's not one group behind these protests. On the surface, [they are] demanding the repeal of vaccine policies. But, underneath that layer of protest there are other political demands,” he said.
“So on the surface, if we're talking about a form of discussion around vaccine mandates, that's a discussion to be had. But it's not one to be had under the point of essentially extorting the government and citizens through taking claim of public space in Ottawa and blocking vital border crossings,” he said.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
At the outset, the “Freedom Convoy” and its organizers expressed that their intention was to take their fight—sparked by the cross-border vaccine mandate for truckers— “to the doorsteps of our federal government.”
They rolled into town in late January demanding the end of “all” mandates against Canadians, despite public health orders and proof of vaccination systems largely falling under provincial jurisdiction.
As the convoy picked up steam, it has expanded to become a much broader vehicle for people to express their outrage at the federal government for pandemic restrictions they feel curb their freedoms.
Kempa said that what Canada has seen with this convoy is unlike any previous political protest, where groups with such wide objectives have coalesced around one cause.
“The pandemic provided the opportunity for a political cause to organize a large enough number of people that these protests became meaningful. We thought this was something that could never happen in Canada, we were evidently extremely wrong,” he said.
“It's not an American problem. It's become a Canadian problem, and… a global problem where angry people are being coordinated by other people who have a particular political agenda.”
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Christy Somos
Which Conservative MPs attended anti-vaccine presentation from convoy figures?
Day 10 of the Freedom Convoy demonstration in downtown Ottawa in February 2022. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa
Four months after the last truck left downtown Ottawa, top Freedom Convoy figures returned to Parliament Hill and met with nearly 20 per cent of the Conservative Party of Canada caucus, according to video reviewed by CTV News.
On Wednesday, 23 Conservative members attended meetings with convoy spokesperson Tom Marazzo, convoy director of security Daniel Bulford, advisor to former U.S. president Donald Trump Paul Alexander, and Canadian soldier James Topp, who is currently on a march across Canada protesting vaccine mandates.
The organizers held two presentations Wednesday afternoon in a building located in the parliamentary precinct. Alexander said in his presentation that Conservative MP Dean Allison helped the group gain access to the Valour Building. Groups planning to hold presentations on Parliament Hill require a parliamentarian to sponsor them in order to be given permission to access buildings on Parliament Hill and book a room.
Some MPs, like former leadership candidate Marilyn Gladu, only grabbed a quick selfie with Topp, but others, including current leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis, stayed for the duration of the presentation.
The presentations included extensive anti-vaccine and anti-mandate speeches from Alexander, as well as a discussion from Topp on a group he has founded called the Canadian Citizens Coalition. The stated mission of the coalition is to “return Canada to a free, fair and just society by restoring democratic, representative and responsible civic and corporate government.” The coalition is associated with various anti-vaccine and anti-mandates groups, including ones that Marazzo and Bulford are members of.
Once the presentations were completed, Ontario MP Cheryl Gallant and Saskatchewan MP Jeremy Patzer made statements to the room. Patzer said the group had “allies” in the Conservative party, adding “you have support, you’ve had support all along.”
Many Conservatives, including Ontario MPs Ryan Williams and Alex Ruff, posed for photos with Topp and Marazzo at the end of the first presentation. Marazzo said they are not aligned with any party federally, “but we are very aware of which members of which party attended today.”
Marazzo routinely was the public face of the convoy with the media, holding press conferences and posting videos relaying the messages from the convoy organizers. On Feb. 8, Marazzo spoke in a video alongside organizers, including Tamara Lich, proposing a meeting with the Governor General to enter into a coalition government with the Conservative Party, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, despite that proposal being widely viewed as a non-starter attempt to unseat the current Liberal government.
LIST OF CONSERVATIVE MPs WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING
- Marilyn Gladu
- Arnold Viersen
- Dean Allison
- James Bezan
- Melissa Lantsman
- Dan Muys
- Ted Falk
- Leslyn Lewis
- Alex Ruff
- Jeremy Patzer
- Jamie Schmale
- Martin Shields
- John Barlow
- Ryan Williams
- Warren Steinley
- Damien Kurek
- Gerald Soroka
- Scott Davidson
- Chris Warkentin
- Corey Tochor
- Tako van Popta
- Cheryl Gallant
- Kerry-Lynn Findlay
Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen’s office said they were aware of the event, but were not involved in organizing it.
Topp is scheduled to return to Ottawa on June 30, where he will complete his march by touching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Topp’s return is expected to coincide with further protests against the government on Canada Day.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/freedom-convoy-protesters-return-canada-day-1.6492504
Freedom Convoy protesters set to return to Ottawa for Canada Day, stay through summer
Police say they're aware of upcoming protests and are 'planning accordingly'
Ottawa police say they expect more protests and larger than usual crowds during Canada Day celebrations in the capital this July as groups related to the Freedom Convoy continue to plan protests.
In a statement, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said it is "working with Canada Day organizers and our policing partners to implement a public safety plan that allows all Canadians and visitors to freely and safely enjoy the capital during this celebration."
Significant road closures and an increased police presence are expected. Police say additional resources from other services are being brought in.
Several groups — most formed out of the Freedom Convoy — are planning protests in Ottawa throughout the summer, including many of the key figures and prominent streamers involved in the ongoing "Freedom Movement."
A cohort that includes many of the groups involved in protests earlier this year, as well as some that have emerged since, is co-ordinating events throughout the summer.
Protests are expected to take place on a mass scale in the city starting June 30 when James Topp, a veteran marching across Canada in protest of the remaining vaccine mandates, plans to end his cross-country journey at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa.
James Topp began walking to Ottawa in February, inspired by the Freedom
Convoy and disturbed, he says, by government overreach. (CBC)
Topp began walking to Ottawa in February, inspired by the convoy protests and disturbed, he said, by government overreach affecting people who have chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
"As it stands right now, I have not been invited back to work as of yet," he said. "This entire march, the purpose of it was to serve as a protest. I felt it was a violation in several different ways."
Topp said there was no talk of dropping vaccine mandates when he started the protest. He intends on meeting with MPs once he arrives in Ottawa.
"I felt compelled to appeal to these Members of Parliament and have a conversation that wasn't had earlier this year with the other protesters that had gone to Ottawa, so this is my protest in my way," he said.
It's not known which MPs have agreed to speak with Topp.
The
Rolling Thunder rally took place on the last weekend of April, but
paled in comparison to the size of the convoy protests months earlier. (Michael Charles Cole/CBC)
Protest base planned for outside Ottawa
Topp's march is supported by Veterans 4 Freedom, one of the main groups responsible for organizing the Rolling Thunder protests that took place in April.
The group's steering committee includes Tom Marazzo, who also gained prominence during the convoy protests in Ottawa, at times acting as an official spokesperson for protesters. He also ran in the Peterborough-Kawartha riding for the Ontario Party during the recent provincial election.
Andrew MacGillivray, who co-founded Veterans 4 Freedom, says the group has been liaising with Ottawa police about Topp's arrival.
He also noted events will continue into Canada Day. A route of Topp's march into the city is circulating online, and plans for a weekend of camping downtown near Parliament Hill are in the works.
MacGillivray said the group wants to have the "least impact on citizens of Ottawa with their everyday life."
Ottawa police say residents have reached out with questions about the potential for protest around the national celebration on July 1, which won't take place on Parliament Hill this year.
"We will not allow for conditions that led to the unlawful protests in February to reoccur. We are applying lessons learned from the unlawful protest as well as the Rolling Thunder and associated protests to build our plan," the statement said.
"We will continue an approach that prohibits vehicle-based protests in areas in and around places of national significance."
MacGillivray said construction has begun on a permanent structure for protesters just outside Ottawa, which will act as a base throughout the summer.
"We're going to implement our strategy and plan to lean on the government through information, education, etc.," he said, adding they plan to leave around Labour Day weekend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/national-security-us-fox-news-threat-report-1.6459660
Canada should rethink relationship with U.S. as democratic 'backsliding' worsens: security experts
Former national security advisers, CSIS directors say U.S. could become a 'source of threat and instability'
"The United States is and will remain our closest ally, but it could also become a source of threat and instability," says a newly published report written by a task force of former national security advisers, former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) directors, ex-deputy ministers, former ambassadors and academics. Members of the group have advised both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Stephen Harper.
Now is the time for the federal government to rethink how it approaches national security, the report concludes.
The authors — some of whom had access to Canada's most prized secrets and briefed cabinet on emerging threats — say Canada has become complacent in its national security strategies and is not prepared to tackle threats like Russian and Chinese espionage, the "democratic backsliding" in the United States, a rise in cyberattacks and climate change.
"We believe that the threats are quite serious at the moment, that they do impact Canada," said report co-author Vincent Rigby, who until a few months ago served as the national security adviser to Trudeau.
"We don't want it to take a crisis for [the] government of Canada to wake up."
The report he helped write says that one area in need of a policy pivot is Canada's relationship with the United States.
Controversial
Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson seized on the convoy protests to accuse
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of having declared a 'dictatorship.' (Screenshot/FoxNews.com)
Thomas Juneau, co-director of the task force and associate professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, said that while Canada's right-wing extremism is homegrown, cross-border connections between extremist groups are alarming.
"There are growing transnational ties between right-wing extremists here and in the U.S., the movement of funds, the movement of people, the movement of ideas, the encouragement, the support by media, such as Fox News and other conservative media," he said.
Convoy was a 'wakeup call,' says adviser
He pointed to state Sen. Doug Mastriano's recent win in the Republican primary for governor of Pennsylvania. Mastriano is a well-known proponent of the lie that election fraud caused former president Donald Trump's loss in 2020.
"There are serious risks of democratic backsliding in the U.S. and at this point, that is not a theoretical risk," Juneau said.
"So all of that is a serious threat to our sovereignty, to our security, and in some cases, to our democratic institutions ... We need to rethink our relationship with the United States."
The report points to the convoy protest that occupied downtown Ottawa in February and associated blockades in a handful of border towns earlier this winter. What started as a broad protest against COVID-19 restrictions morphed into a even broader rally against government authority itself, with some protesters calling for the overthrow of the elected government.
RCMP said that at the protest site near Coutts, Alta., they seized a cache of weapons; four people now face a charge of conspiracy to murder.
It "should be a wakeup call," said Rigby.
"We potentially dodged a bullet there. We really did. And we're hoping that the government and ... other levels of government have learned lessons."
Alberta
RCMP submitted this photo of what they say is a cache of firearms and
ammunition found in three trailers near a protest blockade of the
Canada-U.S. border at Coutts, Alta. (RCMP)
The Canadian protests drew support from politicians in the U.S. and from conservative media outlets, including Fox News, says the report.
"This may not have represented foreign interference in the conventional sense, since it was not the result of actions of a foreign government. But it did represent, arguably, a greater threat to Canadian democracy than the actions of any state other than the United States," the report says.
"It will be a significant challenge for our national security and intelligence agencies to monitor this threat, since it emanates from the same country that is by far our greatest source of intelligence."
During the convoy protest, Fox host Tucker Carlson — whose show draws in millions of viewers every night — called Trudeau a "Stalinist dictator" on air and accused him of having "suspended democracy and declared Canada a dictatorship."
Carlson himself has been under attack recently for pushing the concept of replacement theory — a racist concept that claims white Americans are being deliberately replaced through immigration.
The theory was cited in the manifesto of the 18-year-old man accused in the mass shooting in a predominately Black neighbourhood in Buffalo, N.Y. earlier this month.
The conspiracy theory also has been linked to previous mass shootings, including the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Calls for new national security strategy
"When we think about threats to Canada, we think about the Soviet military threat, we think about al-Qaeda, we think about the rise of China, we think about the war in Ukraine. All of these are true. But so is the rising threat to Canada that the U.S. poses," said Juneau.
"That's completely new. That calls for a new way of thinking and new way of managing our relationship with the U.S."
The conversation with the U.S. doesn't have to be uncomfortable but it does need to happen, said Rigby.
"It certainly would not be couched in a way of, 'You're the source of our problems.' That would not be the conversation. The conversation would be, 'How can we help each other?'" he said.
"We had those conversations during President Trump's tenure and business continues. Does it become a little bit more challenging when you have a president like Mr. Trump? Absolutely, without a doubt. But we are still close, close allies."
It's why both Rigby and Juneau are hoping the report will spur the government to launch a new national security strategy review — something that hasn't happened since 2004.
"I know there's a certain cynicism around producing these strategies ... another bulky report that's going to end up on a shelf and gather dust," said Rigby.
"But if they're done properly, they're done fast and they're done efficiently and effectively — and our allies have done them — they can work and they're important."
The report makes a number of recommendations. It wants a review of CSIS's enabling legislation, more use of open-source intelligence and efforts to strengthen cyber security. It also urges normally secretive intelligence agencies to be more open with the public by disclosing more intelligence and publishing annual threat assessments.
"There's a new expanded definition of national security. It's not your grandparents' national security," said Rigby.
"It's time to step out of the shadows and step up and confront these challenges."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/defendants/chansley-jacob-anthony
CHANSLEY, Jacob Anthony (aka Jacob Angeli)
Civil Disorder; Obsrtuction of an Official Proceeding; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building; Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
Arrested 1/9/21. Indicted 1/11/21. Arraigned 1/29/21 and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Plea agreement entered 9/3.
Sentenced 11/17 to 41 months in prison followed by 36 months supervised release, must pay $2,000 restitution.
Face-painted man in horned fur cap at Capitol riot supports Trump and QAnon, not antifa
If Your Time is short
-
A man who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a horned fur cap is not an antifa activist. He is a known QAnon supporter who has backed President Donald Trump.
Hours after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, several of his allies in Congress and the media baselessly claimed anti-fascist provacateurs were to blame for the violence.
Some suggested, without evidence, that the crowd backing Trump’s efforts to overturn the election was infiltrated by antifa. Antifa stands for "anti-fascist," and it is not a group but a broad coalition of activists.
Others focused on specific protesters who forced their way inside the Capitol and were shown in photographs, such as a bare-chested man who wore face paint and a horned fur cap.
"These are NOT Trump supporters," said one Jan. 6 Facebook post. "Antifa THUGS." The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
But the mysterious man in horns is not antifa-aligned. The man, Jake Angeli, supports Trump and is a well-known supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. He goes by the moniker, "Q Shaman," and he told the Arizona Republic he uses his unique outfit to stand out.
Poynter reported that in December, Angeli launched an online crowdfunding campaign to fund his participation in pro-Trump events.
The Arizona Republic described him as "a QAnon supporter who has been a fixture at Arizona right-wing political rallies over the past year." The Associated Press reported that he was also seen in the same signature headwear at a pro-Trump rally Nov. 7 in Phoenix.
Jake Angeli speaks at a rally outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office on Nov. 7, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP)
PolitiFact’s review of Angeli’s private Facebook page showed photos and posts that indicated support for QAnon and Trump. (Followers of QAnon believe Trump is leading a fight against a global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.)
False claims linking Angeli and other people who mobbed the Capitol to antifa took off online in the hours after the event. An NBC News analysis identified thousands of tweets that accused antifa members of "posing" as Trump supporters.
Angeli responded on Twitter when Lin Wood, an attorney who has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the presidential election, posted photos of Angeli and claimed he is an antifa activist. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer, who covers QAnon closely, highlighted the exchange.
"Mr. Wood. I am not antifa or blm," Angeli’s tweet said. "I'm a Qanon & digital soldier. My name is Jake & I marched with the police & fought against BLM & ANTIFA in PHX."
There remains no credible evidence that the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol were antifa activists. Video and photos from the scene show many people wearing and waving Trump-branded paraphernalia and flags.
Trump spoke to a rally of supporters in Washington hours before the violence erupted, and he had urged them to come to the city on Jan. 6 and back his efforts to overturn the election. He encouraged the rally to march to Congress and suggested he’d join them. He did not.
A Facebook post said a man who was photographed storming the U.S. Capitol in a horned fur cap is an "Antifa thug." The man is a known QAnon supporter who has backed Trump.
We rate this post Pants on Fire!
RELATED: A day of crisis at the US Capitol, fact-checked
RELATED: Is this a coup? Here’s some history and context to help you decide
Our Sources
Facebook post, Jan. 6, 2021
Various AP Images, accessed Jan. 6, 2021
Jake Angeli on Facebook, accessed Jan. 6, 2021
Media Matters for America, "Right-wing media claim Capitol Hill rioters are actually 'antifa,'" Jan. 6, 2021
Poynter, "A man wearing a buffalo cap proves how far mis/disinformation can go and how dangerous it can be," Jan. 6, 2021
The Associated Press, "Photos show Trump supporter inside Capitol rioting, not antifa," Jan. 6, 2021
Reuters, "Fact check: Man with painted face wearing fur and horns rallied for Trump and QAnon, not Antifa or BLM," Jan. 6, 2021
The Dispatch, "Were Antifa Supporters Among Those Who Overtook the Capitol Building?" Jan. 6, 2021
Lead Stories, "Fact Check: Tattooed Man Wearing Horns Storming The Capitol Is NOT Antifa/Pedophile -- He Is A QAnon/Trump Supporter," Jan. 6, 2021
The Arizona Republic, "Longtime Arizona QAnon supporter in horned helmet joins storming of U.S. Capitol," Jan. 6, 2021
NBC News, "Trump loyalists push evidence-free claims that antifa activists fueled mob," Jan. 6, 2021
Buzzfeed News, "The Rioters Who Took Over The Capitol Have Been Planning Online In The Open For Weeks," Jan. 6, 2021
Business Insider, "A well-known QAnon influencer dubbed the 'Q Shaman' played a highly visible role in the Capitol siege," Jan. 6, 2021
Vox News, "The far right is falsely blaming antifa for the pro-Trump insurrection on Capitol Hill,"
AlphaMale on Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021
Will Sommer on Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021
BrieAnna J. Frank on Twitter, May 5, 2020
PolitiFact, "A day of crisis at the US Capitol, fact-checked," Jan. 6, 2021
Former Ottawa police chief Sloly to break silence on 'Freedom Convoy'
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly speaks at a news conference in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The public will hear from Ottawa's former police chief next week for the first time since he resigned at the height of the 'Freedom Convoy' occupation of downtown Ottawa.
Peter Sloly is scheduled to appear as a witness at a parliamentary committee on Thursday.
The committee is looking into expanding federal jurisdiction of security in the parliamentary precinct to include sections of Wellington Street and Sparks Street. Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill has been closed since the protest.
Along with Sloly, Sen. Vern White, another former Ottawa police chief, is listed as a witness.
Sloly resigned on Feb. 15 amid heavy criticism of his handling of the protests that took over downtown Ottawa. At the time of his resignation, the protest was entering its third week and the federal government had invoked the Emergencies Act the previous day.
The following weekend, police moved in to break up the protest.
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.
Sloly said in a statement at the time he was stepping down "with a heavy heart."
"Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforseeable crisis," he said.
His departure prompted upheaval on the city's police services board.
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 after it came to light that one of them attended the convoy protest.
Questioning Peter Sloly
Recently, video evidence of a 2003 internal-affairs investigation of former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly was leaked onto YouTube. In the video, Sloly, then a staff inspector at the Toronto Police Service, is seen defending himself against a complaint regarding his conduct towards a woman he worked with.
“So if people outside the office said they were so concerned about the level of your voice that they debated forcing their way in the door into your office because they were concerned for her safety, they’d be completely exaggerating and misrepresenting the circumstances?” one of the investigating officers asks.
Advising that he can’t speak to how others perceive things, Sloly says, “I don’t know what they were thinking, so how can I say if it’s true or not?” But he denies having yelled.
The Toronto Star reported that the Toronto police are investigating the video’s leak and that no professional misconduct charges were ultimately laid against Sloly under Ontario’s Police Services Act. In 2009, Sloly was appointed as a deputy chief of the Toronto force, a role he held until 2016, when he departed after being passed over for the top job following the retirement of Chief Bill Blair. He became chief of the Ottawa Police in 2019.
While broad concerns about Sloly’s temperament have been reported on previously, the leaked video appears to give the first indication of a specific complaint against him in Toronto. There has been no comment on it from the Toronto Police, Ottawa Police, or Sloly himself.
The video was posted on January 23, the day truckers in British Columbia set out on a convoy towards Ottawa. Questions about Sloly’s handling of those protests led to him stepping down as head of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) just over three weeks later.
But even prior to the convoy, both the OPS and Sloly’s tenure as its chief had been embroiled in controversy.
In June, Sloly sued Ottawa Life Magazine and its publisher, Dan Donovan, over an article Donovan wrote that pointed the finger at Sloly and the OPS for years of officer misconduct; it was called “Rapes and lies — the cancerous misconduct at the Ottawa Police Service.” Sloly alleges in his lawsuit that, among other things, the article unfairly called him corrupt, incompetent, and stupid, and further defamed him by claiming he allowed harassment and a sexual assault to happen under his watch and that he misused public funds.
While Donovan’s piece contained inflammatory accusations about the behaviour of the chief and the Ottawa police board, it also made a case that a pattern of alleged sexual harassment, abuse, and violent behaviour among officers had persisted for years.
In an interview on this week’s CANADALAND, Donovan lays out why he believes that Ottawa Life — a quarterly lifestyle magazine partly distributed as an insert in the Globe — is the “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to shining a light on problems at the OPS.
“We fell into this completely by accident. I actually had no real interest, [nor] did most of our writers, in writing about the police,” says Donovan, on why he began reporting on the subject. “And then just over a decade ago, there was a horrible case that happened in Ottawa involving a young lady in her mid-twenties.”
In 2008, a 25-year-old Black woman was arrested while walking down a street in Ottawa, accused of public intoxication, taken into police custody, treated to what a judge would later call “two extremely violent knee hits in the back,” and then pinned on the ground by four officers. At one point, an officer cut open her blouse and her bra with scissors. Because that officer was later charged with sexual assault in the case, the woman’s name is covered by a publication ban.
She was left in a cell in soiled clothing for several hours.
The woman later brought a $1.2 million lawsuit against the Ottawa police. The officer who cut off her shirt and bra was acquitted of the criminal charge of sexual assault but found guilty of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act. He was only docked 20 days’ pay.
In the interview with CANADALAND, as in his writing, Donovans rhymes off a series of Ottawa officers who were charged with misconduct or other offences and subsequently put on paid leave.
In 2021, Eric Post pleaded guilty to five criminal charges of uttering threats and assault relating to four different women, and was sentenced to probation. Post resigned as an officer, and therefore didn’t face a police tribunal. He had been suspended with pay until that point.
In the summer of 2020, Carl Keenan, an Ottawa constable, was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm and given a conditional discharge and two years of probation. If he abides by the conditions of his probation, the charge will be dropped from his criminal record. He was facing nine disciplinary charges from OPS, but he resigned before those could be pursued further. Over the three and a half years he was suspended, Keenan took home in excess of a hundred thousand dollars in OPS salary per year.
Jesse Hewitt was brought up on 10 counts of misconduct by OPS for mockingly filming people with mental-health issues and then circulating the videos among his fellow officers. He was also suspended with pay, until he resigned this past October.
Last week, Deputy Chief Uday Jaswal announced that he would be resigning from the force. He was charged with discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act for allegedly sexually harassing other Ottawa Police employees. Jaswal had been suspended with pay since March 2020. In 2019, a civilian employee with the OPS, Jennifer Van Der Zander, filed a human rights complaint alleging she’d been sexually harassed by Jaswal, who was also her husband’s commanding officer.
While Donovan points to the former police chief for allowing these officers to remain on the OPS payroll, it’s actually provincial legislation that establishes the circumstances under which an officer can be fired.
The Police Services Act also affords chiefs only limited powers to suspend an officer without pay, and in most cases, an officer has to be convicted of a crime and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for that to occur.
How Donovan chose to assign blame for the minimal penalties faced by offending officers forms part of the reasons for Sloly’s defamation claim. (The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has long advocated for expanded disciplinary powers, and last summer passed a resolution [pdf] calling on the province to overhaul the police discipline system, so that chiefs would have greater authority to fire or suspend officers without pay.)
Sloly also says Donovan unjustifiably implied that he was corrupt and stupid and not interested in human rights issues outside of race.
Sloly did not respond to CANADALAND’s requests for comment or an interview, but his statement of claim against Ottawa Life offers some insights.
“As a result of his position as Chief of Police of a major Canadian city, Chief Sloly is regularly criticized and critiqued in the media and on social media platforms, on the decisions made by himself and by the Ottawa Police Service,” it says. “However, the article is not an attempt to participate or further public discourse on the issue of policing in the City of Ottawa. To the contrary, it reads as a spell of ranting on various issues, strung together in a manner to increase the defamatory effect on the subjects of the article, including Chief Sloly, and published under the banner of a ‘magazine’ to give it some heightened form of legitimacy and credibility.”
Donovan has accused Sloly of trying to “shut down” Ottawa Life‘s reporting on the police, and likened him to a “bully.” In his filings, Sloly denies that was his intent and objects to being called a bully and “temperamental.” He claims Donovan has in fact acted with malice and that the article stemmed from a “personal vendetta.”
But when it comes to his characterization of the former chief and the force he commanded, Donovan remains defiant.
“Peter Sloly is upset about the way I’m describing this in an article. I think he needs to grow a set and get some sensitivity training,” Donovan says.
“You’re gonna be under the microscope, you account to the public, and if you’re not doing your job, it’s the job of the press to shine a light on it.”
Former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly says he didn't ask Liberals for Emergencies Act
Sloly is the third police official to say they did not ask directly for the invocation of the act
Former
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly waits to appear as a witness at the
House of Commons Procedures and House Affairs committee in the
Parliamentary precinct, Thursday, June 2, 2022 in Ottawa. Photo by Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press
Sloly is the third police official to say they did not ask directly for the invocation of the act, including Ottawa’s current chief Steve Bell and RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki. Sloly lead the Ottawa Police during most of the convoy protest, but resigned shortly after the Emergencies Act was brought in.
When they invoked the act, granting police extraordinary powers, Liberal cabinet ministers said they had consulted with police who told them they needed the unprecedented authorities to bring an end to occupations in Ottawa, as well as at several border crossings.
Sloly testified in front of a House of Commons committee that is studying the potential of expanding the parliamentary precinct to include some of the streets south of Parliament Hill after the Freedom Convoy protesters took over some of those same streets.
FILE PHOTO: A woman greets a truck driver while vehicles line streets in Centretown during the “Freedom Convoy.” Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
Sloly said the protests had no precedent and would have been difficult for anyone to manage.
“I had never experienced that and I have been involved in major planned and unplanned incidents in this country across this country and internationally,” he said.
The former chief asked for resources from the federal and provincial government, mostly police officers, but he said he also needed tow trucks and other help.
He said had he received 1,800 officers, as he requested during the crisis, he is confident the protests could have been brought to an end. He said getting all those officers here was a challenge, but the federal and provincial governments were helping.
“The plan that was in place required at least 1800 police officers. When those officers arrived I had every confidence in the commanders and the tactical officers to put that plan into effect for a safe and effective resolution.”
Ultimately, after the invocation of the emergencies act, which froze bank accounts of convoy leaders, and allowed the government to close access to the area and force tow trucks into service, nearly 2,000 police moved in and cleared the area.
Sloly said there was simply no roadmap to follow for such a large protest, with heavy trucks blocking the route.
“This was an unprecedented national security crisis, for which our institutions were not fully prepared.”
Prior to becoming Ottawa’ chief Sloly worked with Toronto Police. Conservative MP Brad Vis asked if additional officers could be brought in for events like the G20 in Toronto, why could they not be brought in for this event, rather than invoke the act.
Sloly rejected the comparison and said the events were not alike.
“I do not think it is a comparison worthy of the discussions we need to really prepare for these types of events going forward. I would suggest, January 6 in the United States, Washington DC would be better.”
Senator Vernon White, a former Ottawa Police chief, said he has long viewed Wellington Street as a major liability for security on Parliament Hill.
The street runs directly in front of Parliament, between the House of Commons and the prime minister’s office. During the convoy, the street was completely closed with large trucks and a large crane was set up just metres from the prime minister’s office. White said allowing large vehicles passage through the area is a serious concern..
“As long as vehicles have direct access to this location we are at risk of large vehicles being used to deliver explosives and as a result we are at high risk for a catastrophic event occurring on Wellington Street.”
White said he expects there will be other large protests around Parliament Hill and the government should be hardening security in the precinct.
“This is the beginning, not the end. I think we’ll have future events that were unprepared for, and I think we better try to improve on that.”
White agreed with Sloly on the unprecedented nature of the protests and said it was hard to understand the scale of the protests until they arrived in Ottawa.
Sloly said he believes there should be design changes to the precinct, including bollards, possibly creating a pedestrian mall and creating other barriers, but he said handing over jurisdiction isn’t going to be simple.
“Changing the jurisdiction is the problematic piece, not impossible, but it’s the challenging piece of what you’re trying to tackle.”
He said it will require a lot of cooperation between governments and clear lines of authority. He said even if the jurisdiction for Wellington and Sparks was changed, it would still require constant coordination between the multiple police agencies that patrol Ottawa.
“You could redraw that boundary up to the 417, you’re still going to have on the day challenges with communication, coordination, collaboration, levels of preparedness intelligence gathering, none of those issues go away.”
Twitter: RyanTumilty
Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com
Ottawa police officers charged in tow truck corruption investigation
3 officers, 3 members of public charged by RCMP anti-corruption unit
Three Ottawa police constables are facing charges including breach of trust and fraud stemming from an RCMP investigation into accusations they sold information about crashes to tow truck drivers.
In a news release issued Thursday morning, RCMP said the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) asked investigators to look into the matter last July. In a separate statement, the Ottawa Police Service said it first learned of the corruption allegations the previous month.
Const. Hussein Assaad, 44, Const. Kevin Putinski, 32 and Const. Andrew Chronopoulos, 38, are each charged by the RCMP's anti-corruption unit with breach of trust and secret commissions, a charge under the fraud section of the Criminal Code involving what would commonly be called kickbacks.
These allegations against three of our members will likely shake the trust and confidence that OPS members have worked long and hard to earn with the public.
- Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly
Putinski is also charged with fraud under $5,000 and Assaad is also charged with providing unauthorized access to confidential police databases, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit break and enter.
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly, who took over the force in October as the investigation was ongoing, issued a statement that called the allegations "very serious."
"These allegations against three of our members will likely shake the trust and confidence that OPS members have worked long and hard to earn with the public," he said.
"Every member of the OPS will be troubled by this news as we hold our oath of office and our organization's values in the highest regard."
A 'major setback'
Sloly said the charges don't reflect the overall integrity of the police service, and said he's launching a new internal ethics unit to improve the force's morale and professionalism.
"The events of today represent a major setback for the OPS, but we are fully committed to doing the right things to remedy this," he told Radio-Canada on Thursday.
"In every crisis there's an opportunity as well as a challenge. The challenge is we've lost a measure of public trust and our reputation has taken a hit. The opportunity is we can refocus, reinvest [and] make new efforts to be a better police service."
Sloly said he recognizes how difficult it will be regain the public trust after such serious charges.
"Earning the public's trust is one of the most difficult and important things that we do and a charge against a police officer ... and a corruption charge has the biggest impact I think on that public trust."
Sandy Smallwood, the acting chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, said he found out about the charges early Thursday morning. He agrees with Sloly that the alleged actions of the officers involved do not represent the police service, and vowed the matter will be dealt with properly.
"This is [in] no way something that is going to be swept under the carpet or any way tolerated," he said.
3 others charged
Three other people are also charged in the RCMP investigation: Jason Ishraki, 33, Veronika Ishraki, 56, and Marwan Sablani, 49.
Jason Ishraki is charged with obtaining access to confidential police databases, fraud under $5,000 and secret commissions. Veronika Ishraki is charged with secret commissions, and Sablani with conspiracy to commit break and enter and theft.
Jason Ishraki, Assaad and Sablani are in custody as they await a bail hearing, while the other three were released until their next court appearance.
The RCMP said they have warrants to search five homes as well as an Ottawa police workspace.
Ottawa
United Towing is owned by Jason Ishraki, who has been charged with
obtaining access to confidential police databases, fraud under $5,000
and secret commissions. (CBC)
The president of the Provincial Towing Association of Ontario said his organization has been pushing for the tow truck industry to be licensed provincially.
Mark Graves said having standards in place will protect both tow truck drivers and motorists.
"[Licensing] makes sure the consumer is getting quality work and it makes everyone understand we're playing on an even playing field," he said.
Police chief's 1st budget takes aim at rock-bottom morale
Peter Sloly tells board he's never seen such 'emotional tension' in an organization
mChief Peter Sloly's first budget at the helm of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) will focus on easing "emotional tensions" on the force, the likes of which he said he's never seen before.
Sloly, who's been on the job just eight days, said Wednesday the meetings he's had so far with rank-and-file officers have left him with a stark impression.
"I have seen a lot of things in policing in 30 years, and I've mentioned before that I've done policing across the world," Sloly told the police services board as the 2020 draft budget was tabled.
There is a level of emotional tension in this organization that I have not experienced in any organization, private sector or public sector.
- Ottawa police Chief Peter sloly
"I have yet to have an experience as I've had in the last week and a half. There is a level of emotional tension in this organization that I have not experienced in any organization, private sector or public sector."
Officers are frustrated and dealing with "difficult" emotions stoked by constant pressure to do more with less, Sloly told the board.
"I will tell you unhesitatingly, chair and board, the investment that we are going to make now and in the future, financially and otherwise, to address member wellness and morale will be the best investment you make."
The draft budget lists wellness and morale as a top priority, adding $4.2 million in "wellness programming" including peer support, specialized health programming, and unlimited access to professional psychological services and resilience training.
The force will also spend $4.4 million to hire 30 more officers.
Community police teams bolstered
Sloly said that tension he's detected among officers is being felt out in the community as well.
"We're not happy with service levels, we want to feel safer, we want a better relationship with your officers, we want to be respected, and we want to give respect but we're not there yet," Sloly said residents have told him.
He's vowing to give the community a decision-making role, and acknowledged that might not sit well with some OPS members.
"It'll make the organization uncomfortable, the extent to which I want community to have eyes on our decisions and have actual meaningful input into where we put our officers and how they're deployed," he said.
The service plans to deploy 13 of the new officers to community posts in neighbourhoods with high rates of crime. Sloly said those neighbourhoods haven't been selected yet, but promised community members will have a say.
The budget will also fund a permanent equity, diversity and inclusion office, tasked with building trust between police and communities, and promoting an internal culture that values diversity.
Police stay within spending cap
The draft police budget abides by city council's request to cap spending increases at three per cent, thanks in part to $2.2 million in savings, including the merging of some back-office operations with the city's.
The merge was proposed during last year's budget deliberations.
The OPS will also receive $1.3 million from red light camera revenue and a $2.4 million boost from surplus funds next year.
The board will hear from the public Nov. 14 before approving the final version of the budget on Nov. 25.
No comments:
Post a Comment