[This blog post is brought to you by unwavering frustration, anxiety, and Aesop Rock "Garbology"]
So, let me break this down for you. Canada has opted to remove functional mandates that were reducing the amount of COVID cases because a bunch of anti-vax truckers and what feels like the worst parts of social media decided to unlawfully occupy the street in front of parliament with the Ottawa police "needing" police forces from across the counry and the RCMP to even begin to enforce something after practically a month.
I want you to really let that settle in. Read it again, really let this situation and the absurdities of every part of it burrow into your mind. Do you have a headache? Same.
As someone who is living in this city I am at my wits end just trying to conceive of the sheer amount of failures that occurred on every level of not only government and law enforcement. I genuinely feel like this little event has made it more clear than ever that any reasonable, caring person is entirely on their own. It is hard to get across how deeply wounding the realizations that come from this, and this is coming from someone that already knew that the system did not function equally. So, let me try and break down the horrible, angry thoughts that have been bouncing around my head for this stretch of time.
First things first, the occupation of the street and disruption of the city is not what I have issues with. For this entire period I have constantly had to ask myself "if this was a protest for indigenous rights what would I find unacceptable?" because protests are good. Protests are the way to enact change from various figures and make the voice of the people heard. So, if they were just anti-vax individuals setting up shop there I would be annoyed due to the fundamental danger of that position as well as the ignorance of it but I couldn't say what they were doing was wrong.
Things change real fast when a swastika shows up at a protest though. I wasn't surprised that such individuals would be present considering that they will be at any of these events to recruit these dispossessed people, kinda like how terrorist organizations do (weird, how that works...). This means that the fundamental beliefs of this group are hostile towards others. When that is the case it is no longer a "political stance" and should not be allowed to be voiced in public, period.
This acceptance of hostile mentalities was then followed up with, to no surprise, harassment to the citizens of Ottawa, vandalism, attempted arson, and the constant honking of horns. If a protest does targeted harm to the people that they are claim to be acting on behalf of then they are liars. You can't be trying to enforce freedom for the people of Canada if you are willing to harass anyone wearing a mask that walks by or to cause issues at soup kitchens because you did not come prepared. There are so many fundamental acts that clearly show the innate selfish goals of this convoy. It is not to drop Covid mandates for everyone, it is to drop Covid mandates FOR THEM. This is a collection of people that preferred to listen to barely coherent facts and paranoia than have enough empathy to wear a mask and get a shot.
Considering that you got nazis sympathizers unlawfully setting up camp on the porch of your capital building one would consider that the police might get involved. Well, if you have been keeping track of the narrative regarding such groups then the next thing I say won't surprise you. The Ottawa police decided to become an advisory comity for the occupation standing by as the convoy built wooden structures, defied noise complaints, harassed locals, and even bringing jerrycans of gas to their encampment. It took the better part of a month for action to take place in regards to even breaking up the protest.
What fundamentally makes this inaction not only unacceptable but harrowing to even think about is how this was a willful choice but Ottawa police. The reason that I am saying this is due to every other situation with similar convoy occupations were dealt with within the day. Toronto and Quebec City both had fences and officers on hand to make certain that their city would not be disrupted, even so far as having a Quebec City officer walk up to two horseback protesters and getting them to leave. These situations had even less time to be prepared than Ottawa did as the organizers of the convoy were advertising their goals clearly for weeks ahead of time before they arrived in Ottawa. To contextualize this, when there is a sudden snow storm the city of Ottawa is able to mobilize within a few days. Why then are we more able to react to an act of nature than a collection of anti-vax truckers?
There is a possibility that Ottawa police gave more credit to the anti-vax convoy to act in a civil manner than was the reality. It would then make sense that by the time that the occupation was settled in then it would be hard to remove them in a single go. So, the sensible next step would be to not try and do that but rather make it so the occupation could not last. I have already talked about how they allowed jerrycans of gas and wooden structures to be built, that is the obvious things. Not allowing them to set up a bouncy castle, hot tub, or cook out station so that they aren't more comfortable than the people that live in the city seems like a fairly obvious scenario. Not even that but the consistent presence of children amongst the occupation that was seemingly so dangerous that police could not engage them were only being removed once the police did their final push. This complete unwillingness to act by the entire force, especially the police chief which provided the excuse numerous times of how "unprecedented" this was for 3 weeks. Just because something is new doesn't mean you can't figure out how to deal with it.
Speaking of the police chief, it seemed like he was the only person that had the capacity to make a choice. I am saying this because Jim Watson, our nearly retired mayor, had said on numerous scenarios that he can't tell the police to act. Now this seems odd considering that he is supposed to be the one that runs the city and the police are meant to work for the people. Of course the real problem with this situation is because Jim Watson is going to retire soon and has the motivation of a lazy cat in the sun. He no longer is beholden to the people of this city because he can't get voted in, which seems to mean that whether the city flourishes or burns is beyond him at this point.
Even if Jim Watson can't instigate some action from the police then it would make sense that the police oversight board would be able to. Unsurprisingly for a group that would not have even had a meeting until a month later it seemed that they were the wrong people to look to. The only reason that there was a meeting was due to the police chief stepping down and them needing to agree on someone new to be put in place. Even at that emergency meeting there was a strange political coup that occurred to vote the head out of their position that had a few other members step down.
Alright, if the people that are directly involved are seemingly ineffectual then possibly those higher up in the government might be willing to act. The Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, made some statements but was most likely in a strange position as the Conservative party (one he is a part of) was taking pictures and talking with the convoy. It should also come as little surprise that the conservative lead provinces of Canada were the first ones to flip the covid mandates. So, other than some "strong words" from an individual who had spoken of the necessity of police action to stop indigenous protests in Ontario it seems that we needed to go even higher for a resolution.
Thus we end up at Justin Trudeau. I have to agree with his stance on not engaging with anti-government groups that willingly engage with racist groups. This meant that they did not gain more influence than needed. The problem is that they are still occupying the street on federal property, unlawfully might I remind you. This is not a problem that could be ignored. Thus it took 21 days until what in essence an act meant for war times to be enacted. This action would have never needed to took place if an ultimatum was sent to the organizers regarding the removal of the occupation. This would have meant that there would have been no required attention drawn and if they refused the offer of a meeting once the convoy departed then it would be apparent about their goals. Instead we got another political figure opting to ignore the issue due to them essentially writing off their next term rather than trying to validate the choice of people to vote for them currently.
This is the real danger of this occupation, it is the damage that has been done to all of the hard working and respectful Canadians trust in the people that are meant to keep them safe. I don't want to make it seem like Canadian people had a huge amount of love for our government, we are all very aware of the problems with it. We have been seeing a consistent shift into a two party system despite having alternatives. Those two parties, liberals and conservatives, seemingly happy to run campaigns based on the fear of the other getting into power while the NDP has been doubling down on purely pointing out the faults of whoever is in power. Despite all of this it was still expected that the government would generally look after the people of the country. This has been shown to be untrue.
What has been shown is the self-serving nature of all of those individuals in positions of power. The politicians of this country did not see the occupation of the capitol of the country as a threat to democracy but rather as an opportunity for them to get their way. The speed at which the covid mandates were dropped by various provinces shows that the government, when willing could act. Thus we now know that every time that there are environmental acts, minority or lgbtq+ rights, or even tax reform that seems slow is due to their unwillingness for it to happen. We saw this unwillingness first hand via the politicians who saw no benefit to them for helping the citizens that their station states they are required to.
For those in Ottawa we became all to aware of how law enforcement not only refused to act but were willing participants in the success of this occupation. Their willingness to police counter-protests, to the point of even asking counter-protestors to move out of the way so more trucks could get into the city, speaks to this. Along with the unwillingness of the mayor or board to try to induce action shows that the police are beholden to no one but themselves. The police of Ottawa can no longer be considered as public servants in any manner. So, now the citizens of Ottawa are 100% aware that they are entirely on their own. Not only that but the citizens are now aware that there is a double standard to how police will handle protests. Thus the police are now dictating what voices can be heard or can't, not as if they didn't before but now it is blatant.
I am glad that the occupation has had some minor resolution to it that was generally peacefully dealt with. I hope that such patience and professionalism will be shown at the next indigenous land dispute (this is a joke, I know it won't).
Either way, be safe and take a chance to breathe before the next round starts.