A wounded combat veteran who served in Afghanistan told the Public Order Emergency Commission on Nov. 4 that he was arrested, beaten, and “dumped” without charges far from downtown Ottawa by police during the clearing operation of the Freedom Convoy protest on Feb. 18.
“It really wasn’t that I wanted to come to Ottawa. It’s that I felt it was my duty and I had no choice [but] to be there,” said veteran Chris Deering while explaining why he had attended the protest.
He said he wanted to protest the mandates as they impacted his mental health as a wounded veteran member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
“I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t take my family to a restaurant, I couldn’t take my kids to gymnastics. I couldn’t grieve my comrades in Nova Scotia because I wasn’t allowed to cross the border, in my own vehicle, by myself, to a cemetery where no one was living, and lay my flowers.”
The trucker-led protest demanding the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions started in Ottawa on Jan. 29. Deering, who lives in New Brunswick, said he first attended the protest on the Feb. 12 weekend and then returned home.
After the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, Deering said he “rushed back to Ottawa to do what I could to protect the peaceful citizens.”
He said that when the police clearing operation began, on Feb. 18, he linked arms with fellow veterans near the National War Memorial and was arrested by police. A video of the incident was entered as evidence at the commission. It shows him being grabbed and hit by police.
Deering was the only crew member of his military vehicle to survive a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan and sustained heavy injuries. He was wearing his military medals that day in Ottawa and says he told his story to police officers before the arrest.
He said some moved down the line, not wanting to have anything to do with him. But when enforcement began, he said he was kneed, kicked, and punched in the head while lying down.
Deering said that after being arrested and while waiting to be processed, he asked police if he could kneel or sit as he was in chronic pain and needed to be able to take his medication, but his requests were denied.
“It was obvious my face was flushed and I cried multiple times, and I don’t cry ever. It was the worst pain I had felt since I’ve been blown up,” he said.
He said that after being processed by police, he was told he was being charged with public obstruction and mischief. Police then drove him and others in a paddy wagon 10 kilometres from Parliament Hill and released them without charges, he said.
“The police officer came out and gave a stern warning, and said don’t come back to Ottawa or you'll be charged,” Deering said, noting that the police left him and the others at a public works building stranded in freezing weather, their cellphone batteries drained.
“I never thought that I would get dumped out of the city like trash by the police.”
Freedom Corp lawyers representing the protesters at the commission had raised this matter with Ottawa police officers who testified earlier.
Ottawa Police Service Deputy Chief Steve Bell told the commission on Oct. 24 that he was unaware of the issue. He did say the police had remote post-arrest processing sites in the south end of Ottawa, calling it a “common” practice for the police.
Bell said protesters were brought to a municipal parking lot to which the trucks were being towed.
“That parking lot doesn’t have a building. ... It doesn’t have a phone. It doesn’t have any of that, does it?” asked Freedom Corp lawyer Brendan Miller.
“I don’t know what the logistics at the building were. I would imagine it would have needed to have a phone because you have to be able to call your lawyer,” said Bell.
“I can tell you it didn’t,” replied Miller.
