‘Special Parking Restrictions’ Enforced and Increased Police Presence in Downtown Ottawa on Anniversary of Freedom Convoy

Crowds of protesters demonstrate against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions during the Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa on Feb. 12, 2022. Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times

The City of Ottawa has begun enforcing special parking restrictions in its downtown core in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of the Freedom Convoy this weekend.

A news release issued by the city on Jan. 26 said the restrictions will be in effect between Jan. 27-29. “Residents and visitors are advised to follow posted signage and to park their vehicles accordingly,” it said.

The release said the city and the Ottawa Police Services (OPS) were “working together to ensure City by-laws regarding parking, noise, litter and fireworks,” are respected during the “anticipated events.”

Additional by-law officers will be deployed to ensure parking regulations are followed. “All vehicles found violating these regulations will be ticketed and towed,” it added.

The city also said tickets will be issued to any person or group in violation of other bylaws, including unnecessary noise, installation of structures on city property, public urination and defecation, open-air fires, littering, lighting and discharging fireworks.

There will be no traffic closures though the OPS may impose temporary closures to manage “large volume of traffic” if necessary. “Drivers should anticipate delays in the downtown core,” the release said.

The Freedom Convoy began arriving in Ottawa last Jan. 28 and 29 to stage a protest against federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truckers travelling between Canada and the United States. It turned into a much larger movement after many Canadians from across the country began joining in or voicing their support for ending the various COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.

Streets of downtown Ottawa were filled with rigs, trucks, live music, and bouncy castles at the time until the police escalated their operation on Feb. 18, 2022—four days after the federal government evoked the Emergencies Act to quash the protest and grant banks the power to freeze the accounts of convoy organizers and supporters without a court order.

Convoy organizers had said they wanted to have a dialogue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but were not given an audience during their time in Ottawa.

‘Will Be Ready’

OPS Chief Eric Stubbs said earlier this week that the city will increase the police presence downtown this weekend.

He added that the city has resources, tow trucks, and staffing plans in place, if a protest is to take place.

“Our goal is not to have a vehicle-based protest, and if someone attempts a vehicle-based protest then we will take action to dismantle it fairly quickly,” Stubbs commented ahead of a Jan. 23 meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board.

He said police “will be ready” and that the ultimate goal of “all this planning and preparing is to ensure that what happened last year doesn’t happen this year.”

Trudeau had depicted the truckers’ protest as “illegal and dangerous.”

“Occupying streets, harassing people, breaking the law—this is not a peaceful protest,” the prime minister said on Feb. 14.

‘No Violence Took Place’

A security report on the same day by the Government Operations Centre, an internal department of Public Safety Canada, characterized the Freedom Convoy protest as small, peaceful, and having little impact on federal operations.

“No concerns at this time,” said an assessment by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service included in the report.

Other daily updates on the convoy protest at the time include confirming: “no major incidents” (Jan. 29), “no violence took place” (Feb. 1), “disruption to government activities is so far minor” (Feb. 6), “there are minimal people on Parliament Hill” (Feb. 10) and “situation remains stable and planning is ongoing” (Feb. 11).

Testifying on Oct. 20, 2022 at the public inquiry into the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act, Craig Abrams, superintendent of operations for the east region of the Ontario Provincial Police, said the arrival of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa was “very smooth.”

“Overall, we had no assaults, we had no criminality, and weren’t aware of any charges being laid,” he said, adding the convoy didn’t damage any highways.

“They said what they would do. They kept to one lane. They entered the city of Ottawa in an orderly fashion.”

An Ottawa municipal committee has voted on Jan. 27 to have Wellington Street, which is in front of Parliament Hill, reopen no earlier than March 1.

Marnie Cathcart and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.