OPP intelligence warned of potential Ottawa mass protest 2 weeks before convoy

Wed, October 19, 2022 

The OPP's intelligence bureau says it flagged in early January that a mass anti-government protest could be headed to Ottawa.

By Jan. 20 — more than a week before the Freedom Convoy protests began — the OPP believed the protest would be "a long-term event," says Supt. Pat Morris, who heads the OPP's Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau (POIB).

By Jan. 25, the bureau feared hundreds of trucks would converge on the nation's capital, he added.

Morris was testifying Wednesday during the public inquiry into the federal government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to end the disruptive protests.

From Jan. 28 to Feb. 19, protesters in downtown Ottawa rallied against pandemic restrictions and government leadership by blocking neighbourhood access and main arteries around Parliament Hill and clogging downtown streets with trucks and other vehicles.

Morris' testimony came the same day city councillor Diane Deans said former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly stated in late January that he believed convoy protesters would be gone by the end of the first weekend.

Sloly is expected to testify later during the inquiry.

An OPP officer mans a roadblock along Wellington Street on Feb. 18. OPP Supt. Pat Morris testified at the public inquiry Wednesday that by mid-January the force was planning for the protest to last as long as a month. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Information was shared with Ottawa police

Morris said POIB collects information about protests believed to have the potential for criminal or illegal activity or impacts on public safety. He stressed that the bureau produced no intelligence to suggest convoy participants would be armed.

The bureau has shared all of its reports with other police agencies, including the Ottawa Police Service, since the bureau's inception in early 2020, according to an email Morris shared during the inquiry. The email stated Sloly had requested the bureau's reports.

'We felt this would be a long-term event,' OPP officer said of Ottawa convoy protests

Morris said he didn't know whether Ottawa police acted on the OPP's information in planning for the convoy.

"We have an expression often in policing that you stay within your lane," he said. "My goal, as I saw it, was to produce intelligence to assist in decision making to the Ontario Provincial Police and to the Ottawa Police Service."

Sloly spoke against intelligence: OPP

Morris said OPP's intelligence was not met with approval by Sloly.

He described a Feb.12 meeting with the former Ottawa police chief and representatives of police in Toronto, where protesters planned to roll in that weekend.

"Chief Sloly was not happy with the briefing," Morris said. "He articulated that he didn't like comparisons between Toronto and Ottawa."

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

According to Morris, Sloly said his team had reviewed the bureau's intelligence reports "and there was nothing of value or significant or nothing that could have assisted them."

"It was difficult," he added. "Our commissioner intervened."

Some information gaps

Morris said the bureau's early assessment that the occupation would last a while was based on "the fact that there was no exit strategy" and that the protesters' main demand, ending COVID-19 mandates "could not be met."

Asked what he meant by long-term, Morris said, "we were beginning to schedule and plan at that time for two weeks, three weeks, a month."

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Morris conceded the intelligence had gaps, such as what the convoy members planned to do with heavy equipment, such as the crane that was ultimately planted on Wellington Street.

"The plans while in Ottawa were a mystery until they got there," he said. "And I think that is borne out by events."

Previous reports in the months leading to the convoy occupation had also hinted at potential disruptions, but they did not come to pass, Morris said.