Calvin Lawrence, retired RCMP officer

The Analysis of Paralysis

by Cal Lawrence, Retired RCMP officer

The truckers’ protest over vaccines and Covid restrictions turned out to be much more.  The demonstration turned into an occupation with other groups jumping on the train of discontent with their own anti-government issues. 

There were USA issues, Far Right-Wing issues, racial issues, and complaining sessions, as the upheaval grew. Harassment of citizens on the street by demonstrators also took place.  It ceased to be an orderly demonstration and went from a demonstration to an occupation and almost turned into a national insurrection. 

Many Canadians believed the turmoil we saw in the USA and other parts of the world could not happen here.  But now we know that it can. In democratic societies and in Canada there is an orderly process in Government. Imagine a pyramid shape. At the top of the pyramid, there are the people in charge. They try to solve problems, give directives, permit and restrict actions, and enact change.

The process and plans wind their way down the pyramid through middle management until reaching workers at the bottom. Exchange of information,  problem options, and possible solutions go up and down the pyramid chain of command in a slow cumbersome fashion.  A cumbersome bureacracy is not equipped to respond quickly to emergency situations like that of the truck convoy in Ottawa, terrorist attacks, or major disasters. 

Strategic planning for efficient emergency response within the system would prevent a shutdown and paralysis of the whole process.  A little closer to ground zero, citizens and businesses of the Ottawa downtown core were subjected to the honking of horns, loud truck motors and toxic fumes, loss of business, missed appointments due to blocked streets, and other major problems. 

If the Ottawa Police Service received intelligence about the truckers’ intentions, it was flawed, or not acted upon. Therefore, the truckers were able to get a foothold in the downtown area. Internal conflicts within the Ottawa Police Services Board did not help with the emergency situation. Partisan politics by politicians did not help matters. In fact,  politicians made the handling of the conflict more confusing.  Not all the political parties were making the plight of people living and working in the downtown core their first priority.  When Ottawa Police Upper Management and the police boards are in conflict or suffering from long suspensions of its members an adequate response to an emergency is diminished. 

The truckers got their message across but lost the propaganda war. The inability to control the infiltration of radical behaviour and messaging caught them off guard. The truckers threw the party, therefore the moral responsibility was on them to say who was expelled from the demonstration.  The Nazi and Confederate Flags were present and that represented the extreme elements in their presence. If you have a few people carrying Nazi And Confederate flags and the truckers don’t eject them or tear down those flags; then in the eyes of the public, you have a group of Nazi and Confederate sympathizers.  

The very public conflict between Ottawa Chief, Peter Sloly and Minister Bill Blair regarding insufficient human resources to move the truckers and demonstrators from the downtown core requires an explanation. I don’t believe that a public inquiry is necessary, however, a detailed internal autopsy should be done. This should not be a witch hunt or blame game. This should be a fact-finding process followed by the implementation of a practical work plan with built-in accountability. 

Calvin Lawrence served as an officer with the Halifax City Police Department for 8 years and with the RCMP for 28 years, before his retirement in 2006. He is the author of the acclaimed “Black Cop”.