Breaking: Ottawa Police Chief Resigns as Canada's 'Freedom Convoy' Protest Persists
Just over a week after saying he had no plans to retire, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly has resigned.
According to CBC News, Sloly is set to officially announce his retirement after a Tuesday meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board.
In recent weeks, he has come under immense criticism for his handling of the “Freedom Convoy” — made up mostly of Canadian truckers who are protesting vaccine mandates.
On Feb. 7, Sloly was asked by radio show host Leslie Roberts whether he had any plans of retiring amid the criticism. He responded that he had “absolutely none,” CTV News reported.
“I came here to do a job, and I’m going to get that job done all the way through,” Sloly said. “Absolutely committed, have a great team here, great officers, we’ve got great partners in the city. We’re going to get this done.”
Sloly had faced criticism from both sides regarding his handling of the trucker protests. Supporters of the truckers felt he had villainized them, while others argued he did not do enough to stop the protesters from overtaking downtown Ottawa.
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly says the “goal is to end the demonstration” in the city, adding that police will be “bringing significantly greater resources to restore order.”
MORE: https://t.co/DEN7zzSz9G pic.twitter.com/lkZOPPBuir
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 4, 2022
On Feb. 4, Sloly spoke out against the truckers, stating the “goal is to end the demonstration.”
In a Feb. 4 tweet on its official Twitter account, Ottawa Police praised crowdfunding platform GoFundMe for withholding donations that had been given to the truckers by online supporters.
“We want to thank @gofundme for listening to our concerns as a City and a police service,” the department wrote.
“The decision to withhold funding for these unlawful demonstrations is an important step and we call on all crowdfunding sites to follow.”
We want to thank @gofundme for listening to our concerns as a City and a police service. The decision to withhold funding for these unlawful demonstrations is an important step and we call on all crowdfunding sites to follow.
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 5, 2022
Twitter users attacked the tweet in the comments, with some going as far as to call the Ottawa police “Nazis” and “fascists.”
You are Nazis.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 5, 2022
This is fascism, @OttawaPolice. Good job.
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) February 5, 2022
Addressing criticism from the opposing side who felt the department was not harsh enough, Sloly told CTV his department was simply waiting until it could amass more resources.
“We couldn’t go out and tell people what we were going to do until we had the resources to start to do it,” Sloly said on Feb. 7.
“That’s why we could make those announcements and that’s why we can turn up the heat. And the more resources I get, the more heat I will turn up.”
As Sloly prepared to announce his retirement, the “Freedom Convoy” that began in Ottawa persisted across Canadian provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers on Monday in an attempt to quash the protests.
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