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Ottawa needs new deal with feds for policing the parliamentary precinct, mayor says

February 17, 2023  By The Canadian Press


Feb. 17, 2023, Ottawa, Ont. – Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city needs a new deal with the federal government for policing the parliamentary district.

The final report from the Public Order Emergency Commission today says confusion between various police forces around Parliament Hill made policing the “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations last year “unnecessarily complicated.”

The RCMP, Ottawa police and the Parliamentary Protective Service have varying roles for handling policing and security on and around Parliament Hill.

The commission’s report makes 27 different recommendations related to policing, including one to specifically fix the “jurisdictional divisions” in downtown Ottawa.

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The city also has to decide how to improve communications between its police force and city council, after an internal audit said police didn’t share enough intelligence with the city about what was happening as thousands of demonstrators occupied the downtown.

One city councillor says communication was so poor that she and other colleagues learned through social media that ex-police chief Peter Sloly resigned in the middle of February.


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