The wheels are coming off in the convoy. The occupiers have surrendered the Alberta border and a police chief resigned.
It is increasingly feeling like Canadian’s are finally getting the upper hand in this massive terrorist occupation. The biggest development, obviously, is Ottawa police chief, Peter Sloly, resigning today. Sloly has been one of the biggest figures that has been almost universally despised. This given that he was the chief of police that oversaw the police response to the terrorist occupation in Ottawa – or basically a complete lack thereof outside of arresting a number of counter demonstrators.
Many Canadian residents, of course, have long concluded that the police were actively colluding with the occupiers, enabling them to throw wild parties on the streets, honk horns 24/7, non-stop idling causing pollution in the area, hot tubs, DJ sets, sauna’s, bouncy castles, open fires, and, of course, an endless supply of fuel, resources, and septic services. Suffice to say, the entrenchment was meeting all levels of absurdity. With endless footage of police being openly friendly towards demonstrators and being quick to move in on civil level opposition, yeah, it was pretty much plain as day.
Naturally, all levels of government, at best, struggled to explain why the occupiers were still there. As time went on, some even just gave up on trying to even explain why all of this was still happening going in to week three. Some of the excuses grew pretty ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. Some of those excuses being that police action might upset the occupiers, that the occupiers might get aggressive if you took away their toys, the occupiers were obstructing police investigations by bringing in empty Jerry cans to confuse things, big rigs are hard to remove because they might have put the vehicles in “park”, etc. Really, if you had a standup comedy routine just consisting of the excuses for lack of enforcement, you’d probably be a crowd favourite and get invited back for an encore.
Of course, what is quite interesting is that this development happened the day after the Emergencies Act was invoked. Now, what that indicates about the police chief can head in virtually every direction. This can range from him knowing that the hammer was going to fall and he wanted to get the heck out of Dodge to him seeing how badly he screwed things up that his continued presence in the force was just going to cause further problems – and everything in between. The rumour mill was very well fed regardless.
Regardless, he is now gone. That is basically an established fact at this point. From CTV:
Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly has stepped down amid criticism of his handling of the ongoing trucker protests in downtown Ottawa.
Sloly and the Ottawa police services board reached a “mutually agreeable separation,” board chair Diane Deans told a special meeting on Tuesday. “As such, Chief Sloly is no longer employed with the Ottawa Police Service.”
The downtown protests have reached day 19, with demonstrators encamped on Wellington Street and the surrounding area and showing no signs of leaving.
Sloly said in a statement he is stepping down “with a heavy heart.”
“Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforseeable crisis,” he said.
Some of the speculation on the media side is that his resignation came after allegations surfaced about him bullying other senior staff. Some left the force over those actions alone. So, that could have played a role in his departure as well. Either way, in the ensuing meeting, other staff members were basically admitting that the police response to the occupation was a complete failure. When it came to protecting the residents and enforcing the law, what the police did was quite unacceptable.
Some experts responded to these developments by noting the surreal circumstance of the chief of police resigning right in the middle of a national emergency. Something like that just doesn’t happen that often – if at all. Yet, here we are, seeing this happen now. To be fair though, considering all the other complete insanity that has unfolded, this note really is probably going to be relegated to a minor footnote.
You might think that the online discussion about this is that everyone is thrilled that he is gone. To some degree, there is some of that. However, the optimism is very much cautious because very few know which direction the police are going to take next. Some wonder if the next chief of police is going to keep everything status quo and see the exact same problems as before. So, the reaction is actually very much mixed right now.
Ottawa Occupation Dense, Hardcore Supporters Vow to Stick It Out
Meanwhile on the streets, many of the vehicles partaking in the occupation have now been concentrated into a smaller area. Many on the streets have described the vehicles as being packed in like sardines. This as more warnings are being made by the government. While many of the occupiers had envisioned that the military would move in and arrest them so they can play the martyr card, the government actually has a lot of levers they can pull to break things up. It’s probably the propaganda flowing through their own networks that said that Trudeau has run out of options, but really, Trudeau actually gave the government more options to work with more than anything else.
One way to hurt a movement is through the pocket book. It seems this is one card that the federal government is playing right now. The warnings suggest that they can freeze bank accounts of any person partaking in the occupation and revoke drivers licenses. Many critics of the occupiers have long called for revoking of drivers licenses as an incentive to get them to stop and it looks like the government is going to follow through with that. What’s more is that the freezing of bank accounts will mean that anyone making payments on their trucks are, well, totally screwed over.
Some might be wondering how the government can track people down that participate, well, let me tell you from personal experience is that the government has an insane amount of resources they can tap in to to track people down. My personal experience actually involves me having worked for the federal government for a brief period of time. Even the smallest hint or detail will allow the government to track occupiers down. With so much lovely footage of the occupation on social media, the government already has that as it is.
Some drivers are apparently pulling their license plates from their trucks. I can say with confidence that such an action simply isn’t going to help. If anything, you are going to direct more attention towards you from authorities. You basically have to have no foot print in Canada whatsoever. Unless you have been dead for 10 years with no assets of any kind to your name, you’re basically screwed.
If you live in the US and have everything tied to the US, all Canada has to do is tap the shoulder of their American counterparts and say, “sick ’em”. Might be a slight simplification of the process, but there is international cooperation between Canada and the US to say the least. So, if you are sitting in the US smugly saying that Canadian authorities can’t touch you, well, you might suddenly get a knock on the door or a phone call from an organization like the IRS – and the IRS is very well known for being ruthless in their investigations.
Suffice to say, especially with the invocation of the Emergencies Act, this opens up the idea of fast tracking investigations across more departments. It is downright scary what the government can dig up on you.
A (small) number of occupiers are, of course, saying that they are going to stick it out to the very end. They think they can withstand anything the government throws at them because of who knows what warped perception of how they think things work. So, for them, choosing to “hold the line” and “not going anywhere” will eventually lead to them being given three options: leave voluntarily, be arrested peacefully, or be arrested by force. No matter what, it’s going to lead to their lives being turned upside down – and no, the “reinforcements” are not going to come to save them either no matter how many times they hear it over Zello. The consequences will last well after the point of arrest.
At any rate, the occupiers that defy orders to leave are going to find out just how much by the nads the government has them.
Massive Weapons Cache Seized in Alberta
One of the many lies that the occupiers had was that they are a peaceful protest. The mountain of evidence says otherwise, but one particular police seizure really punched a significant hole into that narrative. In Alberta, police seized a large volume of weapons and ammunition at the Coutts blockade. 13 people were arrested over a period of 24 hours by the RCMP. From Global:
The RCMP said they recently became aware of a small organized group within those involved in the larger Coutts border protest. Alberta RCMP Supt. Roberta McKale said it’s believed the smaller group arrived within days of the initial group of protesters arriving at the border.
“The group was said to have a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade,” RCMP said in a news release.
“This resulted in an immediate and complex investigation to determine the extent of the threat and criminal organization.”
A search warrant was executed early Monday morning on three trailers that RCMP allege were associated with the criminal organization. The following items were seized:
- 13 long guns
- handguns
- multiple sets of body armour
- a machete
- a large quantity of ammunition
- high capacity magazines
Some have noted that there have been reports of gun runners operating in and out of the Alberta blockade. The occupiers at the blockade quickly distanced themselves from the weapons seized, saying, basically, “those aren’t mine”, and “we had no knowledge this was going on”. It’s pretty hard to believe that far right people with an obsession with guns wouldn’t have resulted in someone blabbing about their huge arsenal of weapons on the scene at some point. Between that and earlier reports that the Ottawa occupiers were trying to form their own police services and this, it really highlights just how “peaceful” these demonstrations were becoming. What use does a peaceful demonstrator have of weapons and gun runners?
Occupiers Surrender the Alberta Border
Shortly after the weapons were seized and the Emergencies Act was invoked, the situation proved to be too much for the occupiers in Alberta. They have basically surrendered the border in Alberta back to Canada. From the CBC:
The international border crossing at Coutts, Alta., that had been blocked by protesters opposed to Canada’s vaccine mandates opened on Tuesday morning as demonstrators left voluntarily, the RCMP said.
RCMP spokesperson Gina Slaney said the protest had cleared out significantly and traffic was able to cross the border in both directions.
The Canada Border Services Agency also confirmed to CBC News around 11 a.m. that the port of entry had reopened.
The surrender is quite significant because the Coutts/Alberta border capture/encampment has been seen as the biggest occupation development outside of the province of Ontario. This loss is definitely a huge blow to the whole occupation efforts in Canada.
With those huge losses, the occupiers have been increasingly targeting smaller and softer targets like high schools and shopping malls. Many of those occupations quickly come to an end.
with all of these developments, it really is looking like the wheels are coming off of the occupation of Canada. There’s still some distance to cover before it’s all over, but these developments highlight that things are definitely heading in the right direction.
Crowdfunding Ordered to Report Directly to Canadian Authorities
One aspect of this story is that crowdfunding operations will have to report to the Canadian government by complying with Canadian rules should they wish to operate within Canada. Any bank accounts suspected of receiving financial aid for occupation related reasons can have their accounts frozen based on suspicion alone. From CTV:
The federal government has announced that crowdfunding platforms will now have to comply with Canada’s financial reporting rules, and is authorizing banks to freeze accounts it suspects to be involved with the Freedom Convoy’s “illegal blockades.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland gave notice on Monday that should sites like GoFundMe and GiveSendGo – the two platforms used by the convoy organizers to raise funds – wish to operate in Canada, they must immediately register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).
“This will help mitigate the risk that these platforms receive illicit funds, increase the quality and quantity of intelligence received by FINTRAC and make more information available to support investigations by law enforcement into these illegal blockades,” said Freeland.
She announced the move as part of the government’s invoking of the never-before-used Emergencies Act to try to contain the momentum of the trucker convoy.
It’s unclear what implications there are for other people using crowdfunding services. Still, it looks like these measures are simply targeted at the occupiers, so it might not mean much for anyone who has nothing to do with the “convoy” for now. The question is whether this evolves into something bigger or simply remains to be a temporary measure for a specific purpose.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
