Making our voices heard
Ottawa People’s Commission is a grassroots effort to promote healing and justice after the convoy occupation of Ottawa-Gatineau in 2022.
OPC is an initiative of the Centretown Community Health Centre.
OPC has released Part I of its final report, entitled What we heard. This report offers key findings and highlights testimony from hearings, community consultations and written submissions, providing compelling evidence of the convoy occupation’s impact.
Part II of the report, to be released in April 2023, will offer further analysis and recommendations for action.
For the residents of Ottawa, this was much more than a benign convoy, and was very different from a peaceful or even legitimately provocative and disruptive protest or demonstration. Consistently people describe what they went through as an occupation, and that they felt invaded and under siege.
People felt occupied in that their communities were taken over by force and without their agreement, both physically by way of blocking streets with large trucks and other vehicles, and by accosting people for wearing masks, as well as psychologically through such methods as blaring horns and displaying symbols and messages of hate, racism and discrimination.
Overwhelmingly, the community’s experience of the convoy was anything but peaceful. We heard instead, extensive descriptions of violence. Physical and psychological violence that was pervasive, harmful and frightening. Acts of violence and threats of violence. Violence that many described as terrorizing and traumatizing.
Blockading residences and businesses with big rigs, blaring horns incessantly at harmful decibel levels, convoy participants created a climate of hostility and aggression wherever they went in Ottawa. Many residents reported being accosted and even assaulted by convoy participants for wearing masks. Some were intimidated, threatened and insulted with racist, misogynist, Islamophobic, homophobic, transphobic and other taunts, as well as with displays of antisemitic and racist flags, banners and posters.
The people of Centretown, Lowertown, Vanier and Overbrook were undeniably abandoned by police and government. Amidst a strategy that appeared to be designed to offer maximum leeway to the convoy and was focused on avoiding confrontation with convoy participants, for several weeks, police and bylaw officers virtually stopped enforcing the law. At the same time, residents and business owners were provided little or no information about conditions on the ground and plans for resolving the crisis. This stands in sharp contrast to the swift and often aggressive enforcement action that marks police responses to other disruptive, yet peaceful, protests, and the strong communication from police and government during other crises or disruptive, large-scale public events.
Many people launched or became involved in initiatives to provide protection to people who were at risk. This took the form of well-publicized community safety walks, including some that were organized by downtown City councillors, as well as unofficial and spontaneous accompaniment for people who were fearful or nervous about walking through areas occupied by the convoy. People also made an effort to check in on neighbours who they knew were particularly vulnerable, including the elderly and people with disabilities.
In the absence of police protection and bylaw enforcement, and faced with the cancellation or dramatic reduction of many essential public services and programs, there was exceptional community mobilization to address basic concerns about safety, and to help vulnerable community members access food, medical supplies and other necessities.
During the three-and-a-half week occupation and beyond, Ottawa residents relied on community sources, media coverage, and posts, photos and footage from social media to keep safe and stay informed.
Recognizing the value of creating a community archive of this footage, documenting the impact of the convoy from the perspective of local residents, workers, and businesses, OPC crowd-sourced this timeline.
You can contribute to this archive using this form.
It’s not too late to share your convoy occupation story.
Download our Guidance for written submissions and send us your thoughts.
Click on the boxes to learn more.
We welcome donations from individuals, businesses, unions, foundations, community agencies and others.
OPC is a program of the Centretown Community Health Centre. Donations through their CanadaHelps portal are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.
As well, the Ottawa Community Foundation has created a special Fund to channel support to OPC’s work.
A dynamic group of local residents with diverse backgrounds and politics came together to create OPC as a non-partisan response to the convoy occupation. Sharing their vision and commitment, Centretown Community Health Centre then adopted OPC as a program. OPC received support from a broad range of groups committed to promoting healing, building community and holding governments to account.
Though the autumn of 2022, OPC held 14 hearings, four in-person and ten online, inviting local residents to share their stories of the occupation and their views on what should be done to avoid a repeat. As well, eight community consultations were held with different groups, and meetings were held with community leaders and experts.
In addition, OPC received written submissions from local residents who shared their stories and digital evidence of the occupation’s impact.
OPC was a program of Centretown Community Health Centre. CCHC provided funding and administrative and logistics support – and helped ensure OPC activities were planned with an eye to reducing stress and relieving trauma.
The federal inquiries — parliamentary and judicial — focused on the Emergencies Act and covered the whole country. The City’s inquiry was conducted by the City’s Auditor General and was very narrow in scope. OPC put the community’s interests first, creating a space for residents to share their stories, name their concerns, identify solutions, and press for action. It was intended as an avenue to healing and to justice.
The Ottawa People’s Commission is no longer formally receiving submissions from the public but you are encouraged to work through community organizations and others to share your experience and your views, and to advocate for changes that will ensure Ottawa residents are never again abandoned in the face of violence and human rights violations.
News and updates are posted here. As well, you can follow OPC on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, and YouTube.
OPC relied on the community for support. Donations were received from local and national foundations, unions, community agencies and generous individuals.
Donations are eligible for charitable tax receipts from the Centretown Community Health Centre through their CanadaHelps portal.
Many were traumatized by the occupation, and remain frustrated their story has not been heard and their opinion has not been sought. There has been no redress for their losses and no accountability for the failure of governments at all levels to protect their health or defend their rights.
Echoes of the occupation and threats of future disruptions continue. For that reason OPC came together to look at why people are subject to this violence and how best to bring it to an end.
For some, the experience of the convoy was the first time they had felt uncomfortable or intimidated in their own community. Others faced a heightened risk, but being targeted, taunted and trolled was and remains part of their daily reality.
OPC worked with leaders from diverse communities – in particular, those who face higher levels of hate, discrimination and violence – to ensure we captured their experience before, during and since the occupation, and recommended actions that create greater safety and respect for everyone.
Talk to your neighbours and co-workers.
Contact your elected representatives.
Press for action of OPC’s recommendations.
Make your voice heard.
Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation
c/o Centretown Community Health Centre
420 Cooper Street
Ottawa, ON, K2P 2N6