At the Sept 22 public hearing, a downtown resident shared her experience of the convoy. Excerpts from her presentation follow.
“On the street there were bonfires, there were propane tanks beside the bonfires amongst a whole bunch of vehicles. And as I was walking up Kent, I’m like I cannot believe this is happening but what am I supposed to do about it? Everyone is aware this is going on so I thought the responsible thing to do is to call 3-1-1. The 3-1-1 person directed me to call 9-1-1. When I called 9-1-1, the operator made me aware that they were aware of what was going on Kent Street and the fireworks were probably lit because people were cold, so I felt like an idiot for even bringing it up because the authorities clearly were aware but nothing was going to happen.
I couldn’t spend the money that I earned at my local businesses nor did I feel comfortable during that time frame doing any type of delivery service because why the heck would I ask someone to come to my home when I’m not comfortable coming to and from my home.
It was not peaceful for me, it was incredibly stressful, for the first time in my adult life being a resident of the City of Ottawa, I felt unsafe. I felt there was not any type of municipal, provincial, or federal authority who was taking care of the situation to make sure the residents could come and go from their homes with absolute freedom. Our lives were put on hold for what reason? I don’t understand why certain people were allowed to break the law blatantly with almost zero consequence.”
You can view the full testimony here.
