At the Oct 12 public hearing, a peer advocate for people with disabilities who lives in downtown Ottawa shared his experience of the convoy.
“For the duration of this occupation, I had my phone on 24 hours a day. I was scrambling to get people who were afraid to leave their home food. I started doing networking and trying to get different agencies to help and get to people – especially in the downtown core, – who had disabilities, to get them food, to get them help, to get them counseling. One of my participants, she was so frightened, she would not leave her house even after three weeks after it was cleared. People were calling me two, three, four, five o’clock in the morning asking for help.
It was beyond stressful. I went to the corner store because I needed some milk and this lady holding a sign – I forgot what it said – came up behind me in my wheelchair and started pushing me towards the intersection. That very much frightened me and I do not scare easy.”
You can view the full testimony here.
