Sarah Chown’s car now drives seamlessly through the city’s busy Ottawa intersection, which just a year ago was made impassable by massive trucks and screaming protesters.
But to this day, her drive to the Metropolitan Brasserie, a restaurant she co-owns, just 200 meters from Parliament Hill, is marked by memories of the so-called “freedom convoy”.
“Still a day doesn’t go by that I don’t drive by that intersection and remember what happened there,” she told Global News in an interview.
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Metropolitan Brasseries is located at the corner of Rideau and Sussex Streets. That intersection was one of the main gathering points during the convoy protests that jammed Ottawa’s streets for the weekend a year ago.
Sound systems were set up in the middle of the intersection in front of Chown’s business, causing protesters to dance and play music until late into the night.
Shortly after the convoy arrived, he closed his restaurant, which was open for takeout, after months of ups and downs with COVID-19 public health measures. Gazing at the large glass windows in front of his business, he packed away any valuables, wine and liquor that could be seen from the crowd outside.
Chown said he was not sure when he would be able to pull them back, and it took three weeks, with the controversial invocation of the Emergency Situations Act, for the convoy to leave.
“The hit we took as a business financially was astronomical.”
Ottawa police were overwhelmed and unprepared, leaving little recourse for local people who lived and worked in the area that protesters against COVID-19 restrictions decided to occupy.
A public inquiry into the Emergency Act late last year received repeated testimonies from residents, who described being forced to wear masks, and hearing fireworks from their windows when they were trying to sleep. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario confirmed that families missed the children’s chemotherapy appointments because trucks blocked city roads.
Some residents of the city described sleeping in parking garages to avoid the constant honking, and those with homes closer to the ground floor said they felt the effects of diesel fumes on asthma and difficulty breathing.
“It was terrible,” Chown said.
But, she said, “it seems like we’ve improved a lot since then.”
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Katherine McKechnie spent most of her time walking the streets of her Centertown ward. At the time, he was a councilor representing Somerset Ward, one of the most affected areas in Ottawa.
What they remember most clearly is looking into people’s eyes.
He said, “The fear in people’s eyes as they go about their business – going home, to work or coming back from work – that will always be on my mind.”
As McKennie called on fellow politicians and police to do something about the demonstrations as the days and weeks wore on, someone leaked his home address online.
“So in the midst of all this, at this surreal moment when I felt an overwhelming responsibility for the safety and well-being of the entire neighborhood … we had to take my daughter, who was 15, and we had to take her out City to be with friends,” he said.
“So that will always be with me. That day will always be with me.
A protester shouts ‘freedom’ at a man attempting to affix a paper sign to a truck criticizing the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Ottawa, Monday, February 14, 2022.
The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
In the year since the convoy, many Ottawa residents have expressed how difficult it is for them to shake off their sense of unease. During the official investigation into the protests, locals described the trauma they are still experiencing.
Victoria de la Ronde, a resident of the Centertown neighborhood, told POEC that the impact on her physical health due to the protests was “quite extensive”.
“I definitely, during the experience, had difficulty sleeping. The smoke and other odors had effects on my lungs and my throat. And I have long-term effects as well,” she said.
“The long-term effects are loss of hearing, loss of balance, some vertigo. (I) am now triggered by the sound of any horn.
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McKechnie recalled the moment the convoy had left town when someone pulled up alongside them in a large truck and shouted their names.
former city councilor who is openly trans nonbinary and recently ran for mayor against successful candidate Mark Sutcliffe said he immediately braced for what might happen next.
But instead, McKechnie said the man shouted, “You’re awesome!”
McKechnie thanked him, he said, and continued.
Those who live and work in the city have spent years healing in their own ways.
And seeing the public scrutiny late last year was “therapeutic” in its own way, Chown said, highlighting the struggle and influence of some outside Ottawa’s downtown core in trying to bring order back to the streets. Will ever really understand.
The Ottawa Police faced significant criticism and allegations that they failed to take seriously the danger posed by the convoys and that their participants publicly stated that they should not leave the city once given permission.
Thousands gather around Parliament Hill in support of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest on February 5, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada.
Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Looking ahead, Ottawa’s new mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city has a clear focus: making sure the “freedom convoy” doesn’t happen again.
“Ottawa Police is working very hard and collaborating with other police services to make sure we are ready for any eventuality in the next few days, in the next few weeks, in the next few years,” he said in a statement. said in the interview Global News.
“We’re going to make sure incidents like what happened last year never happen again in the city of Ottawa.”
The convoy protests, Sutcliffe said, were “very disruptive and obviously very distressing to many people in our community, especially those who live in the immediate vicinity.”
To this day, a large part of Wellington Street that leads directly to Parliament House remains closed to vehicles.
Sutcliffe said talks are ongoing about how to best use the road in the future.
“While we are making decisions about the future of Wellington, we should be re-opening it to vehicles in the short term. This is the right decision for the long term.
Police remove protesters from the ‘Freedom Convoy’ on Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill on February 19, 2022 in Ottawa.
(Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, according to Stephanie Corwin, a former analyst with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, many of the people who gained prominence during the convoy protests — and their supporters — continue to spread COVID-19 misinformation to their audiences today, which are now at the Carlton He teaches in the university.
“I think the main thing that surprised me is that they didn’t really move forward,” she said. “It’s still about the pandemic.”
The convoy movement has been plagued by infighting as some organizers attempt to recapture the energy of February’s protests. But Carvin said he worries Canadian institutions still don’t know how to deal with the misinformation and conspiracies fueling the convoys.
“I have no sense that they are prepared to deal with the more extreme elements of this broad, polarized movement,” she said.
“It worries me a lot.”