'We were abandoned,' McKenney testifies at final People's Commission hearing

Former Somerset councillor Catherine McKenney testified at the final hearing of the Ottawa People's Commission on Saturday that downtown residents felt abandoned by public institutions during the convoy protests last winter.

McKenney, who was a vocal advocate for downtown residents throughout the multi-week protest, said they had received hundreds of emails and messages from residents expressing fear and bewilderment.

"They [residents] felt abandoned by their city, certainly by their police services, by all levels of government," McKenney said. "We were abandoned."

The commission started at the end of June and ran until this weekend. Throughout, it heard from a range of voices – including residents who described sleepless nights and others who said they'd had a positive experience of the convoy.

Several investigations and inquiries into the convoy have taken place at different levels of government, but organizers of the people's commission said none of the others focused on the convoy's impact on residents.

Monia Mazigh, one of four commissioners, said the objective of the people's commission was distinct from the federal inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act.

"We really wanted to give time, a safe space, an opportunity for people to come to tell us exactly what details, what happened to them," said Mazigh, who is a professor in Carleton University's Department of English and Literature.

Mazigh and the three other commissioners will co-author a report on their findings.

The other commissioners were Leilani Farha, global director of an international human rights organization, Alex Neve, adjunct professor in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, and Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity.

Downtown residents ignored, McKenney says

Former councillor McKenney said downtown residents, some of whom reported experiencing racism and homophobia during the convoy, were largely ignored by officials.

"It was shocking that no one, whether it was the federal level, province, municipal government or police could protect one neighbourhood in an entire country," McKenney said.

McKenney added they believe Wellington Street outside of Parliament should be under federal jurisdiction, should a similar event occur in the future.

"I'm not certain that even to this day, that there's a clear recognition of what happened to people during the occupation," McKenney said.

The commission aims to release a report of its findings around the one-year anniversary of the convoy protests in Ottawa.