After the occupation, City of Ottawa reflects on how to prevent a sequel

With the city's downtown clear of protesters and big rig trucks, Ottawa city council has turned to more reflective questions about how to prevent the occupation from happening again, and how to fix gaps in how the national capital region functions.

After Wednesday's council meeting, Mayor Jim Watson echoed a question many residents have been asking for weeks: "How was this allowed to happen?"

"And why did it seem to swirl out of control so quickly?" Watson asked after the meeting, which was a far cry from the heated affair one week prior before police removed the demonstration. 

Some city councillors, including Mathieu Fleury and Diane Deans, suggested the best way forward includes a public, independent inquiry co-ordinated among federal, provincial and local governments.

2 reviews will take place

Others pointed out the federal Emergencies Act, which was approved Monday evening and then revoked less than 48 hours later, will trigger its own inquiry. The Prime Minister said Wednesday that inquiry will begin within 60 days.

Many councillors preferred to let that process play out along with a city-led review, to be delivered by May, so lessons could be learned before Canada Day and the risk of more protests in warmer weather.

"I think it's very important for our city to be ready for what comes next," said Coun. Allan Hubley, who first won council's support for that review more than two weeks ago.

"It's an opportunity for the city to work with the [Ottawa Police Services Board] to give us some quick things that we need to look at, and improve and build upon, to protect our city better."

In an interview with CBC News earlier in the month, Hubley explained he worked in federal public safety before entering municipal politics and helped plan security scenarios for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

He wanted to understand the type of planning Ottawa police did before the so-called Freedom Convoy arrived, and why more wasn't done to narrow access and prevent "handing over the city" to protesters.

'Big gap' in national capital response

City manager Steve Kanellakos told council Wednesday the municipality could move quickly to hire a third-party reviewer, even if officers from around the country are still in Ottawa and on standby in case protesters try to return downtown.

The city's top public servant was also very interested by a motion, which will be discussed at the next council meeting, where Fleury asked for a working group of many government agencies involved in the capital — city governments from Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., the provincial and federal governments, National Capital Commission, Public Services and Procurement Canada — to sort out roles and lift a burden off the city.

"I think there has to be a rethinking of the National Capital Region and its security, and it has to go beyond what the Ottawa police and the City of Ottawa can provide," said Kanellakos.

He remembered the stress of co-ordinating the emergency response when Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was killed at the National War Memorial in 2014.

• With Wellington Street cleared of vehicles, many say it should stay that way

The capital region needs "formalized" structures and agreements that come together "in an instant," Kanellakos said, "rather than trying to figure that out while we're in the emergency."

"I think that's a big gap that we have in the National Capital Region, quite frankly."

Also on Wednesday, council approved a move by Coun. Catherine McKenney to study Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill, and to consider temporarily closing it or transferring it to the federal government.

Watson praised it as a "good first step" for getting jurisdictions to discuss what changes need to happen in the capital.