Downtown residents compare 'chaos' of convoy to dystopian horror
Zexi Li, Victoria De La Ronde testify at Public Order Emergency Commission
The first witnesses to testify before the public inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act to end last winter's convoy protest in Ottawa described feeling trapped in a hellscape of noise, fumes and constant menace that one woman compared to the dystopian horror film series The Purge.
Centretown residents Victoria De La Ronde and Zexi Li testified together at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Friday morning. The inquiry began Thursday with opening statements by several parties taking part in the hearings.
Li, a federal public servant who lives in a high-rise building near Bank Street and Laurier Avenue W., became lead plaintiff in a class-action suit that eventually resulted in an injunction against the protesters.
Under questioning from senior commission counsel Natalia Rodriguez, Li described the constant racket of what she called "after-market horns" mounted on trucks parked in the streets below her apartment.
"It was incredibly difficult to get anything done because of the noise," Li said. "Sleep deprivation was one of the things that affected me personally."
Neighbours 'pushed out of their homes'
To escape the constant din, neighbours began sleeping in their cars in the building's underground parking lot, and one woman could only get her baby to sleep by rocking the child in the building's corridor, away from any windows.
"I knew people that were being pushed out of their homes because they were literally having mental breakdowns because of the stress and the noise and just the terror they felt from the situation," said Li, who testified that she would sometimes shut herself in her bathroom in an attempt to dampen the noise.
When the blaring would occasionally fall quiet, it was almost worse, Li said. "I was riddled with the anxiety that the horns were going to start again."
We felt really and truly abandoned at that point in time.- Zexi Li
Outside her building, the unplowed snow was stained where people had urinated and defecated in the street, and gangs of protesters stood around illegal bonfires with no apparent concern that police might intervene.
"I just remember feeling like it was such a surreal sight, it almost felt like you were in something like The Purge because though I didn't often see direct acts of violence, there was a certain chaos on the streets," Li said.
Mask 'made you a target'
Out on the street, wearing a mask "made you a target, because it signalled to the people on our streets that we were not supportive of their cause and that we were not one of them," she testified.
"Whenever I chose not to engage with the individuals that were occupying my neighbourhood, they would blast their horns at me with a smile on their faces, and then they would cheer in unison and almost take joy" when she flinched, Li said.
That sense of lawlessness gradually increased as the occupation wore on, Li said. After her name and image were published in news stories about the class-action suit, Li said she felt increasingly concerned for her safety and began to shroud herself in so many layers that her neighbours no longer recognized her when she said hello.
Li also described how she organized a meeting of her building's tenants after police arrived to investigate a report that someone had tossed eggs at the trucks parked below.
"We felt really and truly abandoned at that point in time," she said, describing it as a key moment in her decision to lend her name to the injunction.
Testifying beside Li on Friday was Victoria De La Ronde, a retired lawyer who lives near Kent Street and Laurier Avenue.
Visually impaired woman 'completely stuck'
De La Ronde, who lives alone, is visually impaired and walks with a stick, testified that the occupation interfered with her ability to meet her most basic needs.
Once again there was no place to go, no place to hide, it just went on and on.- Victoria De La Ronde
"I had everything set up for myself as an independent person living alone in downtown Ottawa," she said. "But immediately, there was no taxi, no Uber, no Para Transpo, no grocery delivery, which I depended on ... no prescription delivery."
When she ventured outside, De La Ronde, who walks with the aid of a stick and relies on audible signals to cross the street, called the experience "terrifying" and disorienting.
"There was absolutely no ability to negotiate my environment by using sound," she said. "So I felt trapped and helpless during that."
De La Ronde testified that she also had difficulty sleeping, and was especially worried when debris from fireworks struck her windows. At one point she "begged" a friend to come rescue her, but they both came down with COVID-19 two days later, further isolating De La Ronde in her apartment.
"It meant that I was completely, completely stuck.... Once again there was no place to go, no place to hide, it just went on and on," she said.
De La Ronde testified that living through the convoy has had a lasting physical effect on her hearing, lungs and throat, and said she feels a loss of balance and vertigo that can be triggered by the smell of gas or the sound of a vehicle horn.
Brendan Miller, a lawyer representing the protesters, asked both witnesses about their employment with the federal government, and grilled Li about how she became involved in the class-action, including her relationship with Coun. Catherine McKenney and Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden
BIA heads, councillors testify
The hearings continued Friday afternoon with testimony from Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier BIA, and Kevin McHale, executive director of the Sparks Street BIA, who described the impact of the protests on downtown businesses, as well as a general lack of information before the protesters arrived.
"I would say that we received very little information, prior to," Carrier said.
"I'd say it was very minimal," McHale agreed.
Both said they were expecting road closures and other measures similar to Canada Day, but Carrier said even when a coalition of BIAs pressed city officials for more details during a briefing with Coun. Mathieu Fleury, that level of security wasn't being discussed.
"When that briefing happened we were surprised to see that that was not the posture that [the Ottawa Police Service] and the city were taking, meaning the closing down of the streets and the downtown core to accommodate the level of what I was seeing on social media was heading our way," Carrier said.
"For the most part we were told [that] by the end of the weekend everything should be good and everyone will likely be gone."
McKenney, who's running for mayor, and Fleury are also scheduled to testify Friday afternoon. Friday's hearings are expected to last until 7 p.m.
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