The Ottawa Police Service’s (OPS) quick and effective response to the Panda Game celebration at Sandy Hill feels like rubbing salt in a wound following their slow response to the so-called “Freedom Convoy” occupation in February.
In January 2022, hundreds of people from across the nation began a journey to Parliament Hill to protest federal COVID-19 restrictions. They came in fleets of trucks and large vehicles, occupying the downtown core and placing the city under siege for almost a month.
The City of Ottawa was rendered helpless until the protest’s dying days. The occupation followed a wave of anti-COVID-19 mandate protests that warned of things to come, yet Ottawa was still unprepared.
But when the annual Panda Game arrived, a historic competition between the city’s rival universities, the City of Ottawa formulated a serious response like no other—a response that was needed for the destructive convoy months prior.
By 1:15 a.m. the day after Panda, police had arrested seven people and handed out more than 175 tickets for open alcohol, noise, parking and littering violations. Due to the nature of Panda, partygoers arrived in Sandy Hill mostly on foot, though nine vehicles were towed.
During the three-and-a-half-week occupation of downtown Ottawa by the “Freedom Convoy,” police issued 3,812 parking tickets, 318 provincial offence notices, arrested roughly 100 people during the convoy and a few after. That’s roughly 159 parking tickets and 13 provincial offence notices a day—hundreds of which went challenged and unpaid.
According to Kingston Police, the size of the convoy upon arriving to Ottawa was 17 full tractor-trailers, 104 tractors without trailers, 424 passenger vehicles and six RVs strong. Of this convoy, 115 vehicles were towed, meaning roughly five were removed per day.
Police penalized “Freedom Convoy” protestors less strictly on a day-to-day basis than they did to the young university students during their one-night Panda parties.
On average, there were fewer tickets issued, vehicles towed and people were arressted on any given day of the occupation than on the day and night of Panda. While the events are not perfectly comparable—the “Freedom Convoy” was much more dangerous and thus harder to take on—that threat should have pushed police to act faster.
Many listed the lack of resources as an excuse for OPS’ tardy response to the occupation, but its overwhelming effort and preparedness for the Panda Game celebrations leaves many wondering how a few hours of partying was taken more seriously than a month of constant noise, violent behaviour and illegal activity.
This isn’t to say the response to Panda partygoers wasn’t warranted. Rather, it demonstrates that OPS is capable of attending to situations that can easily get out of hand. The relative ‘success’ of responses to Panda shows OPS should have been able to tackle the “Freedom Convoy.”
Featured graphic from file.
