OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Canadian police said a deliberate arson attack that occurred near Canada’s parliament in Ottawa last month had nothing to do with the Freedom Convoy despite the protesters being blamed earlier by some politicians.
“A man has been charged in relation to a deliberately set fire in an apartment building on Lisgar Street on February 6, 2022. A second man is still wanted by police,” Ottawa Police said yesterday in a news release.
“There is no information indicating MCDONALD was involved in any way with the Convoy protest which was going on when this arson took place.”
Police charged 21-year-old Connor Russell McDonald with arson for his involvement with the attack.
The arson attack took place while the Freedom Convoy was in its early days of protesting COVID mandates in downtown Ottawa.
The Freedom Convoy for three weeks in late January to early February protested in the nation’s capital to demand an end to all COVID mandates, before being forced out by police armed with extraordinary powers given to them by the Emergencies Act (EA).
Multiple mainstream media outlets along with the mayor of Ottawa and even some Liberal MPs had put forward the claim that the Freedom Convoy protesters were somehow connected to the arson incident on Lisgar Street.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson directly blamed the truckers for the arson, saying during a February 7 council meeting that the attack “clearly demonstrates the malicious intent” of the truckers.
Watson went on, saying “two young men entered the lobby of the building on Lisgar Street where they proceeded to light fire starter bricks near the elevators before taping up the door handles so residents would struggle to get out during a fire.”
Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull claimed that he saw thefts along with “attempted arson” during the Freedom Convoy protests.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed the Freedom Convoy protesters were funded by foreign entities with ties to terrorist-linked financing. This reasoning was used as justification for Trudeau to enact the EA against them on February 14. It was revoked on February 23.
His use of the EA gave the federal government unparalleled powers, such as the ability to freeze bank accounts, even without a court order. Many accounts were frozen; however, they were done so under the orders of police who then contacted banks.
Just recently, a top official with Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) recently said there is no evidence of any links to terrorist activity in the funding of the Freedom Convoy.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is currently suing the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for its abuse of the EA, which was used to quash the Freedom Convoy.