OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — The Chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board has been removed from her post.
Yesterday Ottawa city councilors decided to oust Councilor Diane Deans from her position as Chair of the city’s police board. Deans attracted much criticism last week following a statement in which she referred to the Freedom Convoy’s peaceful demonstration against Canada’s COVID measures as an “occupation” and part of a larger “nationwide insurrection.”
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), fellow councilors believe that Deans’ dismissal will “restore public trust.” However, dissenting councilors have said that it was merely a “political stunt” and the real person who needs to resign is the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson.
Deans, who previously accused protestors of “terrorizing residents,” said her removal was going to destabilize “the oversight body for Ottawa Police in the middle of the biggest crisis in this city’s history” and that the move was “ridiculously political.”
Since the Freedom Convoy’s arrival in Ottawa nearly 3 weeks ago, politicians and public servants have struggled to cope under massive public pressure.
On the federal level, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was removed by his party from his post, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unprecedently invoked the Emergencies Act, and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that peaceful protesters may have their bank accounts arbitrarily frozen without court order.
On the provincial level, Ontario Premier Doug Ford doubled and tripled down on COVID restrictions, only to axe them days later and effectively call the policies useless, while the leaders of Manitoba, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Alberta have all moved to end COVID restrictions in their provinces.
On the local level, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly abruptly resigned from his post after two weeks of incendiary statements about the Freedom Convoy protesters in his city.
Despite Trudeau’s government taking extreme measures to crack down on largely law-abiding protesters, public trust and support for his leadership has been cratering.
According to a recent Maru Public opinion poll, only 16 percent of Canadians would vote for Trudeau based on his actions taken against protesters in the last few weeks. Meanwhile, two different polls now show that most Canadians support the immediate end to all so-called COVID-19 restrictions in the country.
While the Trudeau government remains insistent keep its COVID measures in place, according to a growing body of data, vaccine mandates and passports are a failed strategy for tackling COVID.
Freedom activists in Canada and elsewhere consider COVID-19 jab mandates a gross assault on individual freedoms, one unjustified given COVID-19’s high survivability among most groups, its now understood minimal risk of asymptomatic spread, and research indicating that post-infection natural immunity is far superior to vaccine-induced immunity.
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