How Supt. Rob Bernier came up with the plan that ended the convoy protest\u002D\u002Dand restored order to downtown Ottawa.
, and the 94-page operational plan that ultimately set the stage for the end of the convoy protest on the third weekend in February.Article content
Bernier intervened to ask questions. He stressed that police needed to prepare and make some immediate decisions. The service’s intelligence directorate and special events team needed to become engaged in planning, he said, alongside those duty inspectors responsible for the weekend of the convoy’s arrival. His comments were noted as the meeting moved on to other things.
Troubled by the service’s level of preparation, Bernier approached his supervisor, Supt. Robert Drummond, to share his concerns. The operational plan for the convoy protest, Bernier said, lacked contingency plans to cover what would happen if the protesters stayed beyond the weekend. Bernier told Drummond “there seemed to be a bizarre disconnect” between the OPP intelligence and OPS planning.
On Feb. 3, one day after Sloly announced “there may not be a police solution” to the demonstration, Bernier was assigned to the service command centre to assist the officer in charge. The centre handled staffing, logistics, planning, procurement and internal briefings. The following afternoon, Bernier was asked by Deputy Chief Patricia Ferguson if he would accept an appointment as the new event commander for the convoy protest. Bernier said he wanted to think it over “because I understood the magnitude and the complexity of what I was embarking upon.”
“I really wanted to line this up for success,” Bernier told the commission. “We had gone through multiple event commanders and I just did not want this to be the next one.”Determined to institute what he called a proper command structure, Bernier created an executive liaison position, filled by Drummond, whose role was to communicate with Sloly.
According to Bernier’s testimony, he told the police chief he was working with OPP Chief Supt. Carson Pardy, RCMP Supt. Phil Lue and their integrated planning team to develop a plan to end the occupation. They needed time to get it right. He wouldn’t offer Sloly a timeline. Bernier moved his event command post to the RCMP’s national headquarters that same day to make it easier to operate a newly-established unified command with the OPP and RCMP. It meant Bernier, as lead commander, would make all operational decisions jointly with the RCMP’s Lue and OPP Insp. Dave Springer.
“We were going to go until it stopped, until it was over, until it was fully cleared, and we didn’t know if that was going to be one, two, three, four days,” Bernier testified.Article content The campaign “was intended to undermine the level of comfort protesters had developed that they could occupy the streets without any consequences,” Bernier said in his affidavit.
After Waller Street was secured and its trucks removed, the police sought to liberate Rideau and Sussex. A large crowd from Wellington Street moved toward the intersection as police advanced. Members of the handoff team interviewed the arresting officer, cautioned the protester, read them their Charter rights and searched a criminal record database. Decisions were then made about whether to charge the individual under the Criminal Code, detain or release them.Article content“Many of the protesters that were cooperative or passively resisting, as long as there were no aggravating features present, were released without charges,” Bernier explained in his affidavit.
“The methodical approach continued, and in light of the mission’s success, many people finally started leaving voluntarily from the side streets,” Bernier said in his affidavit.
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