Last week, in a move to clamp down on legitimate criticism of the police, the Police Services Board adopted a new bylaw with no public consultation that limits the total time all public delegates can speak to a meeting for just one hour meaning that a total of only 12 delegates can speak at any meeting.
In the November 2020 budget meeting, there were over 100 delegates registered to speak. The new rule being imposed by new Board Chair Valiquet would have denied most of these delegates the right to speak.
Since the events of last year’s so-called “Freedom Convoy”, the Ottawa Police have been under increased public scrutiny for their actions in allowing the far-right to occupy the downtown core. However since then, the response from the Board has been to clamp down on legitimate criticism rather than listen to calls to open up the process, and this is yet another example of that.
Use our e-mail tool to send an e-mail in just one-click to demand that the Board change their rules to allow residents to hold the police accountable!
