City of Ottawa Says Thousands of Tickets Issued During Freedom Convoy Protest Unpaid After One Year

The city of Ottawa said thousands of tickets issued during last year’s Freedom Convoy protest went unpaid, with only about half the total value of the fines received after a year.

When protesters rallied in the state capital between January 28 and February 18, 2022, officials distributed a total of 3,812 parking tickets and 318 provincial charges for illegal parking, including on private property and in no-parking zones, totaling $320,545.

So far, just over $141,000 of that value is outstanding, The Canadian Press reported.

Unpaid fines can result in license plate refusals, or the fines can be transferred to property taxes, garnished from wages, or forwarded to a collection agency — although it’s not clear if Ottawa took any of those steps.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the nationwide protest that began as a protest against the Liberal government’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination mandate for cross-border truck drivers. At the time, other protesters joined the call for an end to other pandemic restrictions such as the mask requirement.

The protests ended after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who refused to meet with the protesters – invoked an unprecedented emergency law on February 14, 2022, giving police additional powers to clear away the protesters, such as B. Forcing towing companies to remove protesters’ vehicles.

A public inquiry into justifying the use of the law was conducted last fall for the first time since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988. A final report of this investigation is due to be submitted to Parliament in February.

The City of Ottawa said the protest cost the community about $7 million and the Ottawa Police Department $55 million. The city has asked the federal government to foot the bill for these costs, but no funding announcement has been made.

Public Safety Secretary Marco Mendicino announced in December 2022 that the federal government will help the city of Windsor, Ontario pay for the costs of a border blockade held at a busy Canada-US border crossing at the Ambassador Bridge, and provides up to $6.9 million in federal funding ready.

The actual amount Windsor will receive is still being debated, but the city had demanded millions of dollars in compensation for the alleged cost of business closures because of the border blockade.

Similar protests closed border crossings in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and in Coutts, Alberta, as protesters across the country showed solidarity with those who rallied in the state capital last winter at the height of the Freedom Convoy.

The Canadian press contributed to this report.