https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2023/06/canadas-public-service-is-stuck-in.html

Saturday, 24 June 2023

Canada's public service is stuck in 'analog' and the world 'has moved
on': Former clerk


 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/janice-charette-public-service-1.6885586

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/public-order-emergency-commission-players-awol-1.6750507

As Emergencies Act report tabled, key witnesses have moved on

Public Order Emergency Commission to release findings later today
Alistair Steele · CBC News · Posted: Feb 17, 2023 5:00 AM AST |

Commissioner Paul Rouleau listens to counsel question a witness during
hearings in Ottawa on Nov. 4, 2022. The commission will table its
final report in Parliament later today. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian
Press)

As the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) prepares to release
its highly anticipated report into last winter's convoy protests, many
of the witnesses from the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service
who testified last fall have either left or moved to new roles.

On Thursday, the commission announced it would make its final report
public later today after tabling it in Parliament.

The Canadian Press reported the commission had requested, and been
granted, an extension to the original Feb. 6 deadline for submitting
its final report to the government.

The deadline for tabling the report in Parliament — Feb. 20 — remained
intact, however. That meant the commission's findings and
recommendations had to be made public no later than Monday, the Family
Day statutory holiday in Ontario.

(The timeline set out by the Emergencies Act requires that the report
be submitted to Parliament and released to the public within 360 days
of the emergency declaration being revoked, which occurred on Feb. 23,
2022.)
A politician at a desk, as seen from the middle of the audience.
Former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson testifies before the Public Order
Emergency Commission on Oct. 18, 2022. Watson did not run for
re-election. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Mayor, councillors gone

The commission heard from 76 witnesses over six weeks of public
testimony, from Oct. 14 until the prime minister's appearance on Nov.
25. Of those, seven were either elected officials or senior
bureaucrats with the City of Ottawa, and five more were senior members
of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS).

None of the elected officials from the city who testified — former
mayor Jim Watson, former councillor and police services board chair
Diane Deans, and former councillors Mathieu Fleury and Catherine
McKenney — remains in office. Of those, only McKenney ran for
re-election last fall, but failed in their bid to become mayor.

Of the other city officials who testified, only Kim Ayotte, Ottawa's
general manager of emergency and protective services, remains in the
same job.

Former city manager Steve Kanellakos, who testified about his efforts
to broker a deal between police and the protesters, resigned amid
controversy on Nov. 28, just two days before the release of a damning
report on Ottawa's troubled LRT project.

Watson's former chief of staff Serge Arpin left with his boss,
customary practice among political staffers.
A police officer sits on a row of chairs.
Deputy Chief Steve Bell, now chief administrative officer of the
Ottawa Police Service, waits to appear before the Public Order
Emergency Commission on Oct. 24, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian
Press)
All 5 OPS witnesses remain

All five senior members of the Ottawa Police Service who testified
before the commission last fall remain, though most have changed jobs.
(This doesn't include former chief Peter Sloly, who resigned during
the occupation of Ottawa by convoy protesters, and who had been out of
policing for more than eight months by the time he testified before
the commission in late October.)

Steve Bell, who was named interim chief after Sloly's resignation, and
who oversaw the eventual dispersal of the protest in Ottawa, is now a
deputy chief and chief administrative officer of the OPS. At the time
of the convoy's arrival in Ottawa, Bell was in charge of intelligence,
information and investigation for the force.

Patricia Ferguson, who testified to the deep "dysfunction" at the top
of the OPS, and said the force was left "floundering" when protesters
failed to leave the capital after the first weekend, remains acting
deputy chief.

Russell Lucas, an inspector with the police service's special events
section during the protests, is currently an acting superintendent,
according to an update provided by the OPS on Thursday.

Supt. Robert Bernier, an inspector within the force's communications
branch who was appointed event commander during the occupation, is
also listed by the OPS as an acting superintendent.

Supt. Robert Drummond, who was tasked with overseeing the police
liaison team that negotiated with protest leaders and the public order
unit that eventually helped end the occupation, also maintains that
rank. (Drummond was in an acting role at the time of his testimony
last fall.)
Police clear an area of protesters near Parliament Hill.
Police and protesters square off in front of Parliament Hill on Feb.
19, 2022. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
'Multiple points of failure'

In an email to CBC, Paul Champ, a lawyer who represented downtown
residents and businesses during the Emergencies Act inquiry, noted the
commission heard "extensive evidence of multiple points of failure" by
both government officials and police.

"Even though many of those responsible have left the stage, the POEC
report will memorialize those mistakes and serve as a guide for public
officials going forward. I would also like to see some apologies by
the police, the city and the province, but that's probably asking too
much," Champ wrote.

He said he also hopes to see the report provide some guidance "about
the oversight and direction the Ottawa Police Services Board can have
over the Ottawa Police Service."

Journalists covering the inquiry will be allowed to peruse an
embargoed version of the report starting at 10 a.m. ET. The embargo
will be lifted once the report is tabled in Parliament.

Commissioner Paul Rouleau will also read a prepared statement, which
will be streamed live on the commission's website, where the full
report will be made available to the public.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alistair Steele

Writer and editor

After spending more than a decade covering Ottawa city hall for CBC,
Alistair Steele is now a feature writer and digital copy editor at
cbc.ca/ottawa.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices