Demonstrators don't have unlimited rights to clog up downtown, experts say

Ottawa's police force has told city council that theycannot legally prevent more large trucks from moving into and around the city's downtown, but someconstitutional experts disagree.

After a week of loud horns and closed streets, residents are girding themselves for a second weekend of trucks arriving in the capital to protest COVID-19 public health restrictions, joining those who have been set up near Parliament Hill.

One groupsays it will keep protesting until the federal government shows it will end all COVID-19mandates.

At a briefing Wednesday, city councillors repeatedly asked police executives how they planned to keep trucks out of the capital this weekend.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard asked that residential areas in particularbe free of diesel fumes and horns.

Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder pressed too, asking why police wouldn't erectbarriers on the highways entering the city to restrict new traffic.

WATCH | Protesters building a shed is latest aggravation for residents:

Tensions rise as Ottawa protesters refuse to leave

3 years ago

Duration 4:19

Ottawa residents have grown more frustrated as protesters outside Parliament Hill refuse to budge and start building a structure. Police have started handing out tickets, but its unclear what more they will do.

Chief Peter Sloly told herhe could not seal off a city.

"One of the fundamental charter rights is freedom of movement, so to deny freedom of movement to people who are coming to express their charter rights, I don't have a lawful authority that I'm aware of to allow me to do that," Slolyanswered.

He told council policehave restricted access points but don't want to block emergency services, health-care workers, and deliveries.

Acting deputy chief Trish Ferguson said while Ottawa police "do not have authority to prevent trucks from going into certain areas," they do plan to erect cement barriers at some points downtown.

Blocking roads for 'days on end' unacceptable

Professors who study the constitution, however, say Canadians' freedoms ofassembly, movement and expressionunder the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are not absolute and thedemonstration downtown which became muchsmaller during the work week has crossed the line because of the harm it's causing.

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Errol Mendes, aprofessor of constitutional and international law at the University of Ottawa, saidwhile he's a "great proponent" of freedoms of assembly and expression that allow protest, all ofthe charter'sfreedoms and rights are subjectto the very first section.

That sectionallows the government to impose reasonable limits, he said.

Emmett Macfarlane, a professor inthe University of Waterloo's political science department,agreed.

There's no clear rulein law for when an acceptable protest becomes unacceptable, he said, but the demonstration in Ottawa has "flipped across the line" asresidents are unable to go about their daily lives.

"Blocking an intersection for 20 minutes if you are engaging in a parade down the street is going to be acceptable in a democracy,"said Macfarlane.

"Blocking major thoroughfares for days on end is generally going to be unacceptable."

If police were to try to safely remove protesters, it would be upheld under the Charter, he said.

Cordoned areas in past protests

Many residents and local councillors have asked why trucks were able to make their way to Parliament Hill in the first place.

Sloly explained that police did try to get many trucks to park in lots outside of the core, and many did.

Macfarlane said it wouldhave been unreasonable last week for police to stop trucks and question drivers entering the city, unless they had reliable information about a threat.

Cordoning off a smaller area is another matter, and both professors say it's reasonable to keep trucks off Wellington Street at Parliament Hillor restrict them from residential streets.

"I'm juststunned," said Mendes. "I don't call myself a security expert, but I'm looking at what history has shown to be possible to prevent the harms to local communities [and they've included] preventative strategies of cordoning off certain areas, putting [up] security fences."

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Fences were used at the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010, where Sloly was a deputy police chief,although both Mendes and Macfarlane agree the "kettling" of protesterswas a problem.

In recent years police forces have learned from those experiences and have been "more patient,"Macfarlane said.

"But there is such a thing as being too restrained," he added.

On Thursday morning, police released a statement citing increased enforcementincluding issuingsome 30 parking tickets eightfor unnecessary noise from honking horns.