Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly resigns amid the ongoing protests. “Peter Sloly and the Ottawa Police Services Board reached a mutually agreeable separation and as such Chief Peter Sloly is no longer employed with the Ottawa Police Service,” board chair Diane Deans said during a meeting Tuesday afternoon.
“The OPS (Ottawa Police Service) has been unable to adequately enforce our laws and our residents continue to be terrorized. It isn’t good enough,” Deans said, adding, “I have watched in disbelief as this carnival of chaos has been allowed to continue.”
Steve Bell, the deputy chief, has been named interim chief. Deans stated that the board will create a new command structure and designate a new head in the near future.
Sloly issued a post on social media announcing his resignation and said that he had done all possible to keep Ottawa safe. According to him, the department has increased resources, implemented new enforcement tools, and established a new Integrated Command Center.
“I am confident the Ottawa Police Service is now better positioned to end this occupation,” he said.
Sloly has previously stated that law enforcement has been difficult and sensitive, noting that families are enmeshed among the demonstrators. The chief had previously stated that he lacked the resources to deal with such a massive demonstration.
Residents have expressed their displeasure with the chief’s lack of enforcement on public streets to CNN.
The announcement comes only one day after Canada used the country’s Emergencies Act for the first time in an attempt to cut off financial assistance for protestors’ expensive border blockades.