Benedict Huszar / Staff reporter
As the third week of protests against the vaccine mandates rolled on, the Canadian government decided to take action and enact the emergencies act for the first time ever.
The emergencies act would grant the government the power to break up and arrest demonstrators on the grounds of them breaking the peace. The Canadian emergencies act was created in 1988 to allow the government to take “special temporary measures to ensure safety and security during national emergencies”. The act has never been instated before.
On February 15th, the day after the act was instated the first round of arrests began, the number of protestors and vehicles was drastically reduced and only most stubborn of protestors were left in the city center.
Late into the evening of February 19th, the last few protestors were finally cleared out of downtown Ottawa. Without the special powers granted to Ottawa police by the emergencies act, the occupation of the city would have likely lasted much longer and have been much more tedious to clear out.
The emergencies were clearly a final measure, but it is necessary. Many illegal guns and unregistered weapons have been seized from the protests and if the police hadn’t forcefully entered the protests and shutdown the occupation, the confrontations between protestors and police could have very well turned violent.
As well as dispersing the protests the government has began to freeze the bank accounts of those who have donated to the gatherings via sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter as well as opening multiple investigations into third parties that may have been responsible for organizing and/or funding the protests.
The emergencies act and the crackdowns on protests that ensued are an uncomfortable but necessary task in restoring the peace in Ottawa and the rest of the country.
Sources:
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