On Nov. 17, 2021, the City of Prince George started to demolish much of the Lower Patricia homeless encampment.
Over the weekend of Feb. 19-20, 2022, police officers cleared downtown Ottawa of the so-called Freedom Convoy protesters.
These two events far more in common than a quick glance might reveal.
For starters, both actions were taken in the interest of “public safety.”
Both actions also involved a significant display of authority.
While the Prince George event didn’t involve the massive police presence seen in Ottawa, the bylaw officers, the B.C. Housing staff, the heavy equipment and the city employees to operate them that all descended on Moccasin Flats on that November day must have been intimidating to the handful of people still living there.
Both actions were taken by a government body frustrated by the inaction from other levels of governments and political leaders under intense public pressure to respond, despite the fact doing so was outside of their immediate authority and fraught with legal and political risk.
Like communities across B.C., the City of Prince George has sought immediate relief from the provincial government for years to address numerous social issues, from housing the unsheltered to dealing with the effects of the opioid crisis and prolific criminal offenders.
Trudeau testified last week to the Public Order Emergency Commission that the inability of the City of Ottawa and the Ontario government, as well as their respective police forces, forced him to assert federal authority.
Both actions were targeted towards a specific minority occupying public space.
While there were crimes committed by some of the people in both groups, addressing those crimes was not touted by either the City of Prince George or the Trudeau government as motivating factors because the offences were relatively minor.
Finally, both actions prompted legal responses.
On Feb. 23, just days after downtown Ottawa was cleared out, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Simon Coval ruled the City of Prince George had violated an existing court order regarding Moccasin Flats and had “inflicted serious harm on vulnerable people” in the process.
One of the purposes of the Public Order Emergency Commission is to explore whether the legal standard was met for Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act, so we’ll have to wait for Justice Paul Rouleau’s ruling.
Whatever that ruling is, it verges on hypocrisy to argue one of those government actions was unwarranted but to then claim the other was warranted.
In the end, good intentions and timely responses aren't enough.
Governments should always be careful and cautious about using their power and authority over groups of citizens, especially when the political pressure is high.
