Ottawa officials had a plan with convoy participants to move trucks from residential areas to Wellington Street prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act. .But the plan was cancelled by the police, though the truckers had already begun to put it into action. .Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who are facing charges related to the time of the convoy, are now in Day 12 of what was supposed to be a 16 day trial. .It was revealed in court Thursday that Jim Watson, former Ottawa mayor, and several other Ottawa officials, including Kim Ayotte, General Manager of Emergency and Protective Services, made an agreement with convoy participants to move as many trucks as possible out from downtown residential areas to Wellington Street and the Sir John. A. MacDonald Parkway. .Earlier in the day, Ayotte confirmed with Lawrence Greenspon, counsel to Lich, “approximately 40 trucks were moved from residential areas on to Wellington” and the operation was a “success.”.Greenspon pointed out “while everybody agreed that the protestors were keeping their end of the deal, the Ottawa police made an operational decision to cancel the agreement.”.Ayotte agreed with defence counsel’s assertion that “roughly 102 convoy vehicles [including the 40 trucks], or 25%, moved out of the residential areas in accordance with the agreement with the city.”.Ayotte also agreed he and city officials “recognized that it would take between 24 to 72 hours to move all the trucks.” He confirmed he was in touch with Barber, who gave him his phone number, and seemed “sincere in his efforts to facilitate this effort.”.The witness further agreed with the defence he was “pleased” with the progress and, as per his previous statement at the Public Order Emergency Commission, it was not the protestors, but “the police [who] blocked the deal from going through.”.Ayotte was then asked about a meeting where he met with Freedom Convoy leaders to discuss how to “reduce the convoy’s footprint.”.Ayotte testified it “lasted about an hour” and afterwards he had “signed the affidavit” for an injunction on behalf of the city to “enforce bylaws” and the tools police would have to enforce them. .However, he did not mention the meeting in the document because he “saw it as two separate issues.”.When asked why he sought the injunction, Ayotte said, “It had more weight in the court system.” .Ayotte was also asked about the “purpose” of the affidavit, which indicated by “tone” the demonstrators weren’t cooperating, if it was “to support the city's application for an injunction.”.“Correct,” Ayotte said. .“But that's not quite true,” defence counsel continued. “They were cooperating at least within an hour before you signed that affidavit. They actually struck an agreement and an operational plan was in place.”.“Correct,” Ayotte said.
