Canadian Federalism, Multilevel Politics and the Occupation of Ottawa

Abstract

For three weeks in early 2022, the streets of downtown Ottawa were occupied by protestors associated with the so-called Freedom Convoy. The inability of Ottawa's municipal police to end the protest was not only a spectacular failure of local policing but also a failure of national security policy. This article brings together literatures on Canadian federalism, multilevel politics and federal capitals to argue that the occupation of Ottawa demonstrates a misalignment between the political and jurisdictional responsibility for Ottawa's public and national security. Potential reforms range from the expansion of federal authority over the Parliamentary Precinct to the restructuring of the National Capital Region as a federal district or territory.

Crowdfunding platforms as conduits for ideological struggle and extremism: On the need for greater regulation and digital constitutionalism

“…Finally, we analyzed government inquiries into the handling of the Freedom Convoy occupation, including the extensive public inquiry into the ordering of the Public Order Emergency, led by Justice Paul Rouleau. Now widely considered a failure of national security (Roach, 2022; Sabin, 2022) and even federalism itself (Rouleau, 2023a, p. 248), the Freedom Convoy indicated growing domestic extremism (Ahmed, 2022) and exposed troubling regulatory gaps in the governance of fundraising platforms.…”