Many police officers from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) tactical intervention group have been on the front line in Ottawa since Friday to free the streets surrounding the parliament, which have been occupied for three weeks by demonstrators.
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These were requested as reinforcements by the police of the federal capital, as were a dozen other police forces in the country.
Although the SQ is not responsible for the operations since they are the responsibility of the Ottawa police, its presence is very important for the conduct of the operations, it which has seen others in the past in terms of demonstrations.
In the DNA of the SQ
“Crowd control has always been in the genetics of the Sûreté du Québec. […] Their emergency measures are always pros,” said Paul Laurier, ex-investigator at the SQ, adding that the police had to be sworn in Ontario for the occasion, in order to be able to act on the ground.
And according to what Le Journal has seen, the SQ agents deployed in Ottawa are in good demand, taking part in all the interventions to disperse the demonstrators, in relay with their other police colleagues.
They are also particularly well equipped for this type of mission, while their equipment is practically new.
On the occasion of the G7 summit in 2018, in Charlevoix, the SQ police officers were able to wear their new protective uniform.
The major event had also led the police to receive training to revise their tactics.
Meanwhile, the taxpayer bill to pay for the operation to end the siege continues to mount and is now estimated at more than $2 million a day, the acting Ottawa police chief said. Steve Bell.