Protesters block Highway 417 off-ramp to demand police budget freeze

Protesters blocked a downtownHighway 417 off-ramp Monday night to push for the Ottawa Police Services Board to consider a budget freeze for the police force.

They want the budget frozen at 2021 levels andmoney directed instead towardcommunity supports for Black and Indigenous people.

The board was expected to vote on the Ottawa Police Service budget Monday, but after hearing from numerous delegations in a five-hour meeting many of them opposed to the budget increase proposed by the forceit decided around 9 p.m. to adjourn until 3 p.m. Tuesday.

About an hour after the board began its review, protesters set up a blockade at the MetcalfeStreet exit offHighway 417 onto Isabella Street.

Vanessa Dorimain is a co-chair with the Ottawa Black Diaspora Coalition, one of two groups that has set up the blockade. The other group is the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project. The volunteer-runcoalition organizes against systemic anti-Black racism.

Dorimain said the protest is also a show of solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en in northern B.C. Last week, police arrested several people who are demonstrating against the Coastal GasLink project there.

"We knew there would be people who wouldn't be happy, but we wanted to be in a place where we can't be ignored," Dorimain said.

With the delay in the vote, Dorimain saidthe group of about 25 people will continue to press the importance of a budget freeze. They left the road around midnight, according to Instagram posts,and plan to reconvene at Elgin and Lisgar streets at 2 p.m.

One member of Dorimain's group was arrestedbut was released within 30 minutes, shesaid, addingthe group hadreceived verbal abuse from irate drivers.

Ottawa and provincialpolice were on site managing traffic flow.

The Ottawa policetabled itsdraft budget for 2022 earlier this month. The draft asks for a 2.86 per cent tax increase. This is about $14 million in new money for a total operating budget of $346.5 million.

A press release from the coalition also includes a list of priorities for the Black and Indigenous communities in the city, including increased resources for BIPOC students in schools, affordable housing and an end to police involvement in mental health checks.

Dorimain saidthe coalition sent the list to city councillorsand this protest is the beginning of"putting the city on notice" about the work that needs to be done to support the city's residents in advance of the 2022 municipal election.