What’s Driving Ottawa Interim Police Chief Steve Bell's Witch Hunt for Constable Kristina Neilson?

Is it more than her $100 donation to the Freedom Convoy?

As Freedom Convoy ‘organizer’ Tamara Lich awaits her trial* to face misdemeanor charges for her alleged role in the Freedom Convoy, another woman is now facing the same type of malicious prosecution or persecution for her ‘association’ with the Convoy. While Lich may face more jail time* if found guilty, an Ottawa police officer could be facing dismissal from the force for the ‘crime’ of donating money to the Convoy. 

*Lich’s trial is scheduled for September 2023

*Lich has already spent almost six weeks in jail when she was refused bail several times after her arrest

Constable Kristina Neilson has been charged with discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act for donating $100 dollars to the Freedom Convoy shortly after it  descended on Ottawa last winter to protest mandatory COVID mandates that were crushing Canadian freedoms and lives. She made the donation through the GiveSendGo “Freedom Convoy” crowdfunding website on February 5th. The Ottawa Police Service Professional Standards investigation alleges that the constable, in making the donation, acted in a ‘disorderly manner, or in a prejudicial manner likely to bring discredit on the Ottawa Police Service.’

The charge was brought against her after an investigation initiated by a ‘Chief’s complaint’, which as I understand it, is a complaint that is initiated by the Chief of Police, which is currently Ottawa's Interim Police Chief Steve Bell, or another internal source. It would seem that Interim Chief Bell has demonstrated a distinctly hostile attitude toward the Convoy from the beginning of his tenure, given the threatening public comments he has made towards it. 

“If you are involved in this protest, we will actively look to identify you and follow up with financial sanctions and criminal charges, absolutely. This investigation will go on for months to come. here (timestamp 30:15)

Another demonstration of his almost pathological animus towards the truckers occurred in March, after the Convoy had already been dispersed and many arrested, with this remark:

“We need to deal with the people who supported it, because there’s no room for them.”

If that sounds familiar it’s because he seemed to echo the vitriol expressed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he wondered out loud whether we should ‘tolerate those people.. they take up space.’

Bell reiterated his feelings about the Convoy and its supporters again in June when he said:

 "I was very clear at the time about the fact I had zero-tolerance for anyone internally who would support any sort of illegal activity."  

So it is not surprising that Bell would be sanctioning one of his own, for supporting the Convoy in any way, shape or form. There are however some red flags in this whole case of the  ‘disorderly behavior’ allegations made against Constable Neilson that smell like a witch hunt, on the part of Bell, driven by his contempt for the Convoy  rather than a genuine reprimand of a police officer for ‘bad behaviour’.  To begin with Bell wasn’t appointed interim chief until February 15, following on the resignation of the former chief Peter Sloly, due to controversy of his handling of the Convoy. This was two weeks after Neilson made her donation, so she could not have possibly contravened a directive that did not exist at the time. Sloly had issued no such edict.

The charge further alleges that Neilson should have known that the money being raised was for an ‘illegal occupation.’ Again, at the time she made the donation the Convoy protest had not been officially declared an ‘illegal occupation’, or an illegal anything for that matter, and it's actually not clear if it ever was, until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14th, 2022. Actually at that time Neilson made her donation, Convoy organizers and members were cooperating with, and had reasonably amicable relations with police on the scene. There had been no confrontations or disturbances. The only citations issued to any Convoy members were for parking and noise violations. Prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act on February 14th, not a single arrest had been made of any Convoy member. 

This argument around the timing of Neilson's donation is further supported by the case of a former senior Ontario government civil servant who is suing the Ontario government and two newspapers after she was fired for donating $100 to the Convoy on February 5. Her lawsuit argues that, at the time she made her donation, there was no provincial government policy against the protest. The Province didn’t take a position against the Convoy until February 10, when Ontario Premier Doug Ford had a provincial court judge issue a nationwide injunction on Freedom Convoy funds from the GiveSendGo crowdfunding platform. As the woman made her donation on February 5th, her suit maintains her private donation was legal and did not contravene provincial government policy. The same timing logic can be applied to Neilson’s situation.

Another troubling factor, in this equally troubling saga, is the way in which the names of anyone, for that matter, who made a donation to the Convoy were made public. These were, after all, private donations. Despite that, the list of the Freedom Convoy’s GiveSendGo crowdfunding page was illegally leaked by an anti-Freedom Convoy hacker.  The CBC* obtained the list and doxxed Canadians, in other words, published the illegal list of the names of Canadians who contributed via the GiveSendGo Freedom Convoy crowdfunding site. So, essentially, the charge that was levelled against Neilson used illegally obtained private information.

*A CBC journalist had used the illegally obtained list to contact me via my personal email to confirm whether I had made a donation to the Convoy, how much it was and if they could interview me about why I had donated.

What makes Neilson’s story even more worrisome is the fact that Const. Neilson has a stellar record of being a solid cop who has dedicated her life to public service. In addition to her years with the Ottawa police, she also served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for a decade, with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). She was deployed to the Persian Gulf twice and also did a tour of duty in Afghanistan. For her exemplary service she was selected for sentry duty at the National War Memorial for Remembrance Day ceremonies.  As a rookie cop Neilson was also recognized for the role she played in assisting in the dangerous rescue of a young woman who had jumped, from a bridge, into the freezing Rideau River. The Ottawa police chief at the time said her actions represented the best of the police service and commended her actions.

Now, shouldn’t someone, from the legacy media, the municipal, provincial or federal governments be asking Interim Chief Bell exactly what his motives are in bringing the hammer down on this woman over something as deeply politicized as the Freedom Convoy and the Liberal government’s response to it. Canada’s Senate certainly had some concerns about Trudeau’s unilateral decision to use the Emergencies Act on the Convoy, so much so that Trudeau rescinded the Act before the Senate could vote on it. 

The Public Order Emergencies Commission is set to begin hearings to inquire into the circumstances that led to the declaration of the Emergencies Act this October. Who knows what evidence will be presented and what its findings will be. There have already been government committees hearing testimony on the matter. Where, once again, Chief Bell continued to display his bias against the Convoy by dancing around a question from Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, as to whether any firearms were seized by police during its Convoy clearing operation. (short answer is, no there weren’t)

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1769665960060150

Const. Neilson’s career is on the line and why? Is it because the current police chief seems so bent on extending, his pathological contempt for the Convoy, to a woman who has done nothing but serve Ottawa and her country with honour and distinction. Perhaps Chief Bell should rethink this whole matter and ask himself who is really acting in a prejudicial manner likely to bring discredit to the Ottawa Police Service?