"Perhaps, there were people that wanted to have some sort of a violent end to this five or six-day demonstration."
That admission came from a McGregor man who participated in the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge last February during his testimony before the Public Order Emergency Commission.
Paul Leschied, a small business co-owner and father of three, said he attended the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge for the first four days of the protest. He said he would arrive after putting his children to bed, around 9 p.m., and leaving the scene some nights as late as 1 a.m.
Protesters on Huron Church Road in Windsor. Photo by Maureen Revait.
But after the fourth day, he decided not to return. Leschied said there were rumours of mass arrests and possible skirmishes coming, and he believed police were getting ready to "bring the protest to an abrupt end."
Tuesday's testimony before the Public Order Emergency Commission can be viewed here.
Later, he heard from friends who did return that Saturday some of the protesters shouted slurs at police officers as they began to move in to end the demonstration.
Counsel for the Windsor Police Service, Tom McCrae, referred to them as "l'agents de provocateurs".
Leschied speculated under cross-examination regarding the motives of those "provocateurs" and said it ran counter to the protest's atmosphere in the preceding days.
"The protest was peaceful for the entire week," he said. "That was never the intention of anybody there. It didn't fit."
Leschied also testified he heard rumours about an injunction to stop the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge but never saw an accompanying letter to protesters asking them to leave. Likewise, he said he had not heard about a letter from the Ontario government offering a meeting if the demonstrators left Huron Church Road.
(Photo by Adelle Loiselle)
Leschied admitted he did not watch much traditional news media, instead relying on word of mouth from friends and social media to keep him up to date on the developments at the Ambassador Bridge and during the Ottawa occupation. He felt news reports portrayed the protesters unfairly and exaggerated the demonstration's scope.
One of those communications through social media was with the alleged co-organizer of the Ottawa occupation, Pat King. Leschied testified he asked if the protest in the capitol was related to the one in Windsor and received an "unequivocal no."
During cross-examination by counsel for the Government of Canada, Cynthia Lau, Leschied told the commission he is a small business co-owner building custom kitchens. He confessed he relied on cross-border trade for supplies and acknowledged a disruption in the supply chain would hurt his financial prospects. He understood how the Ambassador Bridge was a strategic asset in Canada's supply chain.
Later, he said the protests appealed to him because some of his friends were on the verge of losing their businesses because of provincial COVID-19 restrictions.
Lau continued to grill him about his knowledge of how a disruption on the Ambassador Bridge would negatively impact the auto industry, one of Windsor's largest employers. Leschied admitted he could assume a blockade would hurt production and employment.
Leschied also confirmed earlier testimony from OPP Superintendent Dana Earley that the group blockading the bridge last February appeared leaderless. Earley testified the loose nature of the protest made any negotiations with participants difficult.
Testimony at the Public Order Emergency Commission is expected to continue this week and next with testimony from various federal government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.