A year after the ‘Freedom Convoy,’ Ottawa residents say ‘recovery’ still underway – National

Sarah Chown’s car now rolls seamlessly through the busy downtown Ottawa intersection that, just one year ago, was made impassible by massive trucks and screaming protesters.

But to this day, her drive to the Metropolitain Brasserie, a restaurant she co-owns just 200 metres from Parliament Hill, is marked by memories of the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”

“Not a day goes by, still, that I don’t drive through that intersection and remember what happened there,” she told Global News in an interview.

The Metropolitain Brasserie is located on the corner of Rideau and Sussex streets. That intersection was one of the main gathering points during the convoy protests, which snarled Ottawa streets for weeks on end one year ago.

Sound systems were set up in the middle of the intersection in front of Chown’s business, blasting music as demonstrators danced and drank late into the night.

Shortly after the convoy’s arrival, she closed down her restaurant, which had been open for takeout after months of the ups and downs with COVID-19 public health measures. Eyeing the large glass windows in the front of her business, she packed up any valuables, wine and liquor that could be seen from the crowds outside.

Chown said she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to pull them back out, and it ended up taking three weeks along with the controversial invocation of the Emergencies Act for the convoy to leave.

“The hit that we took as a business, financially, was astronomical.”

Ottawa police were overwhelmed and unprepared, leaving little recourse for the locals who lived and worked in the area that the demonstrators against COVID-19 restrictions decided to occupy.

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Ottawa residents express relief after police clear out convoy protest

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