An officer of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) is facing discreditable conduct charges because she donated to the Freedom Convoy protest in February. If found guilty, Constable Kristina Neilson could be demoted or fired.
According to a report by the CBC, the OPS claims that on February 5 Neilson donated to the Freedom Convoy, a protest against Covid mandates in February. According to the OPS, the donation was an act of “disorderly manner,” and that she did it knowing that the OPS was against the “illegal occupation.”
In March, the OPS announced that it would investigate any member of the force who contributed to the protest.
Last week, Neilson was summoned to a disciplinary hearing and was charged with one count of disorderly conduct. She did not make a plea and she awaits another hearing later this month.
The Freedom Convoy protest was brought to an end after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. The act gave the government the authority to target anyone who contributed to the protest. Ottawa sued to shut down the protest’s donation pages on GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, and Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister, froze the accounts of all those linked with the protest.
