Ottawa mounted police unit completes training in Toronto in advance of CANSEC arms show, May 28-29
Photo by Toronto Police posted on X, April 30, 2025.
On April 29, 2025, the Toronto Police Service posted: “Toronto’s Mounted Unit helped get Ottawa’s officers back in the saddle again. On April 11, five Ottawa Police Service officers who graduated from Toronto’s 15-week Basic Equitation Course will be among the first officers in their new Mounted Patrol Unit this year.”
Their article adds: “The new unit will have similar responsibilities to Toronto, including specialized operations, crowd control and community engagement.”
Ottawa Police Service Chief Eric Stubbs has previously confirmed that this new mounted unit would be used at protests.
On September 23, 2024, the Ottawa Citizen quoted Chief Stubbs commenting: “Obviously a mounted unit is very useful when it comes to major events, when it comes to protests. There are a number of police agencies in Canada that have them and they’re very beneficial in managing a lot of protests. They are definitely going to be deployed when needed. Not for every protest, but when needed.”
It has not been made public if this new Ottawa Police Service mounted unit will be deployed against the protests now being planned to shut down the CANSEC arms show at the EY Centre this coming Wednesday May 28.
Stubbs: “We had a significant day at the CANSEC conference”
In a year-end interview with the Ottawa Citizen published on December 31, 2024, Stubbs spoke about “the Middle East crisis and the marches that have occurred.”
In response to a question about “more than a year of pro-Palestinian protests”, Stubbs said: “This has been a 14-month conflict that has affected people overseas greatly, but also in the City of Ottawa. Whenever you have this protracted conflict, and sustained marches and events throughout the 14 months, every week we’ve had events.”
Stubbs then further noted in that Ottawa Citizen interview: “We’ve gone through different stages with all the community members, where people are upset with what’s going on, be it traffic being blocked up because of a protest, or hate crimes, or the approach of bylaw or police with the sound amplification devices. We had a significant day at the CANSEC conference, I think there were eight arrests.”
Stubbs: A “wedge to separate groups”
On November 22, 2024, just days after Ottawa Police Service disrupted a planned Palestinian Youth Movement march on November 18, 2024, to the offices of weapons companies in downtown Ottawa, CTV reported: “Stubbs says there have been recent protests in Ottawa where he thought a Mounted Patrol Unit would help provide a ‘wedge to separate groups’ or assist with the movement of people.”
Instagram post by Ottawa PYM.
Curry: “People could just move out of the way”
At that time, Capital Current also reported: “Stubbs highlighted the benefits of a proposed mounted patrol unit after the force’s planned use of horses to quell unruly protests was slammed by a critic during a city budget meeting.”
Community member Sofia Chaudhry asked the Ottawa Police Service finance and audit committee: “How much more of that physical harm would be caused if that had been a row of mounted police?” Ottawa City Councillor Cathy Curry responded: “I guess I could argue that people could just move out of the way.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) disagrees with Curry. It has stated: “People with limited mobility or slow reaction time, including children, may be particularly vulnerable when horses are used to disperse a crowd.”
Video still from Horizon Ottawa.
UN Special Rapporteur: “Use of force framework” needed
It is not clear if the Ottawa Police Service have a “use of force framework” in place for their new mounted unit or if consideration has been given to “the international human rights standards of proportionality and necessity”.
In his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council last year, Clemet Voule, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, commented: “Law enforcement officials should: (c) Consider that, if mounted or canine units are used, they operate under the use of force framework.”
The Special Rapporteur added: “Although mounted and canine units are often considered to be less-lethal mediums, there is a potential to cause serious bodily injury, harm or even death, if they are not used correctly.”
The Manchester, United Kingdom-based Omega Research Foundation has also commented: “Any decision to deploy mounted police must be in-line with the international human rights standards of proportionality and necessity and it must be remembered that horses can react unpredictably when frightened or over stimulated, which may lead to nearby protesters or bystanders being injured.”
Shut Down CANSEC, May 28
Toronto World Beyond War has posted on Instagram: “Join us in Ottawa to protest CANSEC – Canada’s BIGGEST military and weapons fair! The weapons companies, militaries, and governments that are carrying out a genocide in Palestine and making a fortune from war and bloodshed around the world will be there.”
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: Statements on horse-mounted police units and the human right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association (PBI-Canada, September 23, 2024).
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