Occupy Ottawa

Occupy Ottawa was a mostly peaceful, leaderless, grassroots and democratic protest movement that began on Confederation Park in Ottawa, Ontario, on October 15, 2011. The movement's slogan "Home of the global revolution in Ottawa" refers to its inspiration by, and association with, the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and the global Occupy Movement, which protests growing economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporations and lobbyists on electoral politics and government. Occupy Ottawa seeks global economic, social, political and environmental justice.

As of June 2012, Occupy Ottawa had continued to engage in organized meetings, events and actions.

On October 15, 2011, the Global Day of Action, over 700 demonstrators gathered around "Freedom Fountain" in Confederation Park for the movement's launch for its inaugural General Assembly. Founding facilitators Ben Powless (Mohawk, Six Nations, Ontario) and Brigette "the Rogue Page" Depape discussed the Occupy Movement's trademark consensus-based democratic processes of deciding and debating issues and protest actions. They discussed the Occupy movement's overriding commitment to participatory democracy, direct democracy, "majority consensus", and stressed the importance of a peaceful demonstration. They also voted to occupy Confederation Park indefinitely. Prominent Canadian public figures among the crowd that day include Green Party leader and Federal MP, Elizabeth May and activist Brigette DePape, a former Canadian Senate Page Program, who famously held up a "Stop Harper!" protest sign during the throne speech of the Government of Canada in the Senate in the summer of 2011.

Immediately after the General Assembly, activists set up tents on the northeast corner of the park at the intersection of Laurier Avenue and Elgin Street. Within two weeks, the movement's "tent city" comprised more than 60 tents and tarp-covered shelters, including a kitchen, donations tent and media tent. Somewhere between 75 and 100 people consistently slept in the park. The kitchen, sustained through generous in-kind and cash donations from the public, served activists, visitors and the city's homeless.

Occupy Ottawa or its allies in the capital region organized a series of high-impact public actions. For the most part the movement focused on the issues at the heart of the Occupy movement. However, Occupy Ottawa also undertook actions targeting the national legislative agenda. In fact, some of the actions raised the question whether the movement intends to eventually become political. For example, during its December 3 General Assembly, the movement approved the creation of a "Political Action Committee". The committee's mandate was to create a "political mandate", and spearhead political actions, for the movement.

On November 17, Occupy Ottawa activists held simultaneous marches on four key and politically charged Ottawa landmarks. One group marched on the Human Rights Monument to highlight the movement's unequivocal commitment to human rights. The second marched on Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa's corporate and media hub. The group sought to restate the Occupy movement's expressed stance against unfettered corporate greed, growing economic inequality and the perceived mainstream media collusion with the dominant political and economic forces.

The third group targeted two landmarks. First, it marched on the city's Novotel Hotel to protest the hotel's efforts to squash workers' rights too unionize. From there, the group marched through the Rideau Centre, the Byward Market. It finally converged on the United States Embassy on Sussex Drive to express solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, and protest the eviction and police brutality the movement faced at the time.

Later, the three groups later converged on Parliament Hill.