Did a judge order the Ottawa Police Service to return all the fuel they seized during demonstrations related to the Canadian "Freedom Convoy"? No, that's not true: According to Canadian officials, no such court order was found.
The claim appeared on a webpage (archived here) published on February 9, 2022. The title of the article read:
Judge orders Ottawa police to return all fuel they seized from Truckers...
The webpage has several videos purporting to show police officers returning fuel to the protesters. However, no one in the videos identified themselves as officers returning the fuel because of a court order.
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Judge orders Ottawa police to return all fuel they seized from Truckers...
Judge orders Ottawa police to return all fuel they took from truckers Original story with 800+ comments...
The Ottawa Police Service issued a report on February 6, 2022, stating that its officers made arrests and took fuel from protesters at the "Freedom Convoy," an ongoing demonstration against COVID-19 vaccination mandates for truckers and the general public. Since Ottawa is located in the province of Ontario, an Ontario court would most likely be responsible for the case. However, in an email sent to Lead Stories on February 10, 2022, Brian Gray, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, told us:
Court staff have conducted a search for the referenced court order, and have been unable to locate any such order.
Lead Stories also contacted the Department of Justice Canada, which said in an email on February 10, 2022, that they were not involved in any such case. Similarly, the Ottawa Police Service told us in an email on the same day that they had "no information" about the claim.
More Lead Stories fact checks related to the "Freedom Convoy" can be found here.
