Edmonton police chief does not 'support or condone' officers who joined 'Freedom Convoy' rally

The actions of two officers who joined a "Freedom Convoy" rally in southern Alberta last weekend were slammed by Edmonton's police chief Wednesday, amid calls to fire them both.

"That's not something we support or condone. Like, that's just not something that's allowed in how we actually do our police work and we have a discipline process for that," said Chief Dale McFee of Edmonton Police Service.

Const. Elena Golysheva and Staff Sgt. Rick Abbott have each been placed on paid "administrative leave."

McFee said he expects a "preliminary review" into that to be finished in the next couple of days.

Both officers spoke in support of convoy protesters at a rally last Saturday, near the scene of where some people illegally blocked roads and a U.S.-Canada border crossing at Coutts, Alta.

"I'm here because you have given me so much strength," Golysheva said.

Her actions were already "under review" Friday after a tearful video of her thanking Ottawa convoy protesters, while wearing an EPS uniform, circulated on social media.

In that video, the constable spoke about how she moved to Canada "to be free." She also claimed she would refuse to follow "unlawful orders" because she's for "freedom of choice," but she didn't explain exactly what that meant.

"Elena is probably going to get in a little bit of trouble for a little bit of video that she did. But I think everyone across the nation knows that the risk that she took was well worth the effort," Abbott said.

But Abbott has refused to comment on politics before.

At a showing of new EPS vehicles in September 2020, he dodged a question about police buying new armoured vehicles amid criticism that police have become too militarized.

"I understand there’s a view in society right now that wonders why we have kit like this, and that it does look aggressive...The reality is that we can’t get involved in politics in my job...we’re too busy trying to keep Edmontonians safe," he said at the time.

'SHOULDN'T BE POLICE OFFICERS'

"I was very disappointed, as a police officer," said CTV Public Safety Analyst Chris Lewis.

"Actively participating and singing the praises of people that are breaking the law and blocking highways and affecting people's lives? That's just not proper and people that do that shouldn't be police officers."

Lewis worked for the Ontario Provincial Police for a decade and said he wasn't even allowed to put an election sign in his front yard, let alone speak at a rally where some want to overthrow governments.

He joined many people on social media who are calling for the officers to be fired. Some are defending Abbott and Golysheva by saying they have a right to free speech.

While Lewis said he respects people's decisions on things like vaccines, he believes the political actions of the officers not only hurts their reputation, but that of everyone who wears a police uniform.

"(The public will) never remember the 15 lives that were saved by those two officers. But they'll always be known for participating in this protest, and that's not good for their credibility, or the credibility of the police department, or policing across this country," Lewis said.

The ties that have now been exposed between law enforcement and protest movements threaten to erode public trust, a University of Alberta Criminologist agreed.

"In terms of our recruitment process, in the screening process, we have to make sure we're weeding out ideologues who are on the extreme right or the extreme left," Temitope Oriola said.

EPS has refused to comment further, because that review process is underway.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Touria Izri