The head of the Ontario Provincial Police intelligence unit has testified to the Rouleau Commission on the Emergencies Act that the OPP, CSIS, and the RCMP all found no evidence that the Freedom Convoy posed any threat to national security.
OPP saw no evidence Freedom Convoy posed direct threat to national security: intelligence officer | National Post - Christopher Nardi & Catherine Lévesque:
October 19, 2022 - "The Ontario Provincial Police intelligence unit never found evidence demonstrating that the Freedom Convoy posed a direct threat to national security before the unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act was invoked by the federal government. The head of the OPP’s Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau (POIB) Superintendent Pat Morris testified in front of the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) that at no point during the protests did he receive reliable intelligence that led to believe there was a risk that would rise to the level of a potential threat to national security.
"During cross-examinations by different parties’ lawyers, he also agreed with the assertion that intelligence he saw never pointed to extremism. 'Everybody was asking about extremism. We weren’t seeing much evidence of it,' Morris said. As the convoy settled in to Ottawa, so-called 'Project Hendon' reports, shared with other police forces (named after an ongoing surveillance operation) started warning that the protest posed a real potential 'public safety and officer safety threat.' But those concerns were always about a spontaneous event or actions from a 'lone wolf.' Midway through the protests, POIB noted that they had 'not identified any concrete, specific, or credible threat with regard to the Freedom Convoy protest' or similar events. 'However, the situation remains potentially volatile. The possibility that a lone actor or group of individuals could enact a threat with little or no warning cannot be excluded.'
"The Emergencies Act, which was invoked on Feb. 14, can only be used in a national emergency when a situation 'seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada' and cannot be dealt with [by] any other law in the country....
"Morris said during his testimony on Wednesday that OPP 'found no credible intelligence of threats' in terms of producing intelligence and even said that 'the lack of violent crime was shocking' in Ottawa with only a few charges laid for violent crimes, most of them against police officers. Morris also said he found it 'problematic' to hear certain unidentified politicians and members of the media claim the protests were being influenced by Russian or American sources or even former President Donald Trump when he never saw proof of that."
Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/opp-sent-ottawa-police-intelligence-warning-freedom-convoy-would-stay-long-term
CSIS and RCMP Didn’t See Freedom Convoy as National Security Threat, Says OPP Intelligence Chief | Epoch Times - Noé Chartier:
October 20, 2022 - "Whereas the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) intelligence arm assessed at one point that the Freedom Convoy of last winter had the potential to become a 'national security threat,' the OPP Intelligence chief Supt. Pat Morris says CSIS and the RCMP did not see it meeting that threshold. 'I spoke about that with colleagues from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and with the [RCMP] Integrated National Security Enforcement Team [INSET], and they did not see things that reached their threshold in terms of what would be deemed a threat to the security of Canada,' Morris told the Public Order Emergency Commission on Oct. 19.
"Morris addressed the topic while being questioned by a commission counsel about a Feb. 7 situation report produced by his outfit, the OPP’s Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau (POIB). 'The situation in Ottawa remains volatile and represents a public safety threat; an officer safety threat; and, potentially, a national security threat,' says the report.... Morris said they had raised it as a potential national security threat due to actions such as border blockades, including the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, and the capacity of protesters to remain in Ottawa for a long time. Pointing to CSIS and the RCMP-INSET not deeming it a national security threat, Morris said 'we were an anomaly in that regard. But we’ve raised that as a potential.'
"The day after the POIB published that assessment, Morris wrote to his team members and shared that he was uncomfortable with the wording surrounding national security, according to an email of his entered as evidence before the commission. 'In terms of national security, the wording in HENDON assessment concerned me slightly,' wrote Morris. 'I agree with the potential for officer safety and public safety but INSET and CSIS concur that there are no national security concerns. Confirmed today. If we have access to something they don’t, we can meet them to discuss, but I am not aware of it.'
"RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is expected to testify before the commission at a later date, and so is CSIS Director David Vigneault. A briefing given by Vigneault to government officials from different levels on Feb. 6 during a teleconference was entered as evidence earlier this week. Vigneault said there was no foreign component or support to the protests, calling them 'primarily a domestic issue.'"
Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/csis-and-rcmp-didnt-see-freedom-convoy-as-national-security-threat-says-opp-intelligence-chief_4809648.html
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