The Democracy Fund slams Rouleau report

In a Monday press release, Canada's Democray Fund accused the Rouleau Commission of using a "standard [which] was flexed in favour of a government that used unprecedented emergency powers against its ideological opponents." 

The Democracy Fund slams Public Order Emergency Commission final report | Western Standard - Lee Harding:

February 27, 2023 - "The Democracy Fund says it understands why some Canadians are “puzzled” that the Public Order Emergency Commission justified Ottawa’s use of the Emergency [War Measures] Act against freedom convoy protesters.... 'If anything, it seemed like the Freedom Convoy was remarkable for its lack of violence, especially for a protest of its size.  Any violence that did occur was minor and atypical of the protest dynamic,' the TDF legal team wrote in a Monday press release....

"TDF suggested Roleau could reach this conclusion not because it was the one most likely, but because it was reasonably possible. 'The federal government did not need conclusive proof that there were acts or threats of serious violence for ideological purposes. They only needed to show there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that there were,' the release said.... The organization suggested the use of this standard had a dubious history of uses against minorities.

 It is the standard that police use when deciding to arrest a person without a warrant, which they have historically done to the detriment of certain minorities in our country. 

That’s not because the standard is inherently bad. Rather, it’s because the standard is inherently flexible…it generally flexes in the direction of our beliefs and prejudices or in the direction of what is popular or expedient. It can also flex in accordance with external pressures....

"Canada received international criticism for its use of Emergencies Act. One month later, while [he was] visiting the European Parliament, some members criticized the Prime Minister. Mislav Kolakusic, a Croatian lawyer and MEP, said Canada had become a 'symbol of civil rights violation'.... 'We watched how you trample women with horses, how you block bank accounts of single parents so they can’t even pay their children’s education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for their homes,' said Kolakusic....

"German MEP Christine Anderson, who recently toured Canada, also condemned Trudeau as a 'disgrace for any democracy' last March. 'A prime minister who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy should not be allowed to speak in this house at all,' she said....

"The TDF believes the commission had comments of this sort in mind when rendering its decision. 'How would it look if Canada exercised emergency powers against its own citizens when there were no grounds to do so? It might look like Canada is not immune from the authoritarianism we criticize in other countries,' said TDF. ''The Emergencies Act was also on trial, in a way, as it had never been invoked'….

What we do know is that the standard was flexed in favour of a government that used unprecedented emergency powers against its ideological opponents. The use of these powers against Canadians has set a new and dangerous precedent for what constitutes an emergency in a free and democratic society and what actions the government is justified in taking against its own people in the future. The protestors were Canadians who were ignored, mocked, and suppressed by a government that refused to engage with them....

The future will tell whether the feelings of division and mistrust driving this protest will be exacerbated by the report and whether the commissioner should have used the flexibility of the reasonable grounds standard to send a different message to this government.

"Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education and relieving poverty."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/the-democracy-fund-slams-public-order-emergency-commission-final-report/article_e04bcd80-b6e4-11ed-b515-dbc87faa6688.html

Read full Democracy Fund response here: https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tdf_responds_poec_report  

Rouleau report not last word on Emergencies Act

Justice Rouleau’s deferential report is not the final word on the Emergencies Act | The Hub -Joanna Baron:

February 21, 2023 - "Commissioner Paul Rouleau’s report on the federal government’s invocation of a public order emergency ... was produced on an exceptionally tight timeline following six weeks of sittings and clocks in at over 2,000 pages, including exhibits. The nub of the report sees the judge concluding that Cabinet was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022: 'There was credible and compelling evidence supporting both a subjective and objective reasonable belief in the existence of a public order emergency. The decision to invoke the Act was appropriate.' Its tone is cautious and measured. It is an exercise in pointed diplomacy and balancing, but perhaps wanting for clarity.

"First: for Rouleau to have arrived at his conclusion, given the posture of federal Cabinet witnesses at the hearings, implies an extraordinary amount of deference to assiduously shielded government decision-making. The entire basis of Cabinet’s concern that the protests had evolved into an unmanageable situation remained opaque to the Commission. Attorney-General Lametti claimed that Cabinet, in invoking the Act, was acting on the basis of a legal opinion that held that 'threats […] to the security of Canada', were met within the meaning of the Act. It was necessary to refer to this legal opinion because the overwhelming evidence from actors who were receiving on-the-ground intel from Ottawa was the contrary.

"During the hearings, we heard that the director of CSIS had concluded the Act’s threshold of 'threats to the security of Canada' was not met. We also heard leadership of the Ottawa Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the RCMP, state that existing criminal law tools were sufficient. No other threat assessment or assessment of the inadequacy of existing legal authorities was performed independently of the country’s law enforcement. There was virtually no substantive basis upon which Cabinet could have concluded that the circumstances in Ottawa met the threshold for invoking the Act....

"A requirement for invoking the Act is that it is a measure of last resort, specifying that 'The emergency could not be effectively dealt with by any other federal law.' (Emphasis added.) The report emphasizes the word 'effectively', calling it an “important modifier”, and seems to confuse this requirement that all other avenues of action be exhausted with a sort of argument of convenience.... 

"Evidence of law enforcement was that, at best, the boost provided by the Emergencies Act was helpful but did not substantively alter a plan to clear the protests that already was in place.... Laws under the Criminal Code gave law enforcement the tools it needed — and ultimately used — to clear disruptive protests, compel tow truck operators to remove illegally parked trucks, and call in reinforcement police forces from across the country.... Not a single law enforcement witness testified that they requested the invocation of the Act, nor that they needed more tools than those already at their disposal....

"Finally, the report wholly accepts the federal government’s coup de grâce legal argument — that ... 'two different decision-makers, each interpreting the same words in the context of different statutes, can reasonably come to different conclusions as to whether the threshold is met.' This argument is dangerously misguided..... The report accords Cabinet a wide ambit of reasonableness in invoking the Act that is thoroughly unsupported by the statute’s strict definition. The justice doesn’t quite find that an actual situation presenting threats to national security had crystallized: in his conclusion, he writes that 'the situation [Cabinet] was facing was worsening and at risk of becoming dangerous and unmanageable' ... — and, fearful of that whiff of danger, Cabinet was reasonable in invoking emergency powers.

"This scope of latitude and deference is the appropriate standard for assessing on-the-ground, contingent actions of police — who, indeed, we rightly accord wide operating bandwidth. However, the same standard is wholly inappropriate for a sitting, properly briefed Cabinet’s sober deliberations in the face of a well-established and rightfully high legal threshold for invoking extraordinary powers to detain peaceful protestors, freeze bank accounts without due process, and suspend insurance throughout all of Canada. 

"A federal court judicial review, brought independently (unlike the Commission, which was convened and appointed by government), of the invocation of the Act remains pending. That decision will carry the binding force of law, unlike the Commission report. The matter is not yet finished, and there may yet be consequences for the government’s actions."

Joanna Baron is Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a legal charity that protects constitutional freedoms in courts of law and public opinion.

Read more: https://thehub.ca/2023-02-21/joanna-baron-justice-rouleaus-deferential-report-is-not-the-final-word-on-the-emergencies-act-matter/

Convoy organizer lawyer Keith Wilson reacts to the Emergencies Act inquiry report, CPAC, February 18, 2023:

Saskatchewan gov't rejects Rouleau conclusion

Saskatchewan Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre thanked the Rouleau Commission for its work, but noted that her government disagrees with its conclusion that invoking the Emergencies Act was justified. Other provincial parties' reactions were also negative.  

Negative reactions to the Emergencies Act Inquiry Report across Saskatchewan | Western Standard - Christopher Oldcorn: 

February 17, 2023 - "There is a universal negative reaction to the Emergencies Act (EA) Inquiry Report in Saskatchewan. The purpose of the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) was to determine whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government were justified in invoking the EA, formerly the War Measures Act. This was the first use of the EA.

"Trudeau used the EA to stop an anti-vaccine and COVID-19 restrictions protest in downtown Ottawa, which went on for several weeks and attracted worldwide attention. Trudeau invoking the EA is one of his most controversial decisions as it gave extraordinary powers to law enforcement to arrest and remove the protesters and tow away their vehicles. Also, the government could freeze the bank accounts of the protesters.

"Commissioner Paul Rouleau said the Trudeau government invoking the EA met a 'very high' threshold as a 'lawful protest descended into lawlessness, culminating in a national emergency.... Invocation of the Emergencies Act is a drastic move, but it is not a dictatorial one,' said Rouleau.

"Saskatchewan’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre said 'Saskatchewan’s position has always been invoking the act was unnecessary and that appropriate and effective action to deal with the protests and blockades last year could have been taken under existing federal, provincial, and municipal laws.' Eyre 'is currently reviewing the extensive report findings and recommendations' and 'would like to thank the commission for its work.'

"Sask NDP Official Opposition Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer commented on the EA Inquiry Report. 'The use of the Emergencies Act was unprecedented and will have implications moving forward,' said Sarauer. 'Although we accept the findings of this report … we still believe that there was an opportunity to limit its use to specific regions impacted by blockades, rather than Canada-wide.'

"Buffalo Party’s Mark 'The Grizzly Patriot' Friesen is not surprised with the outcome....'We have judicial corruption across this country, at every level. Why would we expect any difference in the case of the Emergencies Act Commission?'

"Sask United Party Leader Nadine Wilson MLA said 'the vast majority of protesters were clearly exercising their democratic right to peacefully protest. As such, I do not believe the circumstances to invoke the Emergencies Act existed, and do not agree with Commissioner Rouleau's expansive interpretation of it.'

"Kelly Lorencz, The People’s Party of Canada Western Canada and Northern Territories lieutenant, found nothing unexpected in the report.... 'All this report has done is solidify many Canadians' discontent not only with this Liberal government but all elected officials in Ottawa,” said Lorencz.... The implications of this report have the potential to fuel further Western alienation sentiments and create an even bigger divide in Canada'... 

Nadine Ness of Unified Grassroots issued a statement [saying in part] ... 'I am disappointed, however, not surprised that Justice Rousseau ruled in this way. The man is a Liberals supporter and should have never been the one ruling over this.... It’s clear the legal definition was not met and the Liberals simply made up their own. This only further proves that we have lost the impartiality in our public service and to an extent our court system. To most Canadians and everyone else around the world, this will be seen as a dark stain in our history and to freedom as a whole.'"

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/negative-reactions-to-the-emergencies-act-inquiry-report-across-saskatchewan/article_26168b3e-aee3-11ed-b356-b3843c4c545f.html

"Saskatchewan premier discusses use of Emergencies Act," CPAC, February 18, 2022: 

Rouleau 'reluctantly' OKs Emergencies Act use

Commission 'reluctantly' rules Trudeau justified in using Emergencies Act | National Post - Jim Bronskill, Canadian Press:

February 17, 2023 - "The Public Order Emergency Commission delivered its report today on the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the Freedom Convoy protests that paralyzed the streets around Parliament Hill and jammed several Canadian border points last year. Justice Paul Rouleau said the government met the threshold for invoking emergency powers.

“'I have concluded that in this case, the very high threshold for invocation was met,' commissioner Rouleau wrote in his report, tabled in parliament Friday. But, he added, 'I have done so with reluctance'....

"It was the first time the Emergencies Act had been used since it was created in its current form in the 1980s. The commission, mandated by law to review the act’s invocation, heard from elected officials, police, protesters and Ottawa residents.... In addition to setting out findings and lessons learned, Rouleau was asked to make recommendations on 'any necessary modernization' of the emergencies law, as well as on 'areas for further study or review.'"

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/public-order-emergency-commission-emergencies-act-freedom-convoy

Emergencies Act inquiry showed Liberal contempt for citizens

 Liberals make a mockery of Canadian democracy | National Post - Rex Murphy:

What both the invocation of the Emergencies Act and the inquiry show is how contemptuous this government is of its citizens

November 25, 2022 - "The inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act is in its sixth week, which, it may be useful to note, is about five times longer than the act itself was in force. Hold in mind that the act was actually only half-passed. It got through the Singh-Trudeau House of Commons.... But it never made it to the Senate — a requirement of its legitimacy, all too soon forgotten — being conveniently called down before it could be questioned or challenged there.... 

"It should be more than curious that it takes six weeks to hear how and why the government went to its most extreme measure, when most likely it was a decision made in a single day by a handful of senior ministers, the wizard advisers in the PMO, and of course the high sage himself, the prime minister. Well, even after six weeks, I’m still stuck on the most basic two points.

"An Ottawa street was tied up — Wellington — for a few weeks. Inconvenient, annoying — yes, but all of Ottawa wasn’t put in some sort of civic hibernation with this protest. But let us grant that it was an emergency in or for Ottawa. Name any other capital city in the country, never mind any full province or territory, that felt any impact whatsoever. Ninety-nine per cent of the country went about its business as usual. This stretched-out inquiry seems very little interested in the raw question of how a limited protest in Ottawa got so easily designated a national emergency....

"In the past couple of days we heard some really weird stuff from the government ministers. 'How many tanks are you asking for?'.... Tanks? For a peaceful protest?... They say now it was just a 'joke' ... but considering the language they have used about the convoy — the talk of Nazis and supremacists and 'foreign sources' and 'terrorists' — I am extremely dubious that when that question was first put forward, it was with a chuckle or two. And is it so far from Trudeau’s chatter about a 'fringe minority' that should not to be tolerated, to delusive fears requiring a full military response?

"To a normal mind, the parked trucks on Wellington Street was not a replay of the Normandy landings. But the pervasive immaturity of the Trudeau cabinet, and himself, and the taste for show that characterizes both, suggest they had an appetite for a heroic role and the drama associated with 'saving democracy.' And the lure of /War Measures Act — The Sequel/ was too strong to resist.

"Consider Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s Churchillian resolve: 'I will never support negotiating with those who hold our democracy hostage.' A sentence that reveals she’s a hero in her own movie. Where was this deplorable hostage holding? Was Parliament stormed? The Speaker hauled off to the cab of a truck? Were MPs rounded up? Were militias surrounding the Commons? Or the Cottage?.... Freeland’s 'courageous' declaration was pure nonsense and fantasy. Canadian democracy was never, not for a minute, being held 'hostage.' Except, ironically, for the period of the Emergencies Act....

"Justice Minister David Lametti in his turn at the inquiry — an inquiry whose purpose, as statutorily required, is to determine if invoking the Emergencies Act was justified — was less than Windex clear: He really couldn’t divulge anything about what led to the decision due to solicitor-client privilege. Asked if cabinet had received a legal opinion about the invocation of the act, he said he could not confirm or deny that....

"I am beginning to wonder which is the more empty, the more theatrical — the invocation of the Emergencies Act, or this dubious shell of an inquiry. It started with 'honk trauma' and has wound down with a splay of non-answers, claims of 'cabinet confidentiality' on the very issues for which it was called, wildly inflated talk of an 'occupation' and a comedy club routine about tanks. What both the invocation and the inquiry show is how contemptuous this government — in particular all its chief ministers — are of ordinary, typical members of the Canadian citizenry. They are not holding democracy 'hostage,' but they are doing a good job of making a mockery of it."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/liberals-make-mockery-of-canadian-democracy

Trudeau government won't say why it used Emergencies Act

Trudeau government won't share secret legal basis for invoking Emergencies Act | Toronto Sun - Brian Lilley:

November 24, 2022 - "Justice Minister David Lametti admitted Wednesday that the Trudeau government didn’t use the legal definition to decide to invoke the Emergencies Act — they used their own reasons, but you can’t see them. This is the opposite of what the legislation calls for and flies in the face of what the inquiry is really all about.

"Yet, time and again on Wednesday, Lametti cited solicitor-client privilege and refused to answer questions on the guiding legal or intelligence reasons for invoking the act. As justice minister, Lametti is the government’s lawyer and he’s saying he can’t reveal his advice unless the government allows it to be released. 

"Justice Paul Rouleau tried to gently press Lametti on this issue, asking how he could understand and pass judgment on the legal basis of invoking the Emergencies Act when the government was not forthcoming on the legal rationale. 'I guess the answer is we just assume they acted in good faith in application of whatever they were told,' Rouleau said.  'I think that’s fair,'  Lametti replied. 

"Fair for the government, not fair to Rouleau or to the Canadian public. The main question for the Emergencies Act inquiry in Ottawa is supposed to be whether the Trudeau government was justified in using the emergency legislation. The text of the Emergencies Act legislation is clear, and strict, on what constitutes a public order emergency, which is the kind the Liberals invoked.

"Section 3 of the act states that a national emergency is one that 'cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada'...  [S]ection 16 says that a public order emergency is one 'that arises from threats to the security of Canada.' The act [defines] what constitutes a threat to the security of Canada as a threat that 'has the meaning assigned by section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act'....

"This legislation, and section 2 of the CSIS Act, are written in very plain language that is simple for any Canadian to understand. The [CSIS] act lays out four key areas that meet this definition of threats to Canada’s national security: Espionage or sabotage, foreign influenced activities detrimental to the interests of Canada, the threat or use of acts of serious violence for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or ideological objective, and attempts to overthrow the government.

"We know that [none of] the RCMP , the OPP nor the Ottawa Police thought invoking the Emergencies Act was necessary. We also know that the official report by CSIS said that the convoy protests did not meet the legal threshold set out by law on any of the four points. When CSIS director David Vigneault was asked why his agency said that the legal threshold wasn’t met but he still advised invoking the act, he said the justice department lawyers briefed him. When asked what they said, solicitor-client privilege was [again] invoked....

"When Parliament passed the Emergencies Act in 1988, the goal was to ensure there were limits on the use of extraordinary powers by any future government. They wrote in clear instructions and clear definitions as a public assurance that the act would not be a political tool. By using a legal basis and definitions not found in the act, the Trudeau government is making a mockery of Parliament’s intentions and the efforts of the inquiry they called to pass judgment on their actions."

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-trudeau-government-tells-inquiry-it-wont-share-secret-legal-basis-for-invoking-emergencies-act

Liberals wanted to use army against Convoy

Trudeau cabinet minister proposed using army, tanks to take back Ottawa streets | Toronto Sun - Brian Lilley:

November 23, 2022 - "Soldiers, with tanks, on our streets — I didn’t make this up. It’s instead what two Liberal cabinet ministers were talking about as a way to deal with the trucker’s convoy earlier this year.

"This revelation came through text messages between Justice Minister David Lametti and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino submitted into evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry. On Feb. 2, Lametti expressed frustration to Mendicino about how long the convoy had been set up in downtown Ottawa. 'You need to get the police to move. And the CAF if necessary. Too many people are being seriously adversely impacted by what is an occupation,' Lametti wrote.

Tienanmen Square, Beijing, 1989. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

"The request from Lametti was in no way a joke. He was asking the minister of public safety, the solicitor general of Canada, to direct the police and use the military to break up the convoy protest if necessary.

"We don’t use the army to subdue political protest in Canada. But Mendicino, an experienced MP and cabinet minister, and the former crown prosecutor, simply replied asking how many tanks. 'How many tanks are you asking for?” Mendicino asked. 'I reckon one will do!!,' was Lametti’s reply.

"To Lametti, this is just playful banter between colleagues. But Canadians should see this for what it is, the two most powerful members of cabinet, when it comes to law-enforcement, discussing using the military to quell a political protest, including the use of tanks. Resorting to the 'it was just a joke' defence shouldn’t sit well with anyone.

"Even if we ignore what Lametti would like us to believe is just bad humour with the quip about tanks, he was still advocating for using the military against a civilian protest. He also said in several texts to Mendicino and other politicians that he wanted them to get police moving. That should be extremely worrisome even if it’s not surprising coming from Lametti. He claimed in his testimony to know that politicians cannot direct police, yet he tried to do just that multiple times. He should know the military is not a solution to civilian protest but he requested it.

"Lametti you may recall is the man who was appointed attorney general after Jody Wilson-Raybould refused to interfere in a criminal prosecution for political reasons. Lametti obviously had no issue with what the Prime Minister wanted and was granted the job. He then dismissed calls for an investigation into the Prime Minister saying Trudeau had assured everyone he had done nothing wrong. Is this a man you can trust to apply the law properly or fairly?

"We also learned from Wednesday’s testimony that while yes, indeed, the government did use a wider, broader definition of what constitutes a threat to the national security of Canada, you can’t see it. Lametti was asked about this issue multiple times by both commission council and under cross examination but simply claimed solicitor-client privilege.

"The government has made it clear to the inquiry investigating the use of the Emergencies Act that they used a broader definition not found in the law, but they have no intention of sharing it with the public, or the inquiry."

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-trudeau-cabinet-minister-proposed-using-army-tanks-to-take-back-ottawa-streets

Trudeau stars at Emergencies Act inquiry this week

Six weeks of testimony at Canada's Emergencies Act inquiry will culminate this week with an appearance by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Trudeau went all in against the Freedom Convoy. This week, it’s on him to explain why | Politico - Maura Forrest:

November 20, 2022 - "In a rare showing this week, Canada’s prime minister will publicly defend his decision to invoke never-before-used emergency powers to end a weekslong occupation of the nation’s capital last winter. Justin Trudeau’s highly anticipated testimony will cap six weeks of hearings at a public inquiry that has witnessed extraordinary disclosures of the inner workings of police and government during the protest, which culminated in the Feb. 14 invocation of the Emergencies Act.

The act gave authorities broad new powers they used to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, ban travel to protest sites, prohibit people from bringing children to protests and compel tow trucks to clear out vehicles blocking Ottawa streets.... The public inquiry must determine whether Trudeau was justified in using the act. To date, it has heard and seen considerable evidence casting doubt on the Liberal government’s decision. 

"Police agencies have testified the emergency powers weren’t necessary to end the protest of pandemic public health measures. Senior government officials were shown to have harbored doubts. And perhaps most damaging to the government’s case was a revelation last week that Canada’s national intelligence agency did not find the protests posed a threat to Canada’s security. In the final week of hearings, it will fall to Trudeau and several of his ministers and senior staff to prove their case....

"The act, passed in 1988, had never been used and is intended only for national emergencies that can’t be resolved by other means. Its predecessor, the War Measures Act, was most recently used by Trudeau’s father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, in response to a series of terrorist attacks by a militant Quebec independence movement in 1970.

"In February, the opposition Conservatives called the Emergencies Act an 'unprecedented sledgehammer' that was unnecessary to end the protests. Civil liberties groups also claim the Liberals overstepped."

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/20/trudeau-emergencies-act-freedom-convoy-00069651

Trudeau defends vaccine mandates, Emergencies Act, CBC Radio, June 24, 2022: 

Privy Council used its own definition of "emergency" to recommend Emergencies Act

Canda's Emergencies Act explicitly defers to the country's intelligence agancy, CSIS, in determining a 'public order emergency,' and CSIS determined that the Freedom Convoy was not such an emergency. However, the Privy Council used its own definition instead in order to recommend that the Act be invoked. 

Memo advising PM to invoke Emergencies Act admitted its interpretation was 'vulnerable': docs | CBC News - Catharine Tunney:

November 18, 2022 - "The memorandum to the prime minister suggesting the government invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history acknowledged its interpretation of a national security threat could be challenged, the inquiry reviewing that decision heard Friday. The Privy Council Office document — entered into evidence at the Public Order Emergency Commission Friday — was sent on the afternoon of Feb. 14.... The government announced its decision to invoke the act just after 4:30 p.m. ET that same day.

"'PCO notes that the disturbance and the public unrest is being felt across the country and beyond the Canadian borders, which may provide further momentum to the movement and lead to irremediable harms — including to social coercion, national unity and Canada's international reputation,' it reads. '"In PCO's view, this fits with the statutory parameters defining threats to the security of Canada, though this conclusion may be vulnerable to challenge'.... Eight months later, the memorandum's author, Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette, defended her advice.... 

"The question of whether the federal government met the legal threshold to invoke the Emergencies Act is one of the most important ones on the commission's plate.... Under the law, cabinet must have reasonable grounds to believe a public order emergency exists — which the Act defines as one that 'arises from threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to be a national emergency.' [Clerk of the PCO] Janice Charette told the Emergencies Act inquiry that there is a broader definition of a threat of violence than the one identified by CSIS, and it was this broader definition that led to her recommending the PM invoke the Emergencies Act. 

"The act defers to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) definition of such an emergency — which includes serious violence against people or property, espionage, foreign interference or an intent to overthrow the government by violence. The commission has seen evidence showing the director of CSIS didn't believe the self-styled Freedom Convoy constituted a threat to national security according to the definition in CSIS's enabling law. Charette said she weighed CSIS's assessment but said it was the combination of the economic and public safety impacts of the protests that, in her view, constituted a public order emergency.

"Deputy Clerk Nathalie Drouin — who, before coming to PCO, was the deputy minister at the Department of Justice — told the commission she believed the situation met the threshold. 'The threat had grown beyond the ability to end the blockades in a sustainable and durable way; extraordinary resources were required to clear Windsor, which diverted the blockade to Bluewater, raising concerns about the number of resources available,' said a document summarizing Drouin's interview with the commission in September....

"The document also showed PCO was becoming increasingly frustrated with the police response. Drouin 'recalled losing hope that local police forces in Ottawa and Windsor were capable of executing their operational plans as time went on and no concrete police actions materialized,' said the interview summary.

"The commission has [also] seen an email RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki sent to Public Safety Marco Mendicino the night before the government invoked the Emergencies Act last February. Lucki wrote that she didn't think police had exhausted all available tools to end the ongoing occupation of downtown Ottawa by protesters who had been demanding an end to COVID-19 restrictions. Charette testified Friday that if the head of the RCMP felt the Emergencies Act should not have been invoked, she could have told her."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pco-emergencies-act-1.6656247

Lessons from the Emergencies Act inquiry, week 4

Emergencies Act inquiry shows we can't be selective on civil liberties | Financial Post - Joe Oliver: 

November 8, 2022 - "The Rouleau Commission has now heard sworn testimony that the Freedom Convoy was not foreign funded and did not constitute a threat to democracy and that the Emergencies Act was not needed or asked for by any police force. That reflects very poorly on the prime minister. The act’s invocation was the worst peacetime assault on civil liberties since Pierre Trudeau’s use of the War Measures Act during the FLQ crisis 52 years ago — when a Quebec cabinet minister was assassinated [after the act was invoked - gd] and a British trade commissioner held hostage.

"Yet restricting the rights of 38 million Canadians has not attracted the widespread outrage it merits because the blue-collar protesters it targeted are widely viewed with disdain, including by much of the mainstream media. This selective indifference is both distressing and dangerous. Suspending civil liberties because of a peaceful protest that went on too long sets a low bar that puts everyone’s freedom at risk....

"Conventional opinion can change, sometimes swiftly and radically, and governments’ electoral interests shift with the political landscape. This is especially true of a self-righteous woke government led by a prime minister who deliberately sows divisions based on his own ideological and partisan preferences. So there may come a time when those whose opinions are currently in the ascendant may need the Charter’s protection. Our view of the Emergencies Act should not be governed by our admiration of or scorn for the protestors. The Charter is meant to protect speech of all kinds from all sources.... 

"We are learning a lot from the Commission hearings, which were mandated by the Emergencies Act to determine, among other things, whether its invocation met the legal threshold, including that the 'national emergency … cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.' In deciding this, the fact that existing legislation was not relied on is irrelevant. Otherwise, incompetence or deliberate inaction could be used to invoke the Act anytime a government found it convenient.

"Assume for a moment the Emergencies Act did not exist. Can anyone seriously argue the government would have been powerless to remove trucks illegally parked on the streets of Ottawa … forever? To ask the question is to answer it. The legal test clearly was not met.

"Other evidence shows how egregious the prime minister’s actions were. He instigated the Freedom Convoy by belatedly imposing a mandatory vaccine on truckers last January. Rather than reaching out and listening, as he has done with other protest groups, he exacerbated the conflict by demonizing protesters as racist radicals and falsely accusing them of violent criminal activity. His cabinet colleagues searched for extreme language used by truckers and falsely claimed the police had requested the Emergencies Act. 

"He ignored imminent resolution of the standoff right before invoking the act, tried to narrow the mandatory hearing’s mandate, appointed Justice Paul Rouleau, who had worked as a Liberal staffer and donated to the Liberal Party, presumably in hopes he would be friendly, asked the RCMP for retroactive approval and falsely claimed he requested the current hearings when in fact they were mandated by statute. It is a damning litany of misinformation, missteps, cynical opportunism, snobbery, pique and evasion of responsibility.

"His unjustified suspension of civil liberties has tainted the prime minister’s moral authority to govern. Perhaps the commission will open Canadians’ eyes to the inequity and risk of taking away fundamental rights from people regarded as disagreeable."

Read more: https://financialpost.com/opinion/joe-oliver-emergencies-act-civil-liberties

Emergencies Act no help in clearing AB blockade

Alberta received no federal help to deal with protest blockade last winter: inquiry | CityNews Ottawa - Laura Osman & Marie-Danielle Smith, Canadian Press:

November 10, 2022 -"Senior civil servants from Alberta and Ontario left the impression at a public inquiry Thursday that Ottawa was not keen to come to their aid to deal with protest blockades last winter.... Neither of the bureaucrats from those provinces felt the use of the [Emergencies Act] was necessary, and in Alberta, the inquiry heard, the legislation wasn't useful at all.... The public inquiry is tasked with determining whether the federal government was justified in triggering the legislation for the first time since it became law in 1988.

"A convoy of 1,000 vehicles of all types drove to Coutts, Alta., on Jan. 29 to protest provincial and federal COVID-19 health restrictions, blocking the highway in both directions and halting the movement of trade. The Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, the same day RCMP in Alberta moved in to arrest protesters in Coutts. The prime minister ... Justin Trudeau held a consultation with premiers before invoking the act, and notes taken by political staffers and submitted to the public inquiry detail their comments and concerns. Handwritten notes taken by aides in the Prime Minister's Office and Saskatchewan government say former Alberta premier Jason Kenney worried that triggering the emergency legislation would be a 'very serious provocation' and a 'net negative'.... 

"Marlin Degrand, the assistant deputy minister in the Alberta solicitor general's office, told the commission earlier Thursday that RCMP had the power to clear the convoy from the border, but it didn't have the co-operation it needed to get the job done.... Alberta looked all over the province, in British Columbia and Saskatchewan and even the United States, but tow companies refused to help.... The province opted against declaring a state of emergency to try and force tow operators to help, and instead asked for federal help in a formal letter on Feb. 5.

"The Liberal government never officially responded to that request, but did draft a letter to turn Alberta down on Feb. 12, the commission learned. The undelivered letter said the province had all the legal authority it needed to deal with the protest. Degrand said he would agree that Alberta didn't need any more legal authority; what it lacked were the tow trucks....

"On Feb. 21, [federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill] Blair texted [Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Rick] McIver to tell him that the Emergencies Act was effective at addressing the tow truck issue. 'You were too late and did the wrong thing,' McIver responded, telling the minister that by the time the state of emergency was invoked the Coutts blockade was already over."

Read more: https://ottawa.citynews.ca/national-news/alberta-received-no-federal-help-to-deal-with-protest-blockade-last-winter-inquiry-6083771

CSIS warned of violence if Emergencies Act used

Canada's intelligence agency, CSIS, warned the federal government on February 13 that using the Emergencies Act to suppress the Freedom Convoy could provoke violence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Act the next day. 

CSIS warned Trudeau government invoking Emergencies Act could spark radicalization, violence | National Post - Christopher Nardi & Ryan Tumilty:

November 7, 2022 - "Canada’s spy agency warned the federal government [that] invoking the Emergencies Act could further radicalize Canadians engaged in convoy protests, and push some towards violence. The information is contained in an undated report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that was presented at the Emergencies Act (EA) inquiry on Monday. It surfaced during Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens’s testimony about the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge last winter, part of several protests against pandemic restrictions.

"The document reveals that the day before the Trudeau government invoked the act on Feb. 14 in response to the Freedom Convoy protests across the country, CSIS warned the government that it could have significant and far-reaching collateral consequences. 'CSIS advised that the implementation of the EA would likely galvanize the anti-government narratives within the convoy and further the radicalization of some towards violence,' reads the document. It adds that the phenomenon was already noticed when Ontario declared a provincial state of emergency days earlier.

"The document also says CSIS warned that invoking the act could also undermine confidence in government. 'CSIS advised that the invocation of the EA by the federal government would likely leads to the dispersing of the convoy within Ottawa but would likely increase the number of Canadians who hold extreme anti-government views and push some towards the belief that violence is the only solution to what they perceive as a broken system and government,' reads the document.

"Canada’s spy agency reiterated its concerns about a potential increase in violence during an undated meeting after the act was invoked on Feb. 14."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/csis-warned-trudeau-government-invoking-emergencies-act-could-spark-more-radicalization-violence

Police had doubts about using Emergencies Act

Three Canadian police forces -- Ottawa, Ontario, and RCMP -- doubted that the Emergencies Act needed to be used to against the Freedom Convoy.

Three police forces had doubts about use of Emergencies Act | Globe and Mail - Marieke Walsh & Marsha McLeod: 

October 25, 2022 - "Documents tabled at the Emergencies Act inquiry reveal a discrepancy between RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s public defence of the sweeping legislation and her private advice to the government that the police had 'not yet exhausted all available tools' when the act was invoked. Commissioner Lucki delivered that assessment to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office just after midnight on Feb. 14 – only hours before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the act.

"The e-mail adds to a growing body of evidence from police forces, presented to the inquiry, that challenges the federal government’s argument that the act was needed to end more than three weeks of protests that threw the country’s capital into chaos.... The Ottawa police and the Ontario Provincial Police have already told the inquiry that they did not need the act to get the protests under control....

"Mr. Mendicino played down the significance of Commissioner Lucki’s comments on Tuesday and dismissed the suggestion he ignored her advice, saying the government listened to an 'array of advice' at the time. He added that her advice to the government before invoking the act doesn’t change subsequent testimony to a parliamentary committee on Feb. 25, after the protests ended, where she said it gave police 'the tools that we needed to get the job done quickly.' Mr. Mendicino told reporters in Ottawa that the government also consulted the provinces on its decision to invoke the act.... 

"Commissioner Lucki sent her Feb. 14 e-mail to Mr. Mendicino’s chief of staff, Mike Jones. In it, she said her team was in discussions with the Justice Department to give input on the act. She also gave examples of additional policing powers that could be 'useful' if the act was invoked. But at the end of her e-mail she said 'we have not yet exhausted all available tools that are already available through the existing legislation.' Charges could be laid under existing powers, she said, and the province had just enacted its emergency powers which would 'help in providing additional deterrent tools to our existing toolbox.'

"The RCMP did not provide a statement on Tuesday addressing the discrepancy between Commissioner Lucki’s public comments after the protests ended and private advice to government in advance of the emergency declaration.... But other police agencies have said it was not crucial and despite early dysfunction within the Ottawa police service, a plan to end the protests had been developed just before Mr. Trudeau made the emergency declaration.

"The Ontario Provincial Police told the commission at the beginning of the public hearings two weeks ago that the act was not needed. In testimony on Friday, retired OPP officer Carson Pardy, who was chief superintendent during the February protests, said the act helped but was not necessary. For example, he said officers already had the authority to tow and seize vehicles and prevent people from going into the protest zone.

"And this week, interim Ottawa police chief Steve Bell said while the Emergencies Act was very helpful, it wasn’t needed. 'In the absence of the invocation of the Emergencies Act, the OPS, the OPP and the RCMP, as part of a unified command, were going to clear the protests,' he said. For example, separate evidence presented through an interview summary of Ottawa police Superintendent Robert Bernier said he told commission lawyers that police had secured tow trucks before the act was invoked....

"On Tuesday the commission was also told that the OPP, RCMP and the top civil servant in Mr. Mendicino’s department had struck a potential deal but the government backed out just before the act was invoked.... According to evidence tabled Tuesday, on Feb. 10 then-deputy minister of public safety Rob Stewart asked OPP Inspector Marcel Beaudin for an urgent meeting to talk about the possibility of 'federal-level engagement with the protesters.' By the next day, a proposal was developed. The document, tabled at the commission, suggested a police liaison would provide protest leaders with a written commitment to a meeting with government at a later date. By Feb. 13, the deal had fallen apart. That day, Mr. Stewart told the inspector he was unable to secure a commitment from the government to meet with protesters, according to a summary of an interview Insp. Beaudin gave to the commission."

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-emergencies-act-inquiry-lucki/

CSIS found no foreign actors funding Freedom Convoy

Canada's intelligence agency, CSIS, told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's PMO that it had found no evidence of significant foreign funding of Freedom Convoy 2022, less than a week before Trudeau told the nation that there was significant foreign funding.

CSIS found no foreign actors funding the convoy protests, according to public inquiry evidence | Globe & Mail - Marieke Walsh:

October 19, 2022 - "A week before the Emergencies Act was invoked, Canada’s intelligence agency told senior government officials it had found no evidence of foreign actors or states financing the convoy protests. 

"Minutes of a meeting held on Feb. 6 with top-ranking officials from municipal, provincial and federal governments were tabled Tuesday at the Public Order Emergency Commission, led by Justice Paul Rouleau. 'There [are] no foreign actors identified at this point supporting or financing this convoy. FINTRAC is supporting this work/assessment and the banks are also engaged,' CSIS director David Vigneault said, according to the minutes. Less than a week later though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was significant foreign funding....

"Mr. Vigneault, Jody Thomas – the Prime Minister’s national security and intelligence adviser – and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki were on the call with then Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly and city manager Steve Kanellakos. Federal deputy minister for public safety Rob Stewart was also on the call, as was Ontario’s deputy solicitor-general, Mario Di Tommaso. Mr. Vigneault said Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog, FINTRAC, and banks were tracking the GoFundMe donations supporting the protests, as well as other fundraising platforms, to ensure the money was not being 'used for a non-peaceful purpose.' 'There is not a lot of energy and support from the U.S.A. to Canada,' he said. 'CSIS has also not seen any foreign money coming from other states to support this.'

"He also told officials on the call that there were 'hardened elements' in the protest 'who will likely use violence'.... However, they are not actively participating [in] or organizing it and are likely using this as a recruiting ground.' The call took place at the end of the second weekend of disruptive demonstrations in Ottawa to protest the government’s vaccine mandates and, more generally, the government itself. The protests took over Ottawa’s downtown, upending daily life for residents and forcing businesses in the area to close....

"At the end of that week, on Feb. 11, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters at a news conference that foreign actors had become a concern. He said U.S. citizens were participating in the blockades and there were signs of 'foreign money to fund this illegal activity.' He did not specify which of the three main protests in Canada [Ottawa, Coutts, or Windsor] involved foreign influence and money.

"Asked by The Globe and Mail at the time to clarify the percentage of funds coming from the U.S., Mr. Trudeau said, “I’ve heard that on certain platforms, the number of U.S. donations are approaching 50 per cent.' Over the subsequent weekend the U.S.-based Christian fundraising website GiveSendGo was hacked and the leaked data revealed tens of thousands of Canadian and American donors had collectively contributed millions of dollars to the demonstrations.... On Wednesday The Globe asked the Prime Minister’s Office whether CSIS changed its advice and said there was foreign funding for the protests. Mr. Trudeau’s office did not directly answer....

"The meeting minutes for Feb. 6 were presented Tuesday at the commission studying the use of the act, but so far witnesses have not been asked about the CSIS intelligence. The Public Order Emergency Commission is tasked with determining whether the federal government met the required legal threshold to avail itself of the Emergencies Act’s extraordinary temporary powers. The government used those powers to crack down on protesters, even allowing banks to freeze their accounts without court orders."

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-csis-ottawa-convoy-protests-funding/

Trudeau's parliamentary ally, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, also claimed at the time that there was significant foreign funding of the Freedom Convoy, as in this Feb. 9, 2022 video:

Trudeau's PMO worked to frame Freedom Convoy as "insurrection"

From the very beginning of Canada's Freedom Convoy, the Prime Minister's Office was trying to frame it as a January 6th-style "insurrection".

Trudeau Adviser Worked to Frame Media ‘Narrative’ on Freedom Convoy Before Trucks Arrived in Ottawa | Epoch Times - Noé Chartier: 

October 31, 2022 - "An adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked with the public safety minister’s communications director to shape media coverage of the Freedom Convoy before it arrived in Ottawa, text messages reveal, saying they could employ a similar tactic to messaging used for the Jan. 6, 2020, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

"'I think there could be an opportunity to get in on this growing narrative of the truckers,' said Trudeau advisor Mary-Liz Power in a message to Alexander Cohen, communications director to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. The text messages from around Jan. 24 were entered as evidence at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Oct. 31. 

"Power was relaying to Cohen a message she had sent to unidentified members of her team. 'Hi, I just had a chat with Alex [Cohen] at PS [Public Safety] who had a bit of an interesting idea. As you saw in the pod goals chat, the truckers convoy and some of their more extreme comments (IE calling for a Jan 6 style insurrection) are getting more coverage in media,' Power wrote. It’s unclear what 'pod goals' refers to.... 'Alex was surveying whether there’d be interest in his boss [Mendicino] doing some media on this eventually. He was chatting with Mendicino about it right before he went into cabinet retreat....

"'My thoughts of the framing here would be similar to what the PM/Blair said last year when Jan. 6th occurred,' wrote Power [to Cohen], in reference to Trudeau and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair. Some of those talking points included supporting the right to peaceful protest and saying that 'Some of the calls that organizers of these events are making are concerning, and we’re taking them seriously (would need something to back this up).'

"Power then remarked they should be careful not to be portrayed as telling police what to do. The Trudeau adviser told Cohen her ideas had been welcomed by her unidentified team members and asked him if Mendicino was on board as well.

"'I had an initial chat with my boss and he’s supportive, but wants to wait a day or two. There’s a danger that if we come down too hard, they might push out the crazies,' Cohen replied. 'I think that’s fair. Apparently global & others are working on stories, maybe we see how those land,' wrote back Power.

"A few days after this coordination between Power and Cohen, Mendicino gave an interview to CBC’s Power & Politics. Mendicino proceeded to paint the Freedom Convoy in a negative light. He said some organizers wanted to 'overthrow the government through violence' and that some expressions 'fall very much in the category of extremism.' 'That is not a convoy that is about freedom,' he said....

"The negative narrative woven by the federal government and some media was challenged during the Public Order Emergency Commission. 

'I was concerned by comments made publicly by public figures and in the media that I believed were not premised in fact,' said Supt. Pat Morris, head of the OPP’s Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau, on Oct. 19. 'So when I read accounts that the state of Russia had something to do with it, or that this was a result of American influence, either financially or ideologically, or that Donald Trump was behind it, or that it was un-Canadian, or that the people participating were un-Canadian and that they were not Canadian views and they were extremists, I found it to be problematic.' 

"Morris testified before the commission he had been tracking the convoy from its early stages and said there had been no 'intelligence that was produced that would support' a concern for serious violence."

Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/trudeau-advisor-worked-to-frame-media-narrative-on-freedom-convoy-before-ottawa-arrival_4832080.html

Examples of the media 'narrative' Power is referencing: 

Emergencies Act use looking like overreach

It's becoming clear the federal government overreached to shut down Freedom Convoy | National Post - John Ivison: 

October 26, 2022 - "Ottawa Police Services superintendent [Robert Bernier] led the mission that finally cleared the Freedom Convoy in February, and on Wednesday was being grilled by the counsel for the Public Order Emergency Commission, Frank Au, on the impact the government’s proclamation of an emergency had on his plans. Bernier said the invocation of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 for the first time in Canadian history did not significantly impact the planning process for the operation that cleared the streets of protesters around Parliament Hill four days later. 'The plan I was developing was based on existing authorities,' he told the commission. 'I was satisfied we were going to have all the authorities we needed to take action.'

"Was it helpful to have the additional measures in the Emergencies Act? Au asked. 'Anything that contributes to mission success is a benefit,' Bernier replied. Was the invocation of the act necessary? Au persisted.... Bernier answered the question by opting for an evasion worthy of the House of Commons. 'It’s hard for me to say since I did not get to do the operation without it,' he said.

"Yet, it is clear from much of the testimony we have heard so far that, while useful, the events in Ottawa in February did not constitute a national emergency that required the use of legislation designed to address the most urgent and critical of situations. We have heard virtually nothing that bolsters the government’s case that the circumstances met the legal and constitutional bar. The closest thing to support for the government’s actions came from acting Ottawa police chief Steve Bell, who said it provided 'a very stable platform' for the execution of the police plan. But even he reiterated Bernier’s point — that there was a plan ready to go, regardless of the Emergencies Act.

"Police have said that the new powers were helpful in streamlining the swearing-in of police members from across the country and compelling some tow truck companies to remove vehicles from streets. But Bernier said there were already 34 tow trucks available for use before the act was invoked.

"It will be up to the government to convince Commissioner Paul Rouleau that there was a clear and present danger to national security. Lawyers for the convoy organizers have already said that will be difficult when there is no evidence protesters engaged in sabotage or serious violence, were manipulated by foreign agents or attempted to overthrow the government.

"Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino justified the use of the act by saying a small, organized group 'driven by ideology' was trying to subvert the government. Yet, the inquiry so far has heard only the opposite. Supt. Pat Morris of the Ontario Provincial Police operations intelligence bureau said that at no point during the protest did he receive reliable intelligence that led him to believe there was a risk that would rise to the level of a potential threat to national security. In documents submitted to the inquiry, Morris wrote that the RCMP’s integrated national security enforcement team (INSET) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) concurred that there were no national security concerns.

"In another document, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said she did not believe police had employed 'all the available tools' to break up the protest prior to the invocation of the act. In an email to Mendicino’s chief of staff just after midnight on Feb. 14, Lucki said that those other tools had already been factored into a plan to end the protest. All of this testimony suggests the government overreached.....

"When we do hear from government ministers, they will lean heavily on section 6(1) of the Emergencies Act — that invocation is justified if the government believes 'on reasonable grounds' that a public welfare emergency exists. The government must hope that the commissioner takes a similarly flexible view of what constitutes an emergency because what is becoming clear is that the Freedom Convoy was not a serious threat to sovereignty, security or the territorial integrity of Canada, and it could have been dealt with effectively by existing laws."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/john-ivison-its-becoming-clear-that-the-federal-government-overreached-to-shut-down-the-freedom-convoy

Consevative MPs Raqhel Dancho and Jamie Schmale on Emergencies Act use:

Canada's Emergencies Act was misused

Canada's Trudeau government misused the Emergencies Act, writes a Disaster and Emergency Management professor and consultant.

How our federal government misused the Emergencies Act | Toronto Sun - Alex Vezina:

October 23, 2022 - "I’ve talked to a number of senior people in emergency management, disaster risk reduction and business continuity who do high-level consulting on strategies to safeguard the public, about the Trudeau government’s use of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to disband the so-called Freedom Convoy. Not one of them thinks it was necessary or a good idea.

"From a professional emergency management perspective, here is what happened in Ottawa. An extended mass gathering of three weeks occurred, which resulted in a large number of mostly bylaw infractions, which is the responsibility of the local city government to enforce. The relevant public safety response should have come from the Ottawa police, but that exposed some serious problems.

"First, the Ottawa police did not have the resources to manage the hazard. Keep in mind that any large group of people is a potential hazard, irrespective of their motivations. Simply put, the more people there are to manage, the more resources are required to manage them. Second, the protesters included people who had worked in safety operations, with military and police training. This meant protesters could be internally advised on what behaviour was acceptable and what wasn’t. If the protesters didn’t give police genuine reasons for clearing them out then except for the bylaw infractions, they basically weren’t doing anything wrong. That is, before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act.

"Toronto handled the situation differently, by using prevention and mitigation strategies, such as blocking protest vehicles from getting to their preferred locations.... Toronto police pre-emptively limited the ability of the protest to grow. Compare that to Ottawa, where there appeared to have been little advance planning with regard to an influx of trucks and other vehicles rolling into the city’s downtown. Once those vehicles were parked and the bouncy castle and hot tub set up, ending the protest became much more difficult.

"Police can forcibly remove demonstrators from an area to protect critical infrastructure for reasons of public safety. That happened with the blockade at the Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge, using Ontario’s state of emergency legislation and an injunction to end the trucker blockade the evening before the Trudeau government invoked the federal Emergencies Act.

"While this may sound counterintuitive, critical infrastructure was not being disrupted in Ottawa. Measures were taken to keep Parliament operating, and many politicians and civil servants were working from home due to COVID-19. Finally, the reduced number of people entering Parliament were able to do so safely.

"From the perspective of national security today, if a government cannot operate while there is a loud but for the most part peaceful protest outside, then either the national security agencies or the government, or both, are incompetent. In these circumstances, invoking the Emergencies Act to end a largely peaceful protest should be an international embarrassment and risks legitimizing protestors’ claims about government overreach. Claiming the Ottawa protest was violent is ridiculous.... In Ottawa, a few people ... waving confederate and swastika flags yelling 'we took over the country,' does not mean they actually took over the country, nor does it mean they spoke for all the protesters.

"Using the Emergency Act in this way to break up a loud and noisy but essentially peaceful demonstration against the government that could have been handled by competent policing and bylaw enforcement, sets a dangerous precedent. It undermines the entire concept of emergency planning and what qualifies as an actual emergency in Canada."

Vezina is the CEO of Prepared Canada Corp. and teaches Disaster and Emergency Management at York University. He can be reached at info@prepared.ca.

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/vezina-how-our-federal-government-misused-the-emergencies-act

No national security threat from Freedom Convoy

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

Liberals blame Ford for their Freedom Convoy problem

Testimony and evidence from Tuesday's Rouleau Commission hearings show Liberals Justin Trudeau and Jim Watson blaming Doug Ford for their Freedom Convoy problem.

Watson wanted to protect Trudeau, embarrass Ford during convoy | Toronto Sun - Brian Lilley:

Oct 19, 2022 - "If you thought partisan politics disappeared in the middle of a crisis, say like Ottawa’s reaction to last winter’s trucker convoy, think again. What we’ve seen in testimony at the Emergencies Act inquiry is an attempt to score political points. On Tuesday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said that all three levels of government failed in their response. Yet he went out of his way several times to single out the province – not the city or federal government – on specific failures. 

"It’s important to remember the partisan stripes of those involved in all of this. Watson is a Liberal who served as a cabinet minister at Queen’s Park under former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty. He’s been a vocal booster of the current Liberal prime minister.... By comparison, Doug Ford leads a Progressive Conservative government, and despite Ford saying as recently as Monday that he doesn’t deal in partisan stripes, Watson most definitely does. The two men have had an uneasy relationship during Ford’s time in office.

"On Tuesday, Watson opened his testimony by falsely claiming the convoy had shown up in the nation’s capital to protest against the province. 'They were upset with the mask mandates, which were primarily, as you know, a provincial matter,' Watson said. That’s patently false and Watson knows it. While plenty of people involved in the convoy also didn’t like masks, the whole reason for the convoy in the first place was to protest the cross border vaccine mandates that were imposed just weeks earlier. That was in story after story, briefing after briefing and there is zero chance that a politician as accomplished as Watson didn’t know it....

"We also see two distinct incidents that happened on Feb. 8 that show Watson is reluctant to do anything to embarrass the Trudeau government or put them in a bad light but happy to call out the Ford government. These two incidents clearly illustrate that partisan politics was still on Watson’s mind even as he sought help from other levels of government.

"In his testimony Monday, Ottawa’s city manager, Steve Kanellakos described approaching Watson after being asked to meet with convoy organizers, a meeting that eventually took place. Kanellakos said that Watson didn’t like the idea because of the position it might put the Trudeau government in.... 'His initial reaction was we shouldn’t and thought that doing that was going to put pressure on the federal government in terms of, you know, if we meet with them, someone else would have to meet with them,' Kanellakos said.

"That conversation with Kanellakos happened the same day as a phone call between Watson and Trudeau – two Liberals discussing how they don’t think Ontario’s Progressive Conservative premier is doing enough.

"'Doug Ford has been hiding from his responsibility on it for political reasons,' Trudeau said according to a readout of the call submitted into evidence at the inquiry. 'If they keep dragging their feet, I’m happy to call them out on it,' Watson replied. On the same day, Ottawa’s mayor is worried about how his actions will affect the Liberal PM, ... he’s 'happy' to put public pressure on the Conservative premier.

"Watson’s goal Tuesday was clear, deflect as much blame as possible to Ford, not Trudeau. Perhaps there is a senate appointment in the future for the soon to be unemployed Watson, perhaps it’s just partisan loyalty. That politicians act in a political way is hardly shocking and Watson won’t be the only one to do so while testifying. The public just needs to be aware of this, know that what is coming out of their mouths is equal parts evidence, spin and self-preservation."

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-watson-wanted-to-protect-trudeau-embarrass-ford-during-convoy 

Ontario police: Emergencies Act was unnecessary

The Ontario Provincial Police has told the Rouleau Commission investigating the Trudeau government's use of the Emergencies Act that "there was sufficient legal authority" without the Act "to deal with the protest activities".

Emergencies Act wasn’t needed to quell convoy protests, Ontario police force says | Globe and Mail - Marteke Walsh and Marsha McLeod:

October 13, 2022 - "The sweeping powers triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quell February’s convoy protests were not needed, the Ontario Provincial Police said at the first day of hearings in a public inquiry to determine whether the federal government contravened the law in its use of the powers.

"The provincial police force’s brief opening statement on Thursday focused on the legal requirements the government had to meet before it could invoke the federal Emergencies Act. OPP lawyer Christopher Diana said Thursday in Ottawa that while the emergencies legislation provided useful tools, 'there was sufficient legal authority in their absence to deal with the protest activities that took place over this period of time.'

"The federal government, which initially said invoking the act was done on the advice of law enforcement, later clarified that they had asked for the powers in the act, not for the law directly. OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique told a parliamentary committee in March that the tools available through the act 'made our operation very effective, and in the absence of having those tools, we could have not have been as effective.'

"Mr. Diana’s comments followed introductory remarks from inquiry commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau, who said the focus of the Public Order Emergency Commission will be on the federal government’s decision-making. According to the Emergencies Act, a public order emergency can be declared only when threats to the security of Canada are so serious that they constitute a national crisis that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other existing law....

"Nearly 20 parties with standing in the commission also spoke briefly, outlining arguments they will advance as the commission determines whether the government’s use of the act – in response to the convoy protests in Ottawa over pandemic restrictions and blockades at border crossings – was legitimate.... On one side, a lawyer representing the federal government said invoking the act was a 'reasonable and necessary' decision, while lawyers on the other – including those representing convoy protesters – argued that it was ... unnecessary, lacked justification, and could pave the way for further inappropriate use of the act....

"Robert MacKinnon, one of the lawyers for the federal government, told the commission the act’s invocation was 'a reasonable and necessary decision given the escalating volatile and urgent circumstances across the country.' The government will present evidence that there were “countrywide threats to the security of Canada,” Mr. MacKinnon said. The federal approach was 'proportional, effective and time limited,' he said.

"However, Lakehead University law professor Ryan Alford, who has joint standing with The Canadian Constitution Foundation, challenged Mr. MacKinnon’s assessment. The government’s claim to a 'reasonable basis' for declaring the public order emergency does not mean it had a legal or constitutional basis for 'assuming unprecedented and destructive emergency powers,' he said.

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-convoy-protests-inflicted-community-violence-and-social-trauma-ottawa/