“Criminalizing Dissent”

The day before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had prepared notes advising cabinet there were other tools available and that police finally had a plan in place to address the Ottawa protests but she never delivered the message.

The country’s top Mountie made the admission during hours of testimony at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Tuesday in which she couldn’t recall key meetings during the protests; said she didn’t understand the role the Emergencies Act could play or the process Ottawa police were to follow to get more resources; and was unable to explain comments from meetings and text exchanges that she participated in.

The RCMP quickly became concerned that the Ottawa police did not have a plan to end the convoy protest that occupied the capital last winter, the top Mountie told the Emergencies Act inquiry.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme, who is responsible for federal policing, testified Tuesday before the Public Order Emergency Commission.

The pair also sat for an interview with commission lawyers in September. A summary of that conversation was entered into evidence Tuesday.

Text messages entered into evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry describe a testy exchange between feuding Alberta and federal ministers around the time the act was invoked.

At the time, the province was struggling with a blockade near a southern Alberta village. People protesting COVID-19 restrictions used large trucks and other vehicles to block commercial traffic to and from the U.S. at Coutts between Jan. 29 and Feb. 14.

About a week into the blockade, Alberta turned to Ottawa to ask about the possibility of using Canadian Armed Forces tow trucks to remove the blockade vehicles after local tow operators rejected RCMP requests.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said early during the trucker-led Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa that talking would not resolve it and he feared an “armed insurrection,” according to handwritten notes from his deputy chief of staff.

“PM: No. No to changing government policy. Their goal is to disrupt and undermine govt institutions,” read the notes of Brian Clow entered as evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 10.

The deputy solicitor general for Ontario told the Emergencies Act inquiry on Thursday that the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa last winter did not pose a significant public safety risk.

“I was getting consistent messaging from Commissioner Carrique and from Deputy Minister Stewart that there were not any overriding public safety concerns,” said Mario Di Tomasso.

Handwritten notes from one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top advisers are shining a light on conversations that took place between the federal and provincial governments just hours before Ottawa announced it would invoke the Emergencies Act to end a series of anti-pandemic measure protests.

A collection of deputy chief of staff Brian Clow’s notes were entered into evidence Thursday before the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is investigating the federal government’s decision to trigger the never-before-used law on Feb. 14. The notes cover Trudeau’s call with the premiers hours before invoking the Emergencies Act.

The Inquiry into the calling out of the Emergencies Act. Why are we having it? I know they are hearing witnesses.

And I also know we’re hearing of noise-making, some traffic-jams, proven false-alarms of attempted arson, general discomfiture. Likewise we are hearing of confused and mixed reactions from the various security and police forces. With no intention of taking a jab at them, they, the forces of the law, were under confused command and mixed directions. It’s easy to jump on the people in uniform, but (a) we aren’t them, and (b) they are faithful to the various directions given them.

The deputy solicitor general for Ontario says he was told by the federal deputy minister of public safety that the Freedom Convoy protest of last winter in Ottawa had made politicians vulnerable.

The handwritten notes from Mario Di Tommaso, Ontario’s deputy solicitor general, were entered as evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 9.

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the ongoing public inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act has not withered his support for the “peaceful and law-abiding protesters.”

Poilievre made the comments Wednesday during a rare media availability in a supermarket in Vancouver, B.C., where he was asked about a range of subjects from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s Sovereignty Act to the testimony heard at the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act to shut down the Freedom Convoy last winter.