“Criminalizing Dissent”

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.

Legal Memo Advised Ottawa Police to Be Aware of Indigenous Protesters During Convoy

They warned that the protest “raises issues related to freedom of expression and lawful assembly, and therefore may have Charter implications.”

“In addition,” stated the memo, “there may be demonstrators who are Indigenous, there may be heightened concerns surrounding any active enforcement measures and recognizing the uniqueness of Indigenous occupations.”

Just make sure no one is a Christian.

The intelligence chief for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) told his superior he had concerns about information requests on social movements his unit was receiving from political leaders and other actors during the time of the Freedom Convoy last winter.

The OPP Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau (POIB) “is increasingly receiving requests for information, intelligence, open source scrapes, background checks etc on a wide array of societal actors,” POIB head Superintendent Pat Morris wrote in an email to OPP Deputy Commissioner Chuck Cox on Feb. 2.