The CBSA said two threats from the same customer were sent online through the CBSA’s “contact us” form. A message sent to the CBSA on February 7 says: “We would like to come to Ottawa to support the protest and if you want a war on your people we are ready to die to stop you. No borders of yours will hold us back!” Freedom or death, you choose!” A second email, sent to the CBSA on February 12, said that if the Canadian government continued on its “destructive course,” the authors were prepared to come to Canada to oppose government tyranny. “We will be donating a gallows to the people of Canada to rally around for Justin’s hanging,” the email reads. A Canadian government lawyer introduced the threats — contained in a report by the CBSA’s border operations center — into evidence Wednesday during cross-examination of former CBSA chairman John Osofsky. Ossowski said the threats were a source of concern to the agency. “People have been asking for information particularly about Teflon-coated armor-piercing bullets and what it would take to get them into Canada,” he said. “This is not something you see very often at the CBSA,” said attorney Andrea Gonsalves. “No,” Ossowski replied. Ossowski, who has since retired from the CBSA, received questions about the threats the agency saw and the impact blockades at various ports of entry had during the convoy protests. The Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry is assessing whether the federal government met the legal threshold to invoke the Emergency Act to clear Ottawa of protesters last winter. John Ossowski, a former member of the Canadian Border Services Agency, appears as a witness before the Public Order Emergency Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) CBSA’s internal assessments consistently reported that no credible threats related to the convoy protests were identified for any of the ports of entry and that the overall threat to personnel and infrastructure was low. Gonsalves also entered into evidence a letter from the Okanagan National Alliance to Public Safety Minister Marco Medicino describing a verbal attack on a member of the Sylix First Nations. The letter claims protesters at the Osoyoos border crossing shouted derogatory remarks as she crossed the border on February 5. “They were reported to be screaming racial slurs,” the letter said.
The CBSA feared that “criminals and immigrants” would take advantage of the chaos
Internal reports on the situation indicated that the border agency was also concerned about “criminals and immigrants” using the protest to enter the country illegally. Between Jan. 27 and about Feb. 14, the CBSA compiled daily status reports that give an overview of protests at two border crossings — the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont. and Kutch of Alta. A bundle of these status reports was made public by the Commission’s investigation. “The size, disorganized potential and general distraction of some of these POE protests continue to create conditions where both criminals and immigrants can use the events to illegally cross the border into Canada,” the reports said. “This may also include protesters who wish to participate in events on the Canadian side of the border but do not want to report to Border Patrol officers.” Ossowski said border agents have stopped a number of foreign nationals from coming to Canada during the blockades for things like vaccination status. He said that before the Emergency Act was invoked, the CBSA could not prevent people from entering the country to participate in a lawful protest. “There were people who came who met all the conditions and could have gone to the protests,” Ossowski said. The Emergency Act allowed the CBSA to refuse entry to any foreign national seeking entry into Canada to “participate in or facilitate a prohibited public assembly.” Ossowski said he did not advise the federal government on whether to invoke the Emergency Act.
The CBSA warned of a threat to Canada’s welfare on February 14
A report from the Canada Border Services Agency – released on the same day the federal government invoked the Emergency Act – warned that blockades protesting the pandemic measures could pose a “threat to the economic security and well-being of Canada”. “There has been a significant operational impact that may result in a threat to Canada’s economic security and well-being,” the CBSA’s Feb. 14 report said. The report is timed at 4 p.m. – when the federal government was preparing to announce its decision to invoke the Emergency Act. The February 14 status report is the only document that mentions a potential threat to financial security. Commission attorney Gordon Cameron questioned former CBSA chairman John Osofsky about that report during testimony Wednesday. Cameron suggested to Ossowski that if his staff members were “driven by an attempt to repeat government talking points, it will diminish the usefulness of these assessments to your staff and their ability to protect Canadians.” “Was it just a coincidence and not an attempt to repeat the government’s discussions of invoking the law?” Cameron asked. Anti-vaccination protesters walk away from police at a blockade of the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor, Ont., on February 12. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) “I think that’s true,” Ossowski said. During an interview with commission lawyers over the summer, another CBSA official, Christine Durocher, said the line about a financial “threat” may have been inadvertently omitted from earlier status reports. Durocher is the regional general manager of the CBSA’s southern Ontario region. Ossowski testified that the CBSA did not conduct any analysis of its own on the impact of the protests and blockades on the Canadian economy. The inquiry will hear from two Transport Canada officials later Wednesday, including one of its chief economists.
