“Intelligence is not an exact science. It’s not infallible. Just because you have a piece of intelligence doesn’t mean you have the full picture,” Dominic Rochon, former senior assistant secretary for national security and cyber security at the Department of Public Safety, told the Emergency Committee Public Order Necessity. “It becomes a very difficult mosaic to try to piece together the intelligence that comes from [the Canadian Security Intelligence Service]coming from police forces, coming from the Canada Border Services Agency.” The Commission is examining whether the federal government was justified in its decision to end the protests by invoking the Emergency Act for the first time. The legislation gave police new powers to break up last winter’s protests against pandemic restrictions. Rochon said that before the convoy arrived in Ottawa, the federal department had received no information from CSIS or the RCMP alerting it to the need to prepare for a major event. Protesters against the COVID-19 restrictions used big rigs and other vehicles to block access to parts of downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks. Both Rochon and former Under Secretary of Public Safety Rob Stewart sat down with the commission for an interview in September. A summary of their conversation was released Monday. “As DM Stewart said, it is clear that they did not anticipate that the convoy would be as large as it was and that it would remain in Ottawa for as long as it did. In his view, there was a problem with gathering and sharing intelligence and information about the events “, the document states. Rob Stewart, Deputy Minister of Public Safety, left, and Dominic Rochon, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Division at Public Safety Canada, appear at the Public Order Emergency Committee, in Ottawa, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press) “The CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] and jurisdictional police at ports of entry did not anticipate that vehicles would arrive and park on highways, ramps and bridges, and OPS [Ottawa Police Service] he didn’t foresee the trucks parking in downtown Ottawa for as long as they did.” Stewart told the commission’s lawyers that law enforcement agencies — especially the RCMP — would be “extremely wary” of sharing specific information about the convoy with people at the civilian level, according to his interview. “The convoy highlighted that there are issues with the flow of information from law enforcement to the government,” the briefing document said. “For example, when threats arise from ideologically motivated violent extremism (“IMVE”) rhetoric online, Public Safety and its agencies feel severely underequipped and underprepared to gather and share information about these threats and respond to them.”
“The situation was multiplying”
Stewart told the commission’s lawyers that invoking the emergency law became a real option around Feb. 11, before the blockades at the border crossings in Windsor, Ont. and Coutts, Alta. were cleared. “The situation was compounded and made worse by the commercial impact, the reputational impact in Canada and IMVE [ideologically motivated violent extremism] implications,” said the summary of his interview. WATCHES | DM questions Ontario’s response to Ottawa protests in testimony
Federal deputy public safety minister questions Ontario’s response to Ottawa protests in testimony
In testimony before the Emergency Law Inquiry, former deputy public safety minister Rob Stewart says he was left wondering “where is Ontario” during communications about what else needed to be done to respond to its protests Ottawa. “There were also concerns that some of the people in the convoy were trained security professionals and some were ex-military. It seemed like local law enforcement couldn’t work it out and couldn’t enforce municipal or provincial authorities.”
Commission hearing from federal officials over the past 2 weeks
Later Monday, the committee will hear from Cindy Termorshuizen, Canada’s assistant minister of state for global affairs, and Joe Comartin, Canada’s former consul general in Detroit. They are expected to reflect on how the protests have affected Canada’s international relations. Outside Ottawa, protesters against the COVID-19 restrictions also blocked access to the border crossing in Coutts, Alta. and linked the Ambassador Bridge, both vital trade routes between Canada and the US Later in the week, the committee will hear from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and other Mounties. Some of Lucki’s texts with her Ontario Provincial Police counterpart have already been presented to the commission. In those texts, he wrote that the federal government was already losing confidence in the Ottawa police just a week after the protests. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki attends Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa on Friday, July 1, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press) “Between you and me alone, (the Government of Canada) loses (or has) lost confidence in OPS, we must move to safe action (or) enforcement,” Lucki wrote to OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique. “Because if they follow the Emergency Measures Act, you or (I) might get arrested, not something I want.” Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki (Alberta’s top Mountie), RCMP Chief Michael Duheme and former Canada Border Services Agency chief John Ossowski are also on the witness list. In its penultimate week, the committee will also hear from Jody Thomas, national security intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who publicly defended the decision to use the act. He told a security and defense conference on March 10 that the protesters were “dug in” and “there is no doubt [they] he came to overthrow the government.” Jody Thomas, national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister, arrives at the West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) In order to declare a public order emergency, the Emergencies Act requires that there be “an emergency arising from threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to constitute a national emergency”. Witnesses rounding out the week include;
Michael Keenan, Deputy Minister of Transport Canada. Christian Dea, chief economist at Transport Canada; Michael Sabia, Deputy Minister at the Canadian Department of Finance. Rhys Mendes, Deputy Minister of Finance Canada; Isabelle Jacques, Associate Deputy Minister at the Department of Finance Canada. Jacquie Bogden, Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and COVID Recovery. Janice Charette, Clerk of the Privy Council. Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council
The commission concludes hearing witnesses on November 25. Public Safety Minister Marco Medicino, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and Prime Minister Trudeau will all testify in the final week.
