Five months ago, the first trucks of the “Freedom Convoy” arrived in Ottawa. What began as a weekend of planned protests expressing anti-COVID-19 restrictions and anti-government sentiment quickly turned into a week-long occupation of downtown Ottawa and the blocking of major border crossings.
After weeks of business closures, cross-border tensions, relentless honking and concern over threats or acts of “serious violence…in an attempt to achieve a political or ideological objective,” the federal government has took the unprecedented step on February 14 of invoking the Emergencies Act.
Declaring a national public order emergency, authorities were given new powers and large-scale police operations took place to make arrests, as well as clear blockades and encampments in the capital. In the aftermath, a series of inquiries and polls were launched at different levels, promising to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.
From shedding light on what prompted the government’s decision to invoke unprecedented emergency powers and how they were used, to the circumstances that led to the unprecedented protests which spawned what supporters consider a “freedom movement”.
Already, participants in these investigations are denouncing what they see as shortcomings and wondering whether a full account of the events that unfolded will be possible.
As the nation’s capital prepares for another weekend of planned protests and these official investigations unfold, what is the timeline for these investigations to be completed? Will the results lead to recommendations to ensure that Canada learns from this situation? Could Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be called to testify?
CTVNews.ca takes a look at the status of major commissions and studies.
NATIONAL INQUIRY: EMERGENCY PUBLIC ORDER COMMISSION
The launch of a nationwide inquiry has been mandated under the Federal Emergency Measures Act, within 60 days of the lifting of emergency powers. On April 25, Trudeau appointed longtime judge Paul Rouleau to head the “Emergency Public Order Commission.”
With a mandate to examine the circumstances that led to the use of the law and the measures taken to deal with the emergency, it is expected that the final report to Parliament will indicate how to prevent events similar do not reproduce.
Still in its infancy, so far the commissioner has decided which stakeholders will be eligible to participate and is now finalizing with those deemed relevant – including the three levels of government, convoy organizers, police forces – the draft rules of procedure and practice.
Once this operation is completed, the parties concerned will have until July 18 to produce documents.
In what the commission considers a victory, on June 28 it was announced that the federal government had agreed to hand over sensitive Cabinet documents related to their review to invoke the law and its implementation.
In terms of the commission’s schedule, between July and October is considered the period in which submissions from members of the public and organizations, who do not have standing to participate in the inquiry, can be made.
While Commissioner Rouleau declined a request for an interview, the commission’s senior communications adviser, Michael Tansey, said the plan is to hold public hearings between September and October, and they will “probably” be in both in-person and virtual, with the final shaping yet to be ironed out.
From there, the focus will be on compiling all testimony received and heard, and then writing the report in both official languages with findings and recommendations by February 6, 2023.
“The Commission has a very broad mandate which must be fulfilled in a very short time. This will be a challenge which can only be met with procedural creativity and, above all, the cooperation of all parties. The Commission has committed to meeting its deadline, to conducting a serious investigation, and to doing so in a fair and transparent manner,” read a notice posted on the commission’s website on June 1.
PARLIAMENTARY SURVEY: SPECIAL JOINT COMMISSION ON THE DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY
First out the door when it comes to digging into the use of the Emergencies Act, so far this joint committee of MPs and Senators has held several meetings to hear from members of the cabinet, key police forces, as well as senior federal security officials, and issued a very brief interim report.
However, with what opposition MPs believe to have been ministerial non-responses and conflicting testimony from police and other officials as to what informed the invocation of the law, the committee co-chair, MP New Democrat Matthew Green told CTVNews.ca they were still a long way from getting the full picture of what happened.
“We have been frustrated by the government’s stonewalling and reluctance to provide our committee with even the most basic facts,” he said. “I’m someone who supported the law, by the way. I did, taking their word for it, and I’m really starting to question the veracity of their claims.”
A more political investigation by its nature, there have been criticisms that some of the interrogations may be more focused on scoring partisan points than finding the merits of the case.
Also, the committee is not expected to hold hearings for the next two months.
With a summer break from Parliament, the current thinking is that the panel will meet again in September to hold what Green called a one-day “super hearings”.
Green said the members will work in committee this summer, including digging into secret convoy-related documents they requested from the federal cabinet and are supposed to be turned over in July.
In Green’s opinion, it is also expected that, since Rouleau referred to the parallel work of the special joint committee, he will be able to access documents provided to the national inquiry, although he is operating as a independent review mechanism.
With no end date in mind and other hearings to come, among the witnesses who could be called this fall is Trudeau, Green said.
“I don’t want this to drag on. I think if the government were more open with their responses and the information we requested, we would go a lot further,” Green said. “Canadians deserve answers. This is a very serious thing that has just happened… If we don’t deal with it now, we will do it later.
Along the same lines, other House studies were triggered during and after the protests. The Committee on Public Safety and National Security’s study of the rise of ideologically motivated violent extremism recently concluded, concluding that more resources should be devoted to the issue.
The Procedure and House Affairs Committee continues to consider whether it is time to extend federal jurisdiction over operational security within the Parliamentary Precinct. Related to this is an ongoing conversation about moving beyond the current cement barricades to permanently block non-essential vehicle traffic on Wellington Street.
CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE: OTTAWA POPULAR COMMISSION ON THE OCCUPANCY OF THE CONVOY
As reported by CTV News Ottawa, on June 27, an Ottawa-based group announced it was taking it upon itself to launch a public commission into the effects of the convoy, believing that ongoing investigations into what happened in the nation’s capital aren’t t cutting it.
The “Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation” has appointed three commissioners who will write and deliver a report on how the occupation of downtown streets for weeks and the presence of protesters across the city have affected those who live and work in Ottawa.
The commission plans to hear from “ordinary citizens, advocacy organizations and social agencies, business owners, workers and others whose lives have been turned upside down during the occupation”, according to the co-chair of the commission and community activist Ken Rubin.
“We need answers from authorities on how such a damaging assault on the city could have happened,” Rubin said.
Community consultations are expected to be held throughout this summer and fall, with the intention of presenting a final report by the end of January 2023, to mark the one year anniversary of the launch of the convoy.
There is a desire to hear more from residents and the impacts they are feeling through the parliamentary process, Green told CTVNews.ca, noting that perspective has been “lost” in “high-level” meetings. ” that have taken place so far.
“I would absolutely be interested in them coming to testify before the committee and present their findings. They deserve to have a say,” Green said.
Earlier this spring, the Auditor General for the City of Ottawa also confirmed plans to undertake a review of the city’s response to the protests, including whether systemic issues within the Ottawa Police Service have compromised their response.