Canucks stage showdown with Fidel Jr

[keehah]

Tamara Lich is Métis and a grandmother.

ctvnews.ca: 'Freedom Convoy' leader Tamara Lich released from custody

March 7, 2022
An Ontario judge ruled Monday that the previous judge who denied Lich bail made errors in law. The Alberta resident was released on $25,000 in bonds and must leave Ottawa within 24 hours and Ontario within 72 hours.

Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and remained in custody after initially being denied bail. Lich spearheaded a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the convoy, which was shut down after raising more than $10 million. The Medicine Hat, Alta. native is charged with counselling to commit mischief.

Justice John Johnston said in his decision that in denying Lich bail two weeks ago, Justice Julie Bourgeous erred when weighing the seriousness of Lich's charges by comparing them to the seriousness of the impact of the "Freedom Convoy" and not to other criminal code offences.

Lich, 49, Johnston noted, had lived a "pro-social" life prior to these charges and had no criminal record, suggesting that these factors may be grounds for a lighter sentence, should Lich be convicted. Johnston was concerned that Lich could spend more time in pre-trial custody than a sentence might deliver...

Lich is also prohibited from accessing or using social media, or having anyone use it on her behalf. She also cannot attend or engage in any future protests of COVID-19 mandates. Lich's surety must have easy and regular access to her electronic devices to ensure this. She is also prohibited from being in contact with several other organizers or leaders of the convoy movement.

During last week's bail review, an argument was put forward in regard to the previous judge who denied Lich bail. Lich argued that had she known of Justice Julie Bourgeois's unsuccessful run as a federal Liberal Party candidate in 2011, she would have asked Bourgeois recuse herself because the "Freedom Convoy" was a protest against the current Liberal government.

globalnews.ca: RCMP gave banks police info on Ottawa protesters with list of accounts to freeze

March 7, 2022
The RCMP told MPs Monday that it only gave the names of people directly involved in Ottawa protests to banks to freeze their accounts, and not supporters who donated to the so-called Freedom Convoy.

The lists of protesters given to banks included personal details from the police database, such as whether protesters had been suspected of other crimes, had witnessed crimes or had other “dealings” with the police, as well as personal information such as age and height.

RCMP Supt. Denis Beaudoin told the House of Commons finance committee that banks, building societies and other institutions were sent “different types of information” from the police database on protesters, depending on what was in their files...

Angelina Mason of the Canadian Bankers Association said the RCMP, when it identified people involved in the protests, gave the banks “a high-level description of what they thought the activities were” in Ottawa.

The RCMP told the committee that around 257 accounts of people and businesses involved in the protests had been frozen by financial institutions.

Assistant RCMP Commissioner Michel Arcand said the accounts were frozen to encourage protesters in Ottawa to leave and to discourage others from joining the protests.

He said the special measures in the Emergencies Act freezing accounts were useful and “did encourage people to leave.”..

The Emergencies Act was in force from Feb. 15 to 23. It was invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time in Canada’s history to deal with the protests.

The act imposed a legal obligation on banks to freeze the accounts of protesters named by the RCMP.

All those who had their accounts frozen under the emergency laws have now had them unfrozen, according to Mason, though some related to court orders may still be frozen.

She said that banks were likely to retain information in their files that an individual’s account had been frozen. However, it was up to individual banks how to deal with their customers.

[keehah]

More on Ottawa woke tyranny (and the Marxist's war against independent business):

citynews.ca: Downtown [Ottawa] businesses forced to [remain closed] amid ongoing demonstrations

Feb 7, 2022
As the city continues to grapple with the ongoing demonstrations, businesses have been at the brunt of the impact.

That's because some of those downtown businesses, especially, were forced to close its doors for nearly a week, according to Chair of Ottawa Coalition of BIAs, Michelle Groulx.

Groulx explained to The Sam Laprade Show on Monday, February 7, that many businesses have also been fearful of opening since restrictions have eased on January 31, when the protest was in its third day.

"We're seeing a lot more closures directly because of the protests, whether it'd be fear of safety, noise, and then also obstruction," she explained. "We're seeing a lot of business closed, a lot businesses had to send staff home and so you have a lot of people who haven't really been working for the past week."

theparadise.ng: The Iconic Cafe Evicted After Serving Truckers During Freedom Convoy Protest

March 9, 2022
The Iconic Cafe had come under attack from both the Ottawa Police and the City of Ottawa itself during the Freedom Convoy protest around Parliament ended, because they undermined the liberal establishment’s narrative about the truckers and their supporters.

Enrico and Deborah Kuhn, the husband and wife owners of the Iconic Cafe, ignored Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s request that businesses around the protest zone close while the Freedom Convoy was in the city. They both knew the truckers posed no danger to them and they desperately needed the business the truckers brought due to the past two years of restrictions and lockdowns affecting their cafe.

By staying open the Iconic Cafe showed the narrative about the truckers being “extremists” keeping small businesses from opening was an entirely false narrative created by the city government and pushed by the legacy media.

thenationaltelegraph.com: The Iconic Cafe Evicted After Serving Truckers During Freedom Convoy Protest

[~1 day ago]
The landlord of the building the Iconic Cafe rents space in has apparently now arbitrarily decided to evict them for being “behind on rent” in spite of the fact that is true about many businesses around the area. It also comes after the Khuns were able to pay back over $15 000 following their business boom during the Freedom Convoy

The Youtube channel Live From The Shed discussed the details of this removal yesterday during a live stream. It is clear that the issue of the rent is merely being used as an excuse to force the Iconic Cafe to move locations in retaliation for an opening while the Freedom Convoy was in Ottawa. It is unclear whether the landlord is voluntarily forcing them out or if the City of Ottawa put pressure on them to evict the Iconic Cafe.

[keehah]

Communist totalitarian destruction and death aside, hysterical incompetence for the lols!

cbc.ca: Trudeau's intelligence adviser backs use of Emergencies Act to clear Ottawa convoy protest

Mar 10, 2022
The prime minister's national security and intelligence adviser said Thursday the government was right to invoke the Emergencies Act to clear out the anti-vaccine mandate protest that took over downtown Ottawa last month because the protesters were "dug in" and "there's no doubt [they] came to overthrow the government."

"Whether their ability to do that was there, whether their understanding of how to do that was realistic, is actually irrelevant to what they wanted to do," Jody Thomas said. "I think we have to think about it from that lens."

Thomas, the former deputy minister of national defence, became one of Justin Trudeau's top advisers almost two months ago.

Speaking at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence Thursday, Thomas said the Emergency Act is meant for extreme situations and the so-called 'freedom convoy' met that bar...

"We have lived in the splendid, naive superiority that this was not our problem in Canada. That this was a south-of-the-border problem, that it existed in other countries, but not in Canada and that's simply not true. I am concerned about it."

Thomas said the government has "a lot to unpack" in order to understand the problem and address it.

breitbart.com: Trudeau Advisor Claims Freedom Convoy Protestors Wanted to Overthrow Government

12 Mar 2022
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser Jody Thomas spoke out about the use of the Emergencies Act, which was invoked for the first time in Canadian history by Prime Minister Trudeau last month, to end the weeks-long Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa.

“The occupation of Ottawa in and of itself was enough,” Thomas insisted at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence earlier this week.

“The occupation of Ottawa was dug in. They had supply chains. They had organization. They had funding coming in from across Canada but also other countries,” Thomas continued, alleging that “The people who organized that protest – and there were several factions … there is no doubt – came to overthrow the government,” according to a Globe and Mail newspaper report.

Thomas went on to claim that while the border blockades in Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta had ended along with the protest in downtown Ottawa, the government needed to address issues relating to ideological extremism.

“Domestic, ideologically motivated extremism is here and it is here to stay. We have lived in the splendid, naïve sort of superiority that this was not our problem in Canada – that this was a south-of-border problem,” she said.

Despite the claims of Ms Thomas, none of the Freedom Convoy protestors stormed the Canadian parliament or any other government building during the weeks of protests, and media were forced to admit the demonstrations had been almost entirely peaceful.

[osoab]

https://twitter.com/Chi_Hinm/status/...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

They’ve made it essentially illegal to protest in Ontario Canada. Yet another example of how they flipped a socialist government into a communist government.

[osoab]

They arrested the trucker chick again if you hadn't seen the headline. Maybe due to the new convoy??
Tamara Lich, Ottawa convoy protest organizer, arrested in Alberta for breach of court conditions

Found this a nice read too.

The truth about why Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act may lead to his resignation

And a new convoy??

‘When I see the Canada flag now, it hurts my heart.’ As Freedom Convoy returns, there’s a tug-of-war over the Maple Leaf

[keehah]

Good news from Canada and Canadians!!!
Alarming and disquieting news for predatory internationalist slavers and their corporate journalists!


nsnews.com: Baldrey: Poll raises alarm about growing extremism in Canada

Jun 27, 2022
The firm Abacus Data sampled the views of 1,500 Canadians back in May and what it discovered is both alarming and disquieting to say the least.

For example, 52 per cent said that “official government accounts of events can’t be trusted.” And 44 per cent said “much of the information we receive from news organizations is false.”

So roughly half the population do not trust two key pillars of established society – government and the news media...

More than one-third – 37 per cent – said they “think there is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Canadians with immigrants who agree with their political views.” This is known as “replacement theory”, a racist view commonly cited by white supremacists (including the 18-year-old killer of 10 black people in Buffalo in May).

Then there is the finding that millions of Canadians are conspiracy theorists: 16 per cent think the last U.S. election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, 18 per cent think the Royal Family killed Princess Diana (a further 35 per cent think the idea is “plausible”) and 20 per cent think the World Economic Forum has a secret strategy to control the world.

What this poll shows is that Canada is not radically different than the United States when it comes to being home to millions of people who hold unorthodox views...

Indeed, this poll shows why that odious trucker convoy that occupied downtown Ottawa in January and February seemed to attract a not-insignificant amount of support.

Edit to add:

abacusdata.ca: Millions of Canadians Lack Trust in Government and News Media
June 8, 2022

abacusdata.ca: Millions believe in conspiracy theories in Canada
JUNE 12, 2022

abacusdata.ca: COVID Conspiracy Beliefs Embraced by Millions
June 14, 2022

abacusdata.ca: Millions of Canadians Believe US Election Was Stolen From Trump
June 22, 2022

[keehah]

Twenty year Canadian journalist credentialed with a long record of reporting at major Canadian newspapers and cable news, that came out of another near 20 year retirement to help film a documentary on the Ottawa Trucker protest, talks about the failure, "agenda" and "predetermined approach, reality be dammed" from establishment Canadian journalism covering the same protest.

"How is it they reported what they reported because it wasn't what we saw."

"They [CTV and CBC] must have been ordered to have a predetermined direction in their story."

"Misinformation on social media it's what they call anything that doesn't fit the narrative."

Video of interview on Rumble:
[UPDATED] There Is Definitely A Covid Agenda -Rodney Palmer, Longtime Canadian Journalist
Bright Light News Published September 5, 2022
20:26


Writeup of interview:

lifesitenews.com: Longtime Canadian journalist calls out mainstream media for pushing spurious COVID narrative
Sep 8, 2022

[keehah]

Federal attorney general wanted facts removed from citizen's challenge of act of banning travel of citizens withing country.

theepochtimes.com: Travel Vax Mandate Lawsuit: Canadian Court Dismisses Feds’ Motion to Remove Challengers’ Supporting Documents

Two businessmen taking the Canadian federal government to court over its vaccine mandate for travel have defeated an attempt by the attorney general (AG) to remove from the record portions of their affidavits in support of their position.

Case management judge Mireille Tabib dismissed the AG motion on May 25 in the case of Shaun Rickard and Karl Harrison against Transport Canada and the AG.

The case represents one of four lawsuits against the federal mandate that will be jointly heard by the court in September. The other separate lawsuits have been filed by PPC Leader Maxime Bernier, former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford along with five applicants, and Quebec lawyer Nabil Belkacem.

Toronto civil litigation lawyer Sam Presvelos, who represents Rickard and Harrison, told The Epoch Times that the AG sought to remove parts of his clients’ affidavits that explain what information they reviewed before choosing not to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Presvelos said that among the documents the AG wanted removed were official government information and statements from public health officials that were contradictory at times, such as on the usefulness of masks or on border closures. The AG also wanted to remove information that said unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals can carry the same amount of viral load.

“We believe the government didn’t like this information in the record—they took the position that the Applicants were masquerading as doctors/experts and that the evidence was hearsay because they did not publish the data, [so] they cannot opine on the data given their lay background,” Presvelos wrote in an email on May 27.

Presvelos says he argued against the motion by telling the court that the applicants’ affidavits had not been submitted as expert testimonies but rather as a way for the judge to understand the applicants’ “state of mind” and that they could be “relevant to a Charter analysis.”

theepochtimes.com: Vaccine Mandates Lawsuits Over ‘Mootness’

October 21, 2022
A judge in the federal court rejected on Thursday the four lawsuits challenging the government’s travel vaccine mandate by citing “mootness.”

Justice Jocelyne Gagné published a short decision that didn’t explain her rationale, saying it would come at a later date.

Gagné ruled in favour of a mootness motion brought forward by the attorney general (AG) on June 28, eight days after the federal government lifted its domestic vaccine mandate for planes, trains, and some marine vessels.

Millions of unvaccinated Canadians were unable to use these means of transportation starting October 2021, or to leave the country given U.S. border restrictions.

The AG’s motion argued that since the mandate had expired, it did not exist as law and hence a court ruling on the matter would have “no practical effect.”

Challengers to the mandate pleaded that dismissing their case would allow the government to impose controversial measures and argue mootness to avoid accountability.

The challengers have four different lawsuits. One includes businessmen Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickard, and another former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford and co-applicants. PPC Leader Maxime Bernier also filed, along with Quebec lawyer Nabil Belkacem.

Gagné heard arguments from all the parties during an in-person hearing on Sept. 21. With the delay in providing her decision and the court hearings slated to begin on Oct. 31, it gave hope to some of the applicants that the hearing would go ahead.

Rickard earlier on Oct. 20 was encouraging supporters to sign up on the federal court website to watch the hearing, but his mood changed later when the ruling came down.

“We were totally blindsided,” Rickard told The Epoch Times.

merriam-webster.com: mootness doctrine

Legal Definition of mootness doctrine

: a doctrine in judicial procedure: a court will not hear or decide a moot case unless it includes an issue that is not considered moot because it involves the public interest or constitutional questions and is likely to be repeated and otherwise evade review or resolution

Future news report: Federal attorney general claims he was 'totally blindsided'.

liberal.ca/our-platform/mandatory-vaccination/

To finish the fight against COVID-19, protect people at work, ensure businesses can get back up to speed, and, most importantly, make sure our kids can safely return to school, we need to do everything we can to keep public spaces safe.

A re-elected Liberal government will:

• Require that travellers on interprovincial trains, commercial flights, cruise ships, and other federally regulated vessels be vaccinated.
• Ensure vaccination across the federal public service. As the country’s largest employer, this will protect the health and safety of the federal public servants and their communities, across Canada.
• We will also keep working with employers in Crown corporations and federally regulated workplaces to ensure vaccination is prioritized for workers in these sectors.

mRNA clot-shots offered this fall are updated for last winter's mild sniffles.

cbc.ca: Trudeau urges Canadians to get their COVID, flu shots to avoid other health measures

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians to get their influenza and COVID-19 vaccines soon to avoid the need for additional health measures this winter.

Speaking at an announcement in Kanata, Ont. on Monday, Trudeau encouraged Canadians to ensure they receive the full complement of COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccines.

"If we are able to get a high enough of level of vaccination, we reduce the danger of having to take other health measures to make sure that we're all safe and not overloading our hospitals," Trudeau said...

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said last week that he'll recommend the return of mask mandates if the province's health care system becomes too strained...

The share of the population that has received the primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine — one or two doses, depending on the product — has levelled out at around 80 per cent since February. About 49 per cent of Canadians have received the primary series and one additional booster...

Ontario opened appointments Monday for everyone aged 12 and over to receive Omicron-targeted vaccine doses...

"There are new formulations that cover both Omicron and the original strain of COVID," Trudeau said. "We encourage everyone to get those vaccinations to keep pressure off of our hospitals, off our frontline heroes who are working so hard to keep people safe, but also to keep pressure off of our economy and our communities."...

In a statement released earlier this month, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization issued a recommendation that everyone aged 12 and older be offered a fall COVID-19 booster dose, regardless of the number of booster doses previously received.

The committee also said its "preferred" product for booster doses is a bivalent Omicron-containing mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

[keehah]

wikipedia.org: Canada convoy protest

Results and aftermath Parliamentary committee investigations

The House of Commons committee structure lent itself to ongoing investigations, in the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) and the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) and the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC).

Early in March 2022, a Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency (DEDC) of the Senate and the House of Commons was struck to investigate the events associated with it.

ctvnews.ca: No direct request for Emergencies Act from Ottawa police, interim chief says

May 17, 2022
“We were involved in conversations with our partners and with the political ministries,” [Interim Chief Steve] Bell said. “We didn’t make a direct request for the Emergencies Act.”

Last week, RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki told a parliamentary committee that the Mounties were consulted on the Emergencies Act decision, but they did not request that it be invoked.

cbc.ca: CSIS didn't feel convoy protests constituted a national security threat under the law: documents

Nov 14, 2022
Like all witnesses appearing before the commission David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), sat for an interview with the inquiry's lawyers over the summer.

A summary of that conversation was shared with journalists Monday.

"Mr. Vigneault stated that at no point did the service assess that the protests in Ottawa or elsewhere [those referred to as the "Freedom Convoy" and related protests and blockades in January-February 2022] constituted a threat to security of Canada as defined by section 2 of the CSIS Act and that CSIS cannot investigate actively constituting lawful protest," reads the document...

In order to declare a public order emergency, the Emergencies Act requires that there be "an emergency that arises from threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to be a national emergency" and defers to CSIS's definition of "threats to the security of Canada."

Vigneault told the commission lawyers he learned the Emergencies Act cited the CSIS Act once the government began to seriously consider invoking the legislation around Feb. 10-13.

"He requested that the service prepare a threat assessment on the risks associated with the invocation of the Emergencies Act," said Vigneault's interview summary.

"He felt an obligation to clearly convey the service's position that there did not exist a threat to the security of Canada as defined by the service's legal mandate."..

In his interview with commission lawyers, Vigneault also said that the threshold imposed by the CSIS Act is very specific.

"For example, the determination that something may not constitute a threat to national security under section 2 of the act does not preclude a determination that a national security threat under a broader definition, or from the perspective of the public, does exist," says the summary of Vigneault's interview...

"The cabinet is making that decision and their interpretation of the law is what governs here and the advice they get," said [ former deputy minister of Public Safety Rob] Stewart, who has since moved to another government department.

"And their decision was, evidently, the threshold was met."...

The day after the act was triggered, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino defended his government's decision on national security grounds, saying that several of the individuals involved in the blockade at the border crossing in Coutts, Alta. had "strong ties to a far-right extreme organization with leaders who are in Ottawa."

"You have the RCMP, you have CSIS, you have the entire intelligence apparatus in the federal government and none of them said that this threshold was met, did they?" Miller asked Stewart.

"They weren't asked," Stewart said...

"CSIS did not assess that any foreign states supported the protests through funding; that foreign states deployed covert or overt disinformation techniques; or that any foreign state actors attempted to enter into Canada to support the protests," said the summary of the inquiry's interviews with Vigneault and Tessier...

Stewart told the commission's lawyers that invoking the Emergencies Act became a real option around Feb. 11, before the blockades at border crossings in Windsor, Ont. and Coutts, Alta. were cleared.

cbc.ca: CSIS head says he supported invoking the Emergencies Act last winter to address convoy protests

Nov 21, 2022
CSIS Director David Vigneault testified before the Public Order Emergency Commission Monday and sat for an in-camera session on Nov. 5. A summary of that behind-closed-doors hearing was entered into evidence at the inquiry.

Vigneault told the in-camera hearing that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked him for his advice at the end of a Feb. 13 meeting of the Incident Response Group, during which the Emergencies Act was discussed...

"Vigneault explained that, based on both his understanding that the Emergencies Act definition of threat to the security of Canada was broader than the CSIS Act, as well as based on his opinion of everything he had seen to that point, he advised the Prime Minister of his belief that it was indeed required to invoke the act," said the summary...

The commission heard previously that Vigneault didn't believe the self-styled Freedom Convoy constituted a threat to national security as defined by the CSIS Act.

On Monday, Vigneault expanded on that, adding that the agency's enabling legislation is narrow in scope...

And the fact that there was an evolving operational plan by law enforcement that, at that point, had not yet been put in place to be able to deal with this situation," he added.

"All of these elements of unpredictability, based on my experience, having been around national security issues for quite a few years now, led me to believe that the regular tools were just not enough to address the situation." ...

Vigneault said his understanding that the Emergencies Act's definition of a "threat to the security of Canada" was broader than the one in the CSIS Act came about after he asked the federal Department of Justice for a legal interpretation.

A lawyer for the federal government said the government has not waived solicitor-client privilege over the invocation of the act.

"This, I think, is the crux of the issue," Vigneault said during testimony Monday. "In the context of the Emergencies Act, there was to be separate interpretation based on the confines of that act."

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association questioned the broader definition of threats to the security of Canada.

"The government's argument appears to be that the Emergencies Act doesn't mean what it says," CCLA director Cara Zwibel said in a media statement Monday.

"It is relying on this novel interpretation to justify its decision to invoke."

nationalpost.com: Freedom Convoy rose to national emergency when 'critical' border crossings were closed, Bill Blair testifies

Nov 21, 2022
Testifying again Monday, this time publicly, Vigneault explained that he made his recommendation based on a legal interpretation from the Justice Department that the act’s definition of a threat to the security of Canada was broader than the one it refers to in the CSIS Act.

Many government witnesses, including the prime minister’s national security adviser Jody Thomas, have referred to that legal interpretation when arguing that cabinet could invoke the act because of a broader “national crisis” caused by Freedom Convoy blockades and protests.

That legal interpretation has not been made public because it is covered by solicitor-client privilege...

Vigneault said CSIS was not “investigating the convoy,” but was monitoring individuals it already had under surveillance who may have been attending, as well as new “potential threats” who could be radicalized and emerge through the protests...

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair became the first cabinet minister to testify at the inquiry Monday. He testified the government was extremely reluctant to invoke the Emergencies Act, but he felt in particular when border crossings were being closed, they had no choice but to act.

“That escalation I viewed as a significant escalation, because it did result in significant disruption to critical supply lines,” he said. “It was hugely impacted, and I believe that it had risen to the level of a national emergency.”

Blair said closing off the border points at the Ambassador Bridge and in Coutts, Alta., amounted to an attack on critical infrastructure in his mind.

“You don’t have to blow everything up to render it unusable.”

[keehah]

cbc.ca: PM's national security adviser suggested Emergencies Act's definition of a security threat should change

Nov 17, 2022
"The panel explained that security threats have evolved in the 40-year period since the enactment of the Emergencies Act," says a summary of that conversation...

"The panel concluded that the reference to a threat to the security of Canada as defined by section 2 of the CSIS Act in section 16 of the Emergencies Act should be reconsidered."

The act was passed in 1988 as a replacement for the War Measures Act. It had never been used before February of this year and is widely considered a measure of last resort.

[Jody] Thomas [PM's national security advisor] told the commission she was aware CSIS concluded the protests did not meet the threshold to declare a national emergency, but she felt the intelligence agency's mandate was too narrow.

The interview summary said some CSIS targets were present at the protests but they would have to escalate from rhetoric to inciting or carrying out serious violence to meet the service's legal threshold for declaring a national emergency...

"They did not know how long it would go on or how much larger it could get," said the interview summary.

"Once a tipping point of violence was reached, it would be too late, even with the police presence available."

Thomas also said [RCMP commissioner Brenda] Lucki never gave notice to the federal cabinet that police had firmed up an operational plan to end the blockades.

"There was no evidence there was a plan," said Thomas. "We had been told there was a plan multiple times."...

The commission heard earlier this week that Thomas asked for an urgent threat assessment just before noon on Feb. 14 — the day the federal government invoked the act.

"The characters involved. The weapons. The motivation. Clearly this isn't just COVID and is a threat to democracy and rule of law," Thomas wrote at the time...

Thomas said she and Vigneault met with deputy ministers on Feb. 14 and discussed how to define the threat posed by the protests.

She questioned whether events like the one that unfolded in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 — when demonstrators protesting the results of the presidential election stormed the Capitol building — should be the benchmark for defining something as a violent protest.

"Or is the violence that people of Ottawa were experiencing on the streets, the inability of people in Windsor to conduct their lives, the inability of town of Coutts to function, is that a line?" Thomas testified Thursday.

"I don't have an answer for it."

lifesitenews.com: Memo: Police falsely claimed Freedom Convoy protesters had weapons the day Trudeau invoked Emergencies Act

Oct 14, 2022
As reported by Blacklock’s Reporter: “The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in a briefing to deputy ministers the very day cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act falsely claimed Freedom Convoy protesters had weapons outside Parliament.”

The false claims of potentially violent weapons present at the non-violent demonstration came from a police memo citing a rumor sourced from unspecified “intelligence information.”

On February 14 – the day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the EA – the memo stated: “Intelligence information also suggests that convoy protesters are beginning to weaponize themselves.”

Despite the so-called “intelligence information,” no weapons of any kind were found in any of the trucks that were part of the massive convoy.

This, however, did not stop Trudeau’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and the widely-distributed Toronto Star from perpetuating the false claim.

A March 19 story from the Star reported: “Fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient… A police source said loaded shotguns were found.”

Mendocino was also quoted, saying: “It was nothing short of miraculous that nobody was seriously injured.”

These claims were later refuted by Ottawa Police interim chief Steve Bell during a March 24 testimony at the Commons public safety committee.

Giving testimony, the police acknowledged that there were neither loaded shotguns nor firearms of any kind found inside “Freedom Convoy” trucks parked at or near Parliament.

westernstandard.news: Trudeau's national security advisor claimed convoy protestors were 'preparing to be violent'

Nov 18, 2022
Jody Thomas, national security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, yesterday pointed to protesters’ tweets in justifying her claim the Freedom Convoy was a “threat to national interest.” Thomas was appointed as $306,000-a year security advisor last Jan. 11, just two weeks before protesters arrived on Parliament Hill.

“There were people preparing to be violent,” Thomas testified at the Public Order Emergency Commission. “We saw it on social media.”

“There was certainly anti-government sentiment throughout,” said Thomas, a former Coast Guard Commissioner. “The threat, the confidence in government institutions, the rhetoric, we have to look more broadly,” she added.

“As national security and intelligence advisor to the prime minister, when I see social media posts growing in number and aggressiveness of language that says somebody should kill the prime minister or someone should kill the deputy prime minister, I have reason to be concerned,” said Thomas, who was cross-examined by Freedom Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller:

Internal records released by the judicial inquiry indicate Thomas concluded the convoy represented a national emergency only minutes after Trudeau raised the issue with premiers on Feb. 14, the day cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act.

At 10:15 am that day Trudeau convened a premiers’ teleconference to announce he would invoke the Act. All but three provinces – British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador – opposed the measure.

At 11:44 am Advisor Thomas emailed the Privy Council Office: “I need an assessment about the threat of these blockades, the characters involved, the weapons, the motivation. Clearly this isn’t just COVID and it is a threat to democracy and rule of law.”

At 12:05 pm Advisor Thomas without receiving any Privy Council report emailed the Department of Public Safety: “This is about a national threat to national interest and institutions by people who do not care about or understand democracy, who are preparing to be violent, who are motivated by anti-government sentiment.”

Thomas’ views seemed to contradict advice from law enforcement agencies. The RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Ontario Provincial Police in memos and emails concluded “there was no serious violence in Ottawa,” the convoy “was not an extremist movement” and never “constituted a threat to the security of Canada,” “the actual leaders are not violent extremists” and there was “no intelligence to indicate these individuals would be armed.”

ctvnews.ca: Two provinces say they were blindsided by decision to invoke Emergencies Act

Oct. 13, 2022
OTTAWA - Provincial officials in Saskatchewan and Alberta got a Valentine's Day surprise from the prime minister this year when he called to say he was considering invoking the Emergencies Act, a public inquiry heard Thursday.Lawyers representing the two provinces were before the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is looking into the federal government's use of emergency powers to end to weeks of protests at border crossings and in downtown Ottawa.

“The call (on Feb. 14) was not so much about consulting, it was about telling,” said Saskatchewan government lawyer Mike Morris.

“That phone call was the first time the federal government told the government of Saskatchewan that it was considering invoking the Emergencies Act and declaring a public order emergency.”...

Saskatchewan and Alberta say they objected to its use and believe the law did not need to be applied across the country.

Alberta's lawyer, Mandy England, described in her opening statement before the commission how existing laws and police resources successfully ended a protest at the border in Coutts, Alta...

“None of the powers that were created under the federal Emergencies Act were necessary, nor were any of them used in Alberta to resolve the Coutts blockade,” she said.

The federal government is planning to argue the opposite. Robert MacKinnon, representing Justice Canada, said the Emergencies Act was “reasonable and necessary” given the circumstances across the country.