Day 1 of Public Hearings, October 13, 2022 Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act

Day 1 of Public Hearings of the Public Order Emergency Commission, October 13, 2022 Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act FULL VIDEO.

View live stream footage of the Ottawa Protest.

Rouleau began the day with introductory remarks outlining how public commissions work and to describe to the viewing public what they can expect to see over the next month and a half, describing the Commission’s process as an exercise in “fact-finding”.

“Uncovering the truth is an important goal. When difficult events occur that affect the lives of Canadians, the public has a right to know what has happened,” Rouleau said.

In describing the mandate given to the commission by the federal cabinet, the Commissioner described that mandate in five sections:

1) To examine first the evolution and goals of the convoy movement and border protests and their leadership organization and participants.

2) The impact of foreign and domestic funding.

3) The impact, role and sources of misinformation and disinformation.

4) The economic impact of blockades.

5) The efforts of police and other responders prior to and after the declaration.

Justice Paul Rouleau explains the role of the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Rouleau outlines the requirements of the inquiry provided to him by the Federal Government, but whether or not the threshold was met to be invoked in first place is interestingly not one of them. Even though that is one of the items that Inquiry should be determining according to Perrin Beatty’s testimony in Parliamentary Committee on the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency.

Shantona Chaudhury Co lead Counsel explains how evidence and testimony will be presented at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Robert MacKinnon, Co Counsel testifies why they believe on, behalf of the Federal Government, that the Invocation of the Emergencies Act was necessary.

The Government of Saskatchewan’s Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act

Lawyers for the Saskatchewan government push back against Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act during their opening remarks.  “The government is concerned that residents’ rights may have been unnecessarily infringed by these measures.”

The Government of Alberta’s Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Mandy England, a lawyer representing the government of Alberta, testify that the invocation of the Emergencies Act was not justified.  “The existing law enforcement tools that were already in place were completely sufficient,” to remove the Coutts border blockade.

City of Windsor’s Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Ottawa Police Service Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Ontario Provincial Police Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Lawyers Representing Peter Sloly, Ottawa Police Service Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Brendan Miller Lawyer Representing Convoy Leaders Opening Statements Public Inquiry Invocation Emergencies Act.

Convoy lawyer says there was ‘no justification’ for use of Emergencies Act. Brendan Miller, a lawyer representing convoy leaders, explains during the Emergencies Act inquiry hearing why he thinks the law should not have been deployed.

“There was no justification whatsoever to invoke the Emergencies Act,” Miller said. “There was no reasonable or probable grounds to invoke the Emergencies Act and the government exceeded their jurisdiction both constitutionally and legislatively in doing so.”

Collision of Residents and Businesses of Ottawa Opening Statement at Public Inquiry Invocation Emergencies Act.

Criminal Lawyers Association CLA Opening Statement at Public Inquiry Invocation Emergencies Act.

Council for National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association NCFA Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act.

“The use of extra-ordinary powers under the Emergencies Act raises questions of whether the ends justify the means”.  “In the case of crowdfunding and fintech, the end result is that laws were passed without public scrutiny or due process. This presents a cautionary tale for Canadians and we will all benefit from scrutiny by this Commission into whether it is appropriate to rely on these extra-ordinary powers when the end result may be the erosion of the Rule of Law.”

Nini Jones Representing the National Police Federation Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms JCCF Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act.

“The use of the emergency powers to suppress political protest is a marked departure from the liberty that Canada is known for, and a serious infringement of Canadians’ fundamental Charter freedoms. The complete prohibition of peaceful protests in front of Parliament Hill, the seat of our democratic government, was unprecedented and unjustified,” states Justice Centre lawyer, Jorge Pineda. “The Inquiry is an opportunity to bring some measure of accountability to the government’s drastic decisions. We intend to demonstrate that the protest was peaceful, and not at all how the government and media has cynically portrayed it, and that law enforcement already had the legal tools needed to address any issues.”

“From our perspective, the government did not meet the requisite legal grounds to invoke a Public Order Emergency,” Honner said. “(T)he extraordinary measures that the government invoked were therefore inappropriate and indeed, outside their jurisdiction.”

Union of BC Indian Chiefs Opening Statements at the Public Inquiry for the Invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Appearances / Comparutions

Commission Co-lead Counsel Ms. Shantona Chaudhury
Mr. Jeffrey Leon

Commission Senior Counsel Mr. Frank Au
Ms. Erin Dann
Mr. Gabriel Poliquin
Ms. Natalia Rodriguez
Mr. Daniel Sheppard

Commission Regional Counsel Ms. Mona Duckett
Mr. Sacha Paul
Ms. Maia Tsurumi

Commission Counsel Mr. Stephen Armstrong
Mr. Misha Boutilier
Mr. Eric Brousseau
Ms. Sajeda Hedaraly
Ms. Alexandra Heine
Ms. Nusra Khan
Mr. Étienne Lacombe
Mr. John Mather
Ms. Allison McMahon
Mr. Jean-Simon Schoenholz
Ms. Dahlia Shuhaibar
Mr. Guillaume Sirois-Gingras

Commission Executive Director
Ms. Hélène Laurendeau
Government of Canada
Mr. Robert MacKinnon
Ms. Donnaree Nygard
Mr. Brendan van Niejenhuis
Ms. Andrea Gonsalves
Mr. Andrew Gibbs
Government of Saskatchewan Mr. P. Mitch McAdam, K.C.
Mr. Michael J. Morris, K.C.
Government of Manitoba Mr. Denis Guenette
Ms. Coral Lang
Government of Alberta Ms. Mandy England
Ms. Stephanie Bowes
Ms. Hana Laura Yamamoto
Mr. Peter Buijs
Ms. Shaheer Meenai
City of Ottawa Ms. Anne Tardif
Ms. Alyssa Tomkins
City of Windsor Ms. Jennifer L. King
Mr. Michael Finley
Mr. Graham Reeder
Mr. Peter Sloly Mr. Tom Curry
Ms. Rebecca Jones
Mr. Nikolas De Stefano
Ottawa Police Service Mr. David Migicovsky
Ms. Jessica Barrow
Ontario Provincial Police Mr. Christopher Diana
Ms. Jinan Kubursi
Windsor Police Service Mr. Thomas McRae
Mr. Bryce Chandler
Ms. Heather Paterson
National Police Federation Ms. Nini Jones
Ms. Lauren Pearce
Ms. Jen Del Riccio
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police
Ms. Aviva Rotenberg
CLA/CCCDL/CAD
Mr. Greg DelBigio
Ms. Colleen McKeown
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
Ms. Cheyenne Arnold-Cunningham
Counsel Meagan Berlin
Ms. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond
National Crowdfunding & Fintech
Association
Mr. Jason Beitchman
Canadian Constitution Foundation
Ms. Sujit Choudhry
Professor Alford Ms. Janani Shanmuganathan
Prof. Ryan Alford
Ottawa Coalition of Residents and Mr. Paul Champ
Businesses Ms. Emilie Taman
Ms. Christine Johnson
The Democracy Fund
Citizens for Mr. Rob Kittredge
Freedom, JCCF Coalition
Mr. Antoine D’Ailly
Mr. Alan Honner
Mr. Dan Santoro
Mr. Hatim Kheir
Mr. James Manson
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Ms. Cara Zwibel
Ms. Ewa Krajewska
The Convoy Organizers
Mr. Brendan Miller
Ms. Bath-Sheba Van den Berg
Insurance Bureau of Canada
Mr. Mario Fiorino