Parliamentary Committee Notes: Overview - Freedom Convoy 2022

Issue:

In early 2022, several protests and blockades emerged across Canada, centered on anti-government sentiments related to the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Response:

Background:

The “Freedom Convoy 2022” was a manifestation of a growing movement centered on anti-government sentiments related to the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trucker convoys began their journey from various points in the country, and the movement arrived in Ottawa on Friday, January 28, 2022. In early February 2022, there was a significant increase in the numbers in protests and blockades in different locations across the country, including at strategic ports of entry (e.g., Ambassador Bridge, Ontario; Coutts, Alberta; Emerson and North Portal, Manitoba, and Pacific Highway, British Columbia).

Participants of these activities adopted several tactics that were threatening, caused fear, disrupted the peace, impacted the Canadian economy, and fed a general sense of public unrest – both in favour and against the movement. This included harassing and berating citizens and members of the media, including threats of violence and acts of vandalism and destruction of property, slow roll activity, slowing down traffic and creating traffic jams, especially near ports of entry, as well as protesters bringing children to protest sites to limit the level and types of law enforcement intervention. Many businesses were forced to close, either due to safety concerns or due to the disruption in the flow of goods and services through blocked ports of entry. The movement moved beyond a peaceful protest, and there was significant evidence of illegal activity. Regular citizens, municipalities and the province of Ontario initiated court proceedings that sought and obtained injunctive relief to manage the threats and impacts caused by the convoy’s activities. A proposed class-action has been filed on behalf of residents of Ottawa.

The situation rapidly evolved and escalated to a point where local law enforcement agencies, including for example the Ottawa Police Service, required additional assistance to address the unique situation of the illegal blockades. Disruptions at strategic ports of entry in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario prior to the declaration of the emergency included:

1. Ambassador Bridge, Windsor, Ontario:
The busiest crossing along the Canada-U.S. border was been blocked as of February 7, 2022. After an injunction was issued on February 11, 2022, law enforcement started to disperse protesters. On February 13, 2022, police enforcement action continued with reports of arrests being made and vehicles towed. The police and public works crews worked to place physical barriers and cleaned the roadway thorough the afternoon and evening, which allowed international traffic to resume crossing the Ambassador Bridge at midnight. The first Canada bound vehicles entered at approximately 00:40 hours on February 14, 2022.
2. Sarnia, Ontario:
On February 6, 2022, two large groups of protestors conducted a blockade of the provincial highway leading to and from the Sarnia Blue Water Bridge. This port of entry is Canada’s second busiest border crossing with imports and exports serving the oil and gas, perishable foods, livestock, and automotive sectors. The protest resulted in the suspension of all outbound movement of commercial and traveller vehicles to the U.S., along with reduced inbound capacity for incoming conveyances. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were able to restore order to the immediate area of the port of entry after ten hours of border disruption. On February 9, 2022, members of one of the protest groups established a highway blockade approximately 30 kilometres east of Sarnia on the provincial highway, resulting in the diversion of international traffic to emergency detour routes to gain access to the border. This activity continued until February 14, 2022 when access to the portion of the highway was restored.
3. Fort Erie, Ontario:
On February 12, 2022, a large protest targeted the Peace Bridge port of entry at Fort Erie, Ontario. This port of entry is Canada’s third busiest land border crossing responsible for millions of dollars in international trade each day of perishable goods, manufacturing components and courier shipments of personal and business goods being imported and exported. The protest disrupted inbound traffic for a portion of the day on February 12, 2022 and resulted in the blockade of outbound traffic until February 14, 2022 when the OPP and Niagara Regional Police were able to restore security of the trade corridor linking the provincial highway to the border crossing.
4. Emerson, Manitoba:
As of February 13, 2022, vehicles of the blockade remained north of the port of entry. Some local traveller traffic was able to enter Canada, however commercial shipments were unable to use the highway North of Emerson, resulting in disruptions to live animal, perishable and manufactured goods shipments into Canada, and exports to the U.S. The protesters allowed some live animal shipments to proceed through the blockade for export to the U.S.
5. Coutts, Alberta:
The blockade began on January 29, 2022, resulting in the disruption of Canada and U.S. border traffic. This port of entry is a critical commercial border point for the movement of live animals, oil and gas, perishable and manufactured goods destined for Alberta and western Saskatchewan. As of February 14, 2022, the RCMP, who is the police of jurisdiction pursuant to the provincial Police Service Agreement, arrested 11 individuals and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition. Four of these individuals were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, in addition to other offences. The RCMP restored access to the provincial highway North of Coutts on February 15, 2022 and border services were fully restored, but efforts continued to ensure that it remained open.
6. Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), and Metro area:
On February 12, 2022, several vehicles including a military-style vehicle broke through an RCMP barricade in south Surrey, BC, on their way to the Pacific Highway port of entry. Protesters forced the highway closure at the Canada-U.S. border in Surrey.

Municipal police were monitoring activity in:

Quebec

Halifax, Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

Toronto, Ontario

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Regina, Saskatchewan

Calgary, Alberta

British Columbia

Participants of these activities adopted several tactics that were threatening, caused fear, disrupted the peace, impacted the Canadian economy, and fed a general sense of public unrest – both in favour and against the movement. This included harassing and berating citizens and members of the media, including threats of violence and acts of vandalism and destruction of property, slow roll activity, slowing down traffic and creating traffic jams, especially near ports of entry, as well as reports of protesters bringing children to protest sites to limit the level and types of law enforcement intervention. Many businesses were forced to close, either due to safety concerns or due to the disruption in the flow of goods and services through blocked ports of entry. The movement moved beyond a peaceful protest, and there was significant evidence of illegal activity. Regular citizens, municipalities and the province of Ontario initiated court proceedings that sought and obtained injunctive relief to manage the threats and impacts caused by the convoy’s activities. A proposed class-action has been filed on behalf of residents of Ottawa.

On February 14, 2022, the Governor in Council directed that a proclamation be issued pursuant to subsection 17(1) of the Emergencies Act declaring that a public order emergency exists throughout Canada that necessitated taking special temporary measures to deal with the emergency.

The proclamation specified six types of temporary measures that were necessary to deal with the public order emergency:

  1. measures to regulate or prohibit any public assembly — other than lawful advocacy, protest, or dissent — that may reasonably be expected to have led to a breach of the peace, or the travel to, from or within any specified area, to regulate or prohibit the use of specified property, including goods to be used with respect to a blockade, and to designate and secure protected places, including critical infrastructure;
  2. measures to authorize or direct any person to render essential services of a type that the person is competent to provide, including services related to removal, towing and storage of any vehicle, equipment, structure or other object that was part of a blockade anywhere in Canada, to relieve the impacts of the blockades on Canada’s public and economic safety, including measures to identify those essential services and the persons competent to render them and to provide reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered,
  3. measures to regulate or prohibit the use of property to fund or support the blockade, to require any crowdfunding platform and payment processor to report certain transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and to require any financial service provider to determine whether they had in their possession or control property that belonged to a person who participated in the blockade,
  4. measures to authorize any peace officer to enforce municipal and provincial laws, and
  5. the imposition of fines or imprisonment for contravention of any order or regulation made under section 19 of the Emergencies Act.

These measures were implemented by the Emergency Measures Regulations and the Emergency Economic Measures Order.

The new measures that were introduced through the Emergencies Act provided new tools in the Emergency Measures Regulations and the Emergency Measures Economic Order to help law enforcement effectively address this unprecedented public order emergency. These were aimed at supplementing existing legislative frameworks related to prohibiting unlawful public assembly that interrupts the movement of people or goods, affects trade, interferes with critical infrastructure, or promotes violence against a person or property. This included measures that strengthened the ability to impose fines or imprisonment, and to secure and protect critical infrastructure, including border crossings and airports by prohibiting individuals from participating in or facilitating a public assembly that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace via:

The Prime Minister announced on February 23, 2022 that the declaration of emergency under the Emergencies Act was revoked. This meant that the Emergency Measures Regulations and the Emergency Economic Measures Order were also revoked and were no longer in effect as of the date of revocation.

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