The deputy solicitor general for Ontario told the Emergencies Act inquiry on Thursday that the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa last winter did not pose a significant public safety risk.
“I was getting consistent messaging from Commissioner Carrique and from Deputy Minister Stewart that there were not any overriding public safety concerns,” said Mario Di Tomasso.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Thomas Carrique reports to Di Tomasso, and Rob Stewart was his counterpart at the federal level as deputy minister of public safety.
“From my perspective, what we did not see is any serious violence taking place at that point in time. So no murders, shootings, robbery, stabbings, aggravated assaults, nothing of that sort. So from my perspective, no overriding public safety concerns at that point in time,” said Di Tomasso, who was addressing his Feb. 3 handwritten notes relating to a call with Stewart.
Commission counsel Natalia Rodriguez pressed Di Tomasso on whether public safety could be broader than physical violence and he agreed.
“This protest was having a significant impact on Ottawa residents, and we’ve heard it described before by various witnesses that it was having a significant impact on the mental health and well being of the community. I completely accept that,” said Di Tomasso.
“Did it rise to the level of a public safety concern?” asked Rodriguez, to which Di Tomasso answered “No.”
Rodriguez then asked whether the information Di Tomasso was receiving changed over the course of the protest.
“Not so much in terms of public safety risks,” said Di Tomasso. “But the longer that this protest went on, the greater the concern was. It needed to be brought to an end, and so everybody certainly recognized the urgency of the situation.”
‘Helpful, but Not Necessary’
Di Tomasso’s interview summary with the commission prior to testifying says that his “personal opinion is that the federal use of the Emergencies Act was helpful, but not necessary.”He told the inquiry on Nov. 10 that the emergency powers had been useful to resolve the Ottawa protest and pointed to the indemnification it provided to towing companies who had refused to get involved to remove heavy vehicles.
Di Tomasso said at one point he didn’t think the federal government could have done anything differently in managing the events, but he did push back on an assertion Ontario should have done more given the core issue was the federal vaccine mandates.
“From my perception the federal government wanted to wash its hands of this entire thing,” Di Tomasso said in reference to comments made by National Security Advisor Jody Thomas during a Feb. 6 call between officials of the three levels of government.
“Would the Province be looking to the Federal Government if this protest was happening outside of the City of Ottawa?” Thomas said according to a transcript.
“I didn’t think that was appropriate at all, I thought that the federal government did have a role. At the end of the day, these protesters were in Ottawa, to protest mainly the imposition of a vaccine mandate on January 15 on international truckers,” Di Tomasso told the commission.
Rob Stewart is expected to testify before the inquiry on Nov. 14 and Thomas will testify in the coming weeks.
