Public Safety Minister’s Deputy Sought Engagement With Convoy Protesters but Was Denied by Top Ministers

Police face off with Freedom Convoy demonstrators in Ottawa on Feb. 19, 2022. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

A proposal to engage with Freedom Convoy protesters involving high-level federal government officials was scrapped in favour of invoking the Emergencies Act, the Public Order Emergency Commission heard Oct. 25.

“I would very much appreciate the opportunity to consult you on federal-level engagement with the protestors, so I can provide informed advice to Ministers,” then-deputy minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart wrote in an email to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Insp. Marcel Beaudin on Feb. 10.

After the OPP and the RCMP provided their input on the proposal, Stewart reportedly brought it before cabinet ministers on the afternoon of Feb. 12, but it was evidently shot down.

The Trudeau government went on to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to clear cross-country protests and blockades demanding the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

Tom Marazzo, a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy, told The Epoch Times he wasn’t aware efforts were being made at the federal level to meet with protesters.

Marazzo had been involved in negotiations with the City of Ottawa to meet with Mayor Jim Watson in exchange for removing trucks from residential neighbourhoods.

“We wanted this obviously, but it was never told to us,” Marazzo said about the possibility of engagement with the federal government.

OPP Input

Insp. Beaudin, who was assigned to Ottawa during the protest due to his experience with the OPP’s Provincial Liaison Team (PLT), testified before the commission on Oct. 25. PLTs are used by law enforcement to make contact and negotiate with protesters in order to defuse or end situations.

After deputy minister Stewart reached out, Beaudin said he contacted PLT program analyst Leslie Jean for her input on the potential engagement, and he then provided Jean’s input essentially verbatim to Stewart.

Jean said police in Ottawa had identified several protest leaders who were willing to engage with police.

Beaudin told the commission these included Marazzo and Tamara Lich.

Jean also remarked that police action could not solve the issue on its own, given the nature of protesters’ grievances.

“Police are unable to solve the underlying issues. There is very limited capacity for police to solve this situation without some movement by government to allow demonstrators to have a ‘win’ of sorts,” Jean wrote.

She added that federal government officials had met with protesters during the rail blockades of 2020, which provided an exit strategy for the majority of demonstrators.

Jean also suggested a Health Canada official could announce that the Omicron wave had peaked, hence restrictions could be lifted according to a set timeline.

“Even if it is a week or two away so as not to have the optics of appeasing the protesters, it will likely relieve the pressure and the passion to remain might dwindle,” she said. “Again I’m sure this has been considered but that appears to be the only non-police action.”

Engagement Proposal

Many of Jean’s points ended up in an engagement proposal document that would be presented to cabinet by Stewart on Feb. 12, but the proposal to lift restrictions was edited out.

The draft document dated Feb. 12 was titled “Proposal: Trucker Protest Engagement” and had as its objective to “de-escalate and encourage people to leave unlawful protests.”

Its guiding principles were to coordinate effectively with police and to “provide [an] avenue for the airing of grievances without compromising the government’s position.”

It was recommended that senior officials from the federal and provincial governments in public safety and health policy sign a letter and/or meet with protesters’ representatives.

Under the section “Considerations,” the document said that “Engagement creates room for peaceful disbursement, before enforcement action is taken, and supports enforcement by evidencing other options have been tried.”

Attached to the document was an edited version of the input originally provided to Beaudin by Jean.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, who was consulted on the engagement proposal, wrote an email to OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique and Beaudin on Feb. 12.

“DM of Public Safety Rob Stewart sent me the attached draft for my review and comments. He advises that he validated the proposed approach with the OPP expert which I assume is you Marcel [Beaudin],” Lucki wrote.

“I am not the SME [subject-matter expert] in this area, but my folks are [a] bit worried on a few items and needed to get your thoughts. Obviously this is a strategy for tomorrow, so time is of the essence. Any red flags?”

It appears Carrique’s response was not provided to the commission.

Ministers’ Meeting

Deputy minister Stewart was satisfied with the plan and told Beaudin in an email on Feb. 12 the issue would be discussed at a meeting in the afternoon.

“I have to face the music this aft,” he wrote.

“If I can manage to work through this process, and the RCMP Commissioner will be privy to the discussion, I think I can assure you that the federal government’s commitment will be solid. But we have to get there first!”

Brendan Miller, counsel to the protesters at the commission, asked Beaudin if he knew why the proposal had not been adopted.

Beaudin said he thought the proposal was “dead in the water” due to the City of Ottawa having negotiated around the same time for the trucks to move out of residential neighbourhoods.

Miller instead suggested the meeting discussed by Stewart referred to a meeting of ministers and the Incident Response Group where they heard the engagement proposal.

Beaudin said he didn’t know about that.

“It was, I can tell you that, and then they invoked the Emergencies Act,” Miller said.

The Emergencies Act was invoked two days later on Feb. 14, without the federal government going ahead with the engagement proposal.