RCMP’s Lucki Said All Legal Tools Not Yet Exhausted Shortly Before Emergencies Act Invoked

An RCMP tactical vehicle drives past the Parliament Buildings after a massive police operation quelled the Freedom Convoy protest days earlier, in Ottawa on Feb. 20, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki said shortly before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to clear convoy protests that not all existing legal tools to deal with the protests had yet been exhausted.

“I am of the view that we have not yet exhausted all available tools that are already available through the existing legislation,” Lucki said in an email to Mike Jones, chief of staff to the minister of public safety, on the evening of Feb. 13.

“There are instances where charges could be laid under resisting authorities for various Criminal Code offences occurring right now in the context of the protest. The Ontario Provincial Emergencies Act just enacted will also help in providing additional deterrent tools to our existing toolbox.”

On the afternoon of Feb. 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he is invoking the Emergencies Act to clear convoy protests.

The email was tabled as part of evidence examined at the public inquiry into the use of the act during the testimony of Ottawa Police Service (OPS) interim chief Steve Bell on Oct. 24.

As required by the act, the Public Order Emergency Commission has been formed to evaluate if the high bar for the justification of the use of the act had been met before it was invoked.

The commission heard earlier from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) that in their view the use of the Emergencies Act wasn’t required to deal with the protests.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Oct. 21, 2020. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

In public remarks on different occasions, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had said that it was “on the advice of law enforcement” that the government invoked the act.

Both RCMP’s Lucki and OPS’s Bell later told lawmakers in parliamentary committees that they hadn’t asked the government to use the act. Both did welcome the additional enforcement powers the tool brought after it was invoked, however.

An official from Mendicino’s department told parliamentarians in June that the minister was misunderstood, and what he intended to say was that law enforcement had asked for the tools “contained in the Emergencies act.”

Email

Lucki’s email to Jones was in response to an email from him outlining a few requests.

The first part of the section in the email where Jones lists his requests is redacted.

Jones’s last request, which is not redacted, is about what the communication plan is for regular updates from “the three policing organizations” in the days ahead, presumably referring to the RCMP, the OPP, and the OPS.

Lucki addresses the communication question in her response, saying, “my comms people will be reaching into your comms to see what the Minister is looking as we would also have to coordinate with OPS & OPP.”

In other parts of her email, Lucki said that she can’t yet provide a “Critical Infrastructure list,” and addresses “the implications of the Emergencies Act” and the tools under the act that the RCMP may find useful.

These additional enforcement tools include prohibitions of assembly in areas such as airports and rail stations, making it an offence to provide gas to fuel protest trucks, giving the police powers to tow trucks, and “cell phone disruption,” among others.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report. 

Editor’s note: Details related to the timing of RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki’s email in this article were updated following her testimony at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Nov. 15, 2022.