ANALYSIS: Where Are the Protagonists of the Emergencies Act Crackdown Two Years Later?

People participate in a Freedom Convoy rally protesting the federal vaccine mandate for truckers and other pandemic restrictions, in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

Many public figures became household names around the time of the Freedom Convoy in the winter of 2022, for actions they took or didn’t, or for what they said or perhaps wish they hadn’t.

The Federal Court ruled Jan. 23 that invoking the Emergencies Act was not justified and that it led to violations of charter rights. Here’s a look at the status of key figures involved in the events.

David Lametti

Liberal MP David Lametti was the justice minister and attorney general when hundreds of truckers protesting the vaccine mandate descended on Ottawa in late January 2022.

He and his team of lawyers were responsible for drawing the legal opinion advising cabinet about whether it had grounds to invoke the Emergencies Act (EA) to deal with the Ottawa protest and simultaneous cross-country border blockades. It’s a blunt tool that replaced the War Measures Act in the 1980s and that hadn’t been used previously.

The public remains unaware of what that legal opinion said, with the government refusing to lift the veil. During the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) into the EA in late 2022, Commissioner Paul Rouleau asked Mr. Lametti how he could assess the reasonableness of the invocation without seeing the legal opinion.

“I guess the answer is we just assume they acted in good faith in application of whatever they were told. Is that sort of what you’re saying?” said Mr. Rouleau.

“I think that’s fair,” responded Mr. Lametti, a MP from Montreal.

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Mr. Rouleau eventually sided with the government in his final report, whereas Mr. Lametti was eventually dropped entirely from cabinet in a July shuffle.

The former justice minister had joked with then-minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino about sending tanks against protestors during the early days of Freedom Convoy, text messages released to the public inquiry revealed.

“How many tanks are you asking for,” wrote Mr. Mendicino to Mr. Lametti on Feb. 2. “I just wanna ask Anita how many we’ve got on hand,” he added in reference to then-defence minister Anita Anand. “I reckon one will do!!” replied Mr. Lametti.

While this exchange appears humorous in nature, Mr. Lametti did tell Mr. Mendicino in a serious tone to get the military involved “if necessary.”

Marco Mendicino

Like Mr. Lametti, Mr. Mendicino was removed from cabinet entirely in July. During the winter of 2022, the Toronto MP then in charge of Public Safety made assertions that turned out to be inaccurate.

Mr. Mendicino repeatedly said that the federal government invoked the EA on the advice of law enforcement, but testimony from police leaders and evidence shown at POEC did not validate the claim. Instead, senior officers said they believed the EA was not needed.

Mr. Mendicino also claimed that the EA had been invoked to compel towing companies to remove the trucks in downtown Ottawa, but evidence shows the power was not needed or used.

On the nature of the protest, Mr. Mendicino asserted its intent was to “overthrow” the government. He based this on a repudiated “manifesto” saying protesters should get in league with the Senate and Governor General to repeal the vaccine mandates. Neither the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) nor the RCMP assessed the protest as a national security threat.

Mr. Lametti’s and Mr. Mendicino’s offices did not respond to a request for comment.

Security Heads

Then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki was likely under tremendous pressure to fix the situation in front of Parliament Hill during the convoy protest. Yet her advice to government, hours before it invoked the EA, was to say that other options remained on the table.

“I am of the view that we have not yet exhausted all available tools that are already available through the existing legislation,” Ms. Lucki said in an email to Mr. Mendicino’s chief of staff on Feb. 13. She nevertheless testified at POEC she had found the tools provided by the EA were “useful.”

Ms. Lucki retired in March 2023, some weeks before the official end of her five-year term.

Another federal official who played a key role in the events and recently retired is Jody Thomas, who became the prime minister’s Nationa Security and Intelligence Advisor just before the convoy rolled into Ottawa.

Ms. Thomas argued at POEC that the threat definitions in the CSIS Act, which have to be used to declare a public order emergency under the EA, were too narrow.

“The public order emergency is assigned meaning by the CSIS Act but is not restricted by the CSIS Act,” she said. This was in opposition to what other top public servants and the prime minister said, as they argued the threat under the CSIS Act regarding potential violence had been met.

Ms. Thomas’ opinion that the events constituted a threat to national security also differed from that of leaders of security agencies.

Confusion was not limited to this area. CSIS Director David Vigneault’s interview summary with the POEC indicates his agency assessed that the protests did not meet the threshold under the CSIS definitions, which include espionage or sabotage, foreign influence activities, terrorism, and attempts to violently overthrow the government.

Nevertheless, when testifying before Mr. Rouleau, the CSIS director said he advised the prime minister the EA should be invoked. Mr. Vigneault currently remains in his role.

Promotion

Whereas Mr. Lametti and Mr. Mendicino were fired from cabinet, another minister closely involved in the events received a promotion.

At the time, Bill Blair was minister of Emergency and Preparedness. He had previously held the entire Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness portfolio but retained only the emergency half after the 2021 elections, whereas Mr. Mendicino took over public safety.

Mr. Blair had claimed that border blockades were a “largely foreign-funded, targeted, and coordinated attack.” This claim has not been substantiated. CSIS and Canada’s financial intelligence agency FINTRAC have said it was primarily a domestic issue with no nefarious links.

Mr. Blair was promoted to Minister of Defence in July.

As for the two top officials responsible for invoking the EA, they remain where they were two years ago.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet commented on the Federal Court ruling, with the task being left so far to his deputy Chrystia Freeland and other ministers.

Ms. Freeland oversaw the freezing of protesters’ bank accounts as finance minister, a move that according to the court violated Section 8 of the charter which protects against unreasonable searches. She told reporters on Jan. 23 it was the right thing to do.

“I was certain after a lot of deliberations with colleagues and many others that we took the right decision,” Ms. Freeland said. “I was certain at the time, I was certain when I testified before Rouleau, and I remain certain today.”

Omid Ghoreishi contributed to this report.