“Criminalizing Dissent”

OTTAWA – “Freedom Convoy” lawyer Keith Wilson says he told protesters to stay in downtown Ottawa to oppose COVID-19 restrictions after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, even though police were warning people to leave the area.

Wilson told the public inquiry investigating the invocation of the act that he never imagined the federal government would use force against “non-violent” protesting Canadians.

OTTAWA – Many groups and individuals fought for control over the Freedom Convoy seeking its power, influence and the millions of dollars it fundraised online, said a lawyer for convoy organizers testifying at the Emergencies Act commission.

Keith Wilson, an Edmonton lawyer, came to represent many convoy organizers through the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. He said he was asked to go to Ottawa shortly after the convoy arrived in the city and took a private plane, picking up other lawyers in different cities. Wilson said he was told the private plane was necessary because several of his fellow passengers were unvaccinated.

One of the main lawyers representing some convoy organizers says the group was receiving leaked police information during the early days of protests that blocked streets in downtown Ottawa, the Emergencies Act inquiry heard.

Keith Wilson, who represents organizers including Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, is testifying Wednesday in front of the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is reviewing the federal government’s decision to invoke emergency powers to clear the crowds and vehicles that had gridlocked the capital for more than three weeks.

Before his testimony, Wilson sat down with commission lawyers for an interview. A summary of that interview was entered as an exhibit on Wednesday.

The Takeaway: Honest cops hate Trudeau.

Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber said Tuesday the anti-vaccine mandate protest that gripped Ottawa for weeks last winter was beset by “conflict” among different factions pushing their own agendas.

Claiming he only ever wanted to lead a peaceful protest against vaccine mandates, Barber told the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) inquiry investigating the convoy that he had nothing to do with a death threat directed at Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Someone threatened to “put a bullet” in Freeland’s head the day after someone tied to Barber’s group circulated flyers to the convoy that made inflammatory claims about her relationship with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was unable to explain text messages from last winter in which she suggested the federal government would ask police for retroactive support of the Emergencies Act and advocated using a messaging app that allows users to delete messages.

The country’s top Mountie spoke with reporters outside a House of Commons committee on Monday in Ottawa but gave few answers to questions.

“Freedom Convoy” organizer Chris Barber says the initial purpose of the protest was to get the federal government to listen to truck drivers’ concerns about cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Barber, 47, is the first of several organizers who will take the witness stand at the public inquiry investigating the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Barber runs his own trucking company in Swift Current, Sask., and was greeted with a smattering of applause from spectators in the room.

One story about the convoy protest is not aging well in 13 days of public hearings into events that rattled through Canada last winter.

This is the story — still embraced by some Conservative MPs and strident fans of the demonstrators— that the so called “Freedom Convoy” was merely a giant party that would have ended if the participants got a fair hearing from Justin Trudeau’s government.

Police and politicians had many fierce disputes about the convoy, we’ve learned in often-fascinating detail over the past three weeks, but one thing they appear to have all agreed upon is that it was a public-security threat of major proportions.

Ottawa’s former police chief says the force needs to confront bias and right-wing extremism in order to repair trust with its citizens in the aftermath of the “Freedom Convoy” protest.

Peter Sloly is continuing his testimony at the public inquiry investigating the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

A lawyer representing downtown businesses and community members asked Sloly this afternoon if he was aware of a double standard being applied to left-wing protests like Black Lives Matter in comparison to the treatment of convoy protesters who occupied the city for weeks.

Sloly but surely he’s blaming everyone but himself.

Newly released text messages show how the federal government was planning its communications strategy before the arrival of “Freedom Convoy” protesters in Ottawa back in late January.

Messages between a senior member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s staff and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s press secretary on Jan. 24 have been released by the inquiry investigating the government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

Sparks fly in cross-examination of ex-chief Peter Sloly at Freedom Convoy inquiry

Former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly denied, deflected or debated most negative assertions about his performance during the Freedom Convoy protests made by the force’s lawyer during a very testy cross-examination at the Emergencies Act inquiry.

The Ontario Provincial Police’s intelligence efforts during last winter’s convoy protests included preparing a detailed profile of a provincial politician who was advocating against pandemic restrictions, along with similar profiles of a former RCMP sniper, a far-right group, several convoy organizers and others, newly released documents show.

OTTAWA – It was a scene of chaos and confusion in the upper tiers of the police service and local government when a convoy of big rigs and protesters arrived in Ottawa to demand an end to pandemic restrictions last winter.

That’s the picture witnesses have painted over the first couple of weeks of hearings at the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is investigating the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act in February to bring an end to the weeks-long demonstration.

The inquiry also heard about the plight of the capital’s downtown residents, who recounted their suffering as lawlessness and around-the-clock blaring truck horns took over their community, and businesses that were forced to shut down.