Emergencies Act not RCMP request, commissioner says
OTTAWA — RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki told MPs the Emergencies Act gave police across the country the tools to end Freedom Convoy protests, but said her force did not ask for the act to be invoked.
Lucki told MPs that the RCMP didn't directly request the act, but she said the RCMP was in discussions in the week before the act was invoked. She said in a variety of meetings the idea was raised, but it was the government's decision to use it.
“We were the ones who would be using those authorities so we were consulted to see if they would be of any use to police,” she said.
She said the act was enormously helpful, because it reduced the size of the Ottawa protest, which made it easier to finally move in and clear it.
“The measures enacted under the Emergencies Act provided all police officers across the country, not just the RCMP, with the ability to deal with blockades and unlawful public assemblies,” she told MPs
Lucki and CSIS director David Vigneault testified late Tuesday night at the parliamentary committee looking into the invocation of the act.
The act was invoked on Feb. 14 and put in place for nine days, giving the government the authority to freeze bank accounts, force tow trucks into service and prevent protesters from entering certain areas.
Senator Peter Harder brought up statements by then-Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly, who said there might not be a policing solution to the convoy protests. Harder argued the need for the act was the result of a policing failure.
Lucki said she believed there were ways to end the protest, but stressed it was unlike anything else she had seen and was a very difficult situation.
“It's hard for me to evaluate or pass judgment on Chief Sloly, but I will say that I do believe there's always enforcement options,” she said.
Sloly asked for more resources from the RCMP and OPP several times during the protest. Lucki said they provided what they could, but at a certain point needed more information before committing officers.
“When there was an additional request for resources, we were inquiring as to how they were going to use those additional resources, because for us to get additional resources we'd have to go outside of Ontario and Quebec.”
Harder said he sees the protests stranglehold on downtown Ottawa as a failure of policing.
“I just want to emphasize that in my view, the actions by police prior to the invocation of the act demonstrated a series of police failures not wilful failures, but the inability of police to contain and act appropriately,” he said.