Lawyer encouraged convoy protest to continue

Wilson didn’t believe police had the power to prevent peaceful protest in Ottawa’s downtown core

“Freedom Convoy” lawyer Keith Wilson said he never imagined the federal government would use force against “non-violent, peaceful Canadians” when he encouraged protesters to remain in Ottawa after the Liberals invoked the Emergencies Act last winter.

Wilson testified on Wednesday about his involvement in the weeks-long protest at a hearing of the Public Order Emergency Commission, the public inquiry tasked with investigating the decision to invoke the act.

After Ottawa brought in the emergency powers Feb. 14, police warned the protesters, who were demonstrating against the federal government and COVID-19 mandates, that they would need to leave downtown Ottawa.

Several hundred vehicles had been blocking the streets in front of Parliament Hill since late January.

But Wilson and his team wrote to interim Ottawa police Chief Steve Bell to say that, in his opinion, police did not have the power to prevent a peaceful protest in the downtown core.

The message from police and others “that any Canadian citizen was no longer allowed to walk in downtown Ottawa or hold a sign in front of their Parliament was not legally accurate and was against the Charter,” Wilson testified Wednesday. At that point, “it was obvious” police were planning some kind of operation, he said.

On Feb. 15, one of the convoy’s organizers, Chris Barber, invited Wilson to appear in a TikTok video with him encouraging protesters to stay in the core.

“This emergency order from the federal government does not restrict Canadians’ rights of peaceful assembly,” Wilson said in the video, which was entered into evidence at the commission.

He told viewers it looked like police were “gearing up,” but one way to stop that from happening was for Canadians to “come to Ottawa as soon as you can get here and stand with the truckers.”

A few days later, on Feb. 18, police launched a major operation to arrest and clear protesters out of the core.

During his testimony, Wilson was asked whether he was concerned he was encouraging demonstrators to put their own safety at risk in the police operation.

“I’m a Canadian and I never imagined that our government, our federal government, would use that level of force against non-violent, peaceful Canadians,” he said.

The commission is tasked with determining whether the government was justified in triggering the never-before-used act, which became law in 1988.

It is holding public hearings in Ottawa until Nov. 25.

‘‘ I never imag- ined that our government our federal government, would use that level of force against non-violent, peaceful Canadians.

KEITH WILSON LAWYER