OTTAWA — Nearly one year after the "Freedom Convoy" demonstrators blocked traffic at Canadian border crossings and occupied the nation's capital, an independent commission released a report saying the government's use of the Emergency Act to quell those protests were justified. In his report, Justice Paul Rouleau said lawful protests descended into lawlessness, culminating in a national emergency.
Here are some reactions from across Canada on Rouleau's findings and last year's protests:
"We will continue to listen to all voices across this wonderfully diverse country that isn't just diverse geographically, or culturally, or in origins, but also in perspectives. But listening to each other goes in both directions. We hear their skepticism around science. They need to also hear our belief in science." — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
"This was an emergency that Justin Trudeau created by attacking his own population, by driving up their cost of living, by making it impossible for people to pay their bills and live their lives in peace. He caused the emergency that unfolded. And then when he caused it, he piled on, he poured more gasoline on the fire with nasty insults, jabbing his finger in the face of his own citizens." — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre
"People were threatened, harassed and abused in their communities. Workers trying to feed their families lost wages because they were forced to miss shifts when the border closure forced businesses to close. The report makes clear that this situation — and the response to it from all levels of government and policing — was unacceptable." — New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh
"We still think it was not necessary to invoke the law and we still think that it creates a precedent. It's going to be harder in the future to not use the act since it was already done. That's something that we are a bit scared about." — Bloc Québécois deputy House leader Christine Normandin
"The OPS acknowledges that we made a number of mistakes during this unprecedented event. We recognize the direct harms done to our residents and the downtown communities." — Ottawa Police Service
"Alberta’s government maintains that the federal government’s consultation with provinces was inadequate and that unnecessarily invoking the Emergencies Act set a dangerous precedent. The decision to invoke the act violated the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Albertans and gave the federal government the ability to seize property without due process of law." — Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro
"Saskatchewan’s position has always been that invoking the act was unnecessary, and that appropriate and effective action to deal with the protests and blockades last year could have been taken under existing federal, provincial and municipal laws." — Saskatchewan Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre
"What was so important for us in putting in place these economic measures was our overriding objective of course was to end the illegal blockades and occupations. It was to do with so without violence, without anyone being hurt. And the economic measures were really a tool that helped make that happen." Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland
"I was there. It was a peaceful and joyful protest by patriotic Canadians. There was no justification at all to invoke the act. It was done illegally, that’s what Justice Rouleau should have concluded if he had done an honest investigation rather than a partisan one.” — People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier
"The Canadian Civil Liberties Association appreciates the work of Justice Rouleau and commission staff, but respectfully disagrees with some of his conclusions, and we will be pursuing our judicial review of the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act last winter," CCLA executive director Noa Mendelsohn Aviv
"The report is a Parliamentary report and is immune from judicial review or appeal. The commission was an un-transparent process, riddled with unlawfully redacted Government of Canada records and suppressed evidence, with no remedy available to deal with the these major shortcomings. The report may be good politics for certain parties, but it flies in the face of the rule of law and constitutionalism." — Brendan Miller, lawyer for the "Freedom Convoy" protesters who were in Ottawa last winter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023.
The Canadian Press
