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    • Everything you need to know about the Emergencies Act national inquiry

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    History was made on Oct. 13 with the launch of the Public Order Emergency Commission's public hearings in Ottawa, looking into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act to bring last winter's 'Freedom Convoy' protests to an end. After six weeks of marathon testimony, the public hearings concluded on Nov. 25. 

    In his introductory remarks, commissioner Paul Rouleau opened up the curtain on the preparations that took place behind the scenes leading up to the hearings, outlined the scope and challenges facing the independent commission, and said while the inquiry seeks to uncover the truth, it's not a trial.

    "This is not a trial, it's an inquiry, and I expect everyone will work co-operatively to ensure that the facts and information necessary for the public to understand what happened and why it happened will be elicited," Rouleau said.

    "While this is not an adversarial proceeding, I recognize that different points of view will be forcefully advanced. This is to be expected, and will help ensure that a clearer picture of the events is presented and the decisions made or not made by key actors are fully analyzed."

    From the deluge of documents made public, to who testified, and when the entire process is slated to conclude, CTVNews.ca breaks down everything you need to know.

    HOW DID WE GET HERE?

    What started in late January as a weekend of planned protests against COVID-19 restrictions and the government evolved quickly into a weeks-long occupation of downtown Ottawa and the blockading of key Canada-U.S. border crossings.

    After weeks of business closures, cross-border strains, incessant horn honking, and concerns about threats or acts of "serious violence… for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the unprecedented step on Feb. 14 of invoking the Emergencies Act for the first time since it became law in 1988.

    In declaring a national public order emergency, officials were granted new powers that allowed officials to crack down on protesters’ access to funds; enabled the RCMP to have the jurisdiction to enforce local laws; designated critical infrastructure and services such as tow-truck operators; and imposed fines and imprisonment on participants who refused to leave the protest zone.

    On Feb. 23—once large-scale police operations took place resulting in numerous arrests, the laying of hundreds of charges, and the clearing of blockades and rows of transport trucks in the capital—Trudeau announced the revocation of the extraordinary national powers, saying that the situation was “no longer an emergency.” 

    This national inquiry was mandated under the federal Emergencies Act. The law explicitly stipulates that an inquiry had to be struck 60 days after the declaration of national emergency was revoked, or expired.

    On April 25—right at the deadline prescribed under the law— the commission was established to conduct this independent public inquiry. That day, Trudeau announced that long-time judge and former Ontario Superior Court justice Paul Rouleau would lead the inquiry as commissioner. 

    In his opening remarks, Rouleau said that while he is not sitting as a judge, he will use his 20 years of experience as a judge to inform his approach to the inquiry.

    "During these hearings, I will be hearing the bulk of this evidence for the first time, just like members of the public. To that end, I've made no findings and reach no conclusions about the issues that I have been entrusted to deal with," he said. "I intend to take a judicial attitude to my job. By that I mean that independence, impartiality, and fairness are my touchstones as commissioner."  

    WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THE NATIONAL INQUIRY?

    The commission's mandate is to examine the circumstances that led to the use of the Emergencies Act and the measures taken through it to deal with the emergency situation, and come away with findings regarding the “appropriateness and effectiveness” of the measures taken by the government.

    More specifically, this means the commission is examining:

    • the “evolution and goals” of the protests, the organizers, and participants;
    • the role domestic and foreign funding, including crowdsourcing, played;
    • the use of social media and impact of sources of misinformation and disinformation;
    • the economic and international impact of the blockades; and
    • the “efforts of police and other responders” in the lead up to and following the declaration of an emergency.

    "When difficult events occur that impact the lives of Canadians, the public has a right to know what has happened," Rouleau said. "But inquiries are also forward-looking. They seek not only to understand what has occurred in the past, but also to learn from those experiences and to make recommendations for the future."

    Rouleau said that the focus will remain "squarely on the decision of the federal government." Particularly: Why did it declare an emergency? How did it use its powers? And were those actions appropriate?

    The expectation is that the final report to Parliament will inform how to prevent similar events from happening again, and will advise on whether the Emergencies Act and connected regulatory framework need amendments. 

    While Trudeau has defended his government's "measured" but "necessary" use of the act, saying the inquiry will provide an important layer of accountability and oversight, critics of the invocation of the national emergency powers have raised concerns that the inquiry may focus too much on the actions of the protesters rather than the responsibility of federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

    WHAT WORK HAPPENED PRE-HEARINGS?

    Since April, in preparation for the public hearings, the commissioner and his officials have decided which stakeholders have been granted standing to participate. Expect to see the lawyers for these parties presenting their case, and cross-examining witnesses.

    The commission has also collected documents and institutional reports, and conducted pre-interviews with key witnesses.

    This ranged from short telephone calls, to full-day meetings with panels of senior government officials, protesters, and cabinet ministers, according to Rouleau. These have resulted in summary reports that were shared with the interviewees to approve as accurate, and then provided to all parties who have standing to supplement oral testimony.

    In what the commission viewed as a win, on June 28 it was announced the federal government agreed to turn over sensitive cabinet documents related to the deliberations around invoking and implementing the act. 

    This is only the fourth time since Confederation that a federal commission of inquiry has been granted access to cabinet confidences.

    While Rouleau says the commission has received more than 50,000 documents from provincial governments, police corps, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, industry groups, and private entities, he noted that access to relevant documents has been "a challenge."

    "The federal government has expended significant effort to produce to the commission materials from a dozen departments and agencies, yet the process has been slow and complex," he said. 

    The commission has also commissioned and published papers on a range of key policy topics pertinent to the inquiry, from cryptocurrency and disinformation online, to freedom of assembly and governing in emergencies. 

    In addition to Rouleau other officials are involved in the commission, including co-lead counsel; senior, regional and research counsels; and senior policy advisers.

    These lawyers and other key staff members will become familiar faces throughout the process as they step in and assist the commissioner during certain portions of the hearings. Biographical details about these individuals are available on the commission's website. 

    WHO TESTIFIED, AND WHEN?

    There were 65 "anticipated" witnesses on the commission's list, but by the end of hearings more than 70 people testified. 

    Here is the order of evidence that the commission dealt with:

    • The Ottawa protests: Hearing from the community, residents, and municipal officials, as well as the police and protesters.
    • The border blockades: Hearing from protesters, police officers and municipal officials connected to the Windsor, Ont. and Coutts, Alta. blockades.
    • The provinces' role: Hearing from provincial government representatives.
    • The federal government: Expected to take the last two weeks of hearings, the inquiry will hear evidence from the feds about their response to the protests and their decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. The witnesses called will include senior officials from the federal departments and agencies as well as cabinet ministers and the prime minister. 

    Witnesses were asked to respond to questions from the commission and counsel for the parties, and the hearings ran more like a courtroom rather than a parliamentary committee meeting, with the intention of keeping partisanship out of the proceedings.

    CTVNews.ca covered every day of hearings. Here are key highlights from the testimony given by witnessess, and summaries of each day of testimony.  

    HOW LONG WILL INQUIRY LAST?

    The inquiry's hearings were delayed by a month after commissioner Rouleau required surgery for a recently arisen health issue, but he has committed to completing the commission's work "in a timely manner," noting that as of September he had already made "significant progress" obtaining and reviewing documents, conducting interviews, and preparing for the start of the public hearings. 

    However, in his opening statement on Oct. 13, Rouleau made considerable emphasis on just how limited the timeline is for this commission to complete its work, and the inability of an extension, given the statute set for this work.

    "Just how tight are the timelines? Let me try and put it in context for you. The Air India Inquiry was established on May 1, 2006. It took just over four years to issue its report on June 17, 2010… The inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls was established in September 2016, and issued its report almost three years later, on June 3, 2019," Rouleau said. "This commission on the other hand… has only 300 days."

    Once the public hearings concluded, the Commission counsel—the panel of legal advisers— turned their focus to the policy phase of the commission’s work. This week-long phase of the inquiry consisted of a series of round-table panel discussions with experts in various fields focusing on a common theme or set of questions, with input from the groups and individuals who have been granted standing.

    The inquiry is required to submit its final report to the government with all of its findings and recommendations in both official languages by Feb. 6, 2023. It then must be tabled in the House of Commons and Senate by Feb. 20, 2023.

    "In the 34 years since its adoption, this is the first time the Act has been used, and this is the first opportunity for its review," Rouleau said on Oct. 13. "With the co-operation of all parties, I'm confident that the hearings will provide a fair and thorough process for the presentation of evidence required for this commission to be able to give the public the answers to which it is entitled."

    With files from CTV News' Judy Trinh, Glen McGregor, and Spencer Van Dyk

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