Evidence of meeting #10 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was police.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
I'm assuming you're referring to the G20 meetings in 2010 that took place in the city of Toronto.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
Certainly not in any policing function or any function where there was direct contact with the public....
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Your time is up. Can you hold that until the next round?
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much.
Minister, I want to revisit the provincial role. We come from similar backgrounds, so I was somewhat perplexed at the role of the province and what their emergency act provisions provided that weren't available in such a way that the federal act was required.
I'm trying to understand exactly what was the role of the province in their own emergency order.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
I have a note in front of me. I'll read part of it to you, if that's all right, Senator.
First of all, on February 11, the Premier of Ontario declared a province-wide emergency, as they put it, as a result of “interference with transportation infrastructure” and “other critical infrastructure” occurring across the province. In that, they made orders with respect to 400-series highways, airports, hospitals, etc., and an order prohibiting a number of activities, including travelling to and from critical infrastructure.
I think that, rather importantly, the emergency order did not create any arrest authority. It did not address the issue of the tow trucks. It did not allow us to designate certain spaces for certain activities by the police that were necessary in order to protect those places. It did not pertain to any financial measures to address some of the challenges that our financial tracking officials were facing in dealing with this effectively.
There were a number of areas that the province felt appropriate to issue their order, and they did, and, by the way, it included a number of fines that to the best of my knowledge weren't actually utilized. But I believe there were additional authorities that were required by law enforcement in order to bring about a peaceful resolution of that event and to address what we believed very sincerely was a significant threat to national security and therefore an emergency, so we brought those measures that were neither available in current legislation nor available in the Ontario emergency declaration.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you for that.
It still perplexes me what they chose.
I'm going back to a question by one of my colleagues on the preparations for the G20 meetings. You indicated that the time frame was much shorter in terms of what we had. Would it be fair to say, as you reflect on it, that the situation here in Ottawa particularly was at a point of overwhelming the capacity of the local and provincial police?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
I think that's a fair assessment. I think it was very clearly beyond the capacity of the Ottawa Police Service to do it on their own. They reached out very early. I had a number of conversations with law enforcement leaders across the province as well, who were sending resources to help, but I think it did exceed their capacity.
I think the police understood their responsibility to try to resolve this peaceably. They expressed to me a very sincere concern that their actions could result in a violent response and they were doing their very best to avoid that violence. We also gave consideration to those circumstances that they described in determining that we would be able to enact certain measures that would prove to be a significant disincentive to the continued occupation of Ottawa and those critical points of entry at our borders.
That was also part of, frankly, my thinking on the measures that we were required to bring forward for how we could help law enforcement bring about a peaceful resolution of this matter.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
I appreciate that.
The integrated command was in place for some time. Was there any point where you or others in Public Safety or elsewhere in government considered putting the RCMP solely in charge of the operation here in Ottawa?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
It certainly wasn't available to us under the current legislative authority governing policing in Ottawa and in Ontario. I think that who's actually in charge is very clearly articulated.
As well, it's not a federal responsibility, if I may respectfully point out. The authority, with respect to providing adequate and effective policing services, is first of all with the local police services board. Ultimately, it's the responsibility of the solicitor general for the Province of Ontario.
I had a number of conversations with the Solicitor General and with other police leaders about the assistance that was being provided in this jurisdiction and in other places. We were talking about, for example, the bridge at Windsor. Actually, I know the commissioner of the OPP, as you do. He's a very experienced and capable police leader. I have a great deal of respect for and confidence in the leadership of all of the police services that were coming to help, but they were facing challenges where their existing legal authorities—municipal, provincial and federal—did not allow them to bring about a peaceful resolution.
Based on that information, we made decisions as to what needed to be done in order to facilitate that peaceful resolution.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Yes, it was exactly on time. I guess you probably check it yourself.
Claude Carignan
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister, your colleague from the Department of Public Safety told us that he had invoked the Emergencies Act on the advice of the law enforcement agencies.
Were you there? Did you hear advice from the police?
Did you hear representatives from the police requesting that the Emergencies Act be used?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
No, sir.
Quite frankly, I would have been quite surprised if the police had actually made a policy recommendation or asked for any legislative authority. My conversations with law enforcement—and I had a number of them directly with them—were to ask about the challenges they were facing. There were issues of resource, but they were unable to effect their lawful purpose.
Claude Carignan
It was because of the tow trucks. It's all about the tow trucks. The police were unable to tow the vehicles away.
Is that correct?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
I think the tow trucks are a good example. I asked the chief here, and I also asked the RCMP, why they weren't tagging and towing those vehicles. In my experience, that's a very common thing for the police to do and they would do it in other jurisdictions, but the chief in Ottawa expressed to me what I believe to be a sincere concern that to do so would have been provocative and potentially would have led to violence. He also expressed a very sincere concern that it would be unsafe for his officers to enforce those laws.
