Declaration of Emergency Committee on June 21st, 2022

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Good evening, everyone.

We're ready to get started. That being said, there's always the possibility that we will have interpretation issues, so please be aware. If that happens, let me know and we will stop.

I want us to applaud our interpreters, who do a superb job. I just went to see them. It's hot and there's no ventilation in their little booth, where three of them are working with headphones on. I really have a lot of respect for their work. That said, we will try to be mindful of interpretation.

Given the new timelines, I would suggest that we spend an hour instead of an hour and a half with each of the panels. Would that be sufficient?

Do you think we should stick to an hour and a half instead, even if it means stopping before the second panel's time is up?

Mr. White, you have the floor.

[Vernon White]

Mr. Chair, if I could, I'd like bring forward a quick motion so that we could have a replacement for Senator Boniface. Everybody has agreed with me verbally on this.

I would like to move that at any point when Senator Boniface would have had an opportunity to ask questions this evening, the time be allocated to Senator Busson instead, who has been sworn in—if there's agreement from the room.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

I don't see any problem with Senator Busson replacing Senator Boniface.

[Vernon White]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Good evening, Senator Busson.

I understand that you have already been sworn in. Is that correct?

[Beverley Busson]

Yes, I did.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you.

We're ready to get started. We will spend one hour with each of our two panels of witnesses. Is everyone okay with that?

Silence implies consent. So you all agree.

Mr. Motz, you have the floor.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I'm not necessarily convinced that we want to lessen the witnesses' testimony. That means that not everyone is going to get a chance to ask questions. This is a pretty serious responsibility we have. I'm prepared to sit for an extra hour.

If our witnesses are available, let's have them for the hour and a half each that we had originally planned. That is my proposal.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Mr. Motz.

Unfortunately, we cannot sit for another hour. We have to be out of the room by 10 p.m. at the latest. Since an hour and a half for each panel would take three hours, we would not have time to complete the scheduled time with the last panel and chief of police Sloly.

I do not want to negotiate anything, I just want to advise you that at 10 p.m. we are getting kicked out.

Senator Harder, you have the floor.

[Peter Harder]

I have a suggestion, Chair. What if we did the first panel and brought Mr. Sloly back for a full hour and a half on another occasion? That would give us the full time with the first panel.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

If that's okay with you, I don't see a problem with it.

You are indicating that it's okay with you.

Therefore, we will spend an hour and a half with the first panel of witnesses, as planned.

Mr. Clerk, please notify Mr. Sloly of the situation so that he doesn't needlessly wait for us and to let him know that we will call him back.

Thank you.

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 11 of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, which was created pursuant to the order of the House on March 2, 2022, and the Senate on March 3, 2022.

Today's meeting is taking place and a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of November 25, 2021.

I'd like to remind all those present in the room to follow the recommendations from public health authorities, as well as directives of the Board of Internal Economy to maintain health and safety.

Should any technical challenges arise, please advise me, as we may need to suspend for a few minutes to ensure all members are able to participate fully.

I also remind witnesses that an interpretation service is available to them.

To access it, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of your screen.

We now welcome our first witnesses. The commissioner, deputy commissioner and chief superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police will appear during the first half of the meeting. That will be all, in accordance with the decision we just made.

I would therefore like to welcome the commissioner, deputy commissioner and chief superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police.

You will have five minutes for your opening remarks.

Commissioner Thomas Carrique, you have five minutes.

[Commissioner Thomas Carrique, Commissioner, Ontario Provincial Police]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, joint chairs, vice-chairs and committee members—

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Just a moment, please, Mr. Carrique. We have a point of order.

Senator Carignan, you have the floor.

[Claude Carignan]

I want to be sure that the public has access to the meeting webcast. I'm in contact with people who work with me, and they seem to be having trouble accessing the webcast. I want to make sure that the meeting is public.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Carrique, we're in the process of doing some checks, because we're having technical issues. There is no Wi‑Fi for the time being. We're in the process of checking that, so we ask that you please hold on for a moment.

Mr. Motz has the floor.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I'm getting a notice from someone who is trying to follow along online as well, and it keeps jumping from a completely green screen to a partial screen with nothing on it.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

We're going to suspend the meeting for a few minutes to see if we can resolve the issue. If not, we will postpone the meeting to a later date.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Carrique, Mr. Harkins and Mr. Pardy.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

We're back in session.

I'm going to give the floor to Thomas Carrique, who will have five minutes for his speech.

Mr. Carrique, you have the floor.

[Commr Thomas Carrique]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am joined here today by OPP deputy commissioner of field operations Chris Harkins and the chief superintendent, Carson Pardy, who was assigned to the integrated planning process.

Under the Ontario Police Services Act, the OPP has a unique dual mandate, providing frontline policing services to 328 municipalities across the province, as well as providing assistance and/or specialized support to municipal police services upon request.

As it relates to the “freedom convoy” and the associated illegal blockades in the city of Ottawa, the OPP's provincial operations intelligence bureau commenced reporting to our policing partners on January 13, 2022. As of January 22, daily intelligence reports focused on the convoy headed to Ottawa and the anticipated protest movements across the province. The intelligence reporting was shared with more than 35 Canadian law enforcement and security agencies.

As the convoy crossed the Manitoba-Ontario border and travelled across the province until it arrived in Ottawa on January 28, OPP officers professionally fulfilled their duties without incident. In support of the Ottawa Police Service, throughout the occupation, an increasing number of OPP officers and specialized resources from various services became engaged, ultimately contributing to an integrated plan and the establishment of a unified command.

Simultaneously, our members responded to many other convoys and demonstrations that consistently and repeatedly emerged in communities across Ontario, including but not limited to the critical blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, the blockade of Highway 402, and multiple other attempts to block Canada-U.S. land border crossings and demonstrations that posed a risk to the area of the Ontario legislature. In addition, from day one, when the convoy entered Ontario, we were responsive to requests for assistance from other municipal police services.

This was a provincial and national emergency that garnered international attention. In response, the OPP and more than 20 other police services from across the country—

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Carrique, I must interrupt you for a moment.

I'm being told that the television broadcast is not working.

I'm sorry, Mr. Carrique, but we're going to have to suspend the meeting once again.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry but we're going to have to adjourn. Our proceedings are not being publicly broadcast in either the Senate or the House of Commons. In addition, we have some MPs and witnesses attending with the Zoom application. We will therefore have to reschedule this meeting for another time.

Mr. Motz, you have the floor.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Mr. Chair, before we adjourn, with the number of committee meetings not going on tomorrow and Thursday, is it possible that we would have the resources to meet tomorrow afternoon sometime, or Thursday in between our votes?

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

If you wish, we can ask our whips to confer and see if we can hold the meeting tomorrow afternoon. If everyone agrees with that, we can request it.

Mr. Green, would you like to speak?

[The Joint Chair, NDP, Matthew Green]

I know that we've been struggling on the administrative side to get agreement on the dates for the fall, but I would put to the committee that we would look to perhaps add these two witnesses to our superhearings that we're contemplating in the fall. I think perhaps we're being a bit overly hopeful that we'll be able to squeeze this in tomorrow or the day after.

I'm wondering, through you, Mr. Chair, if we could have the clerk perhaps contemplate adding this to our superhearings in the fall .

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

We have to determine what those are going to be before we even have them.