Declaration of Emergency Committee on Nov. 24th, 2022

[Drew Dilkens]

Huron Church Road bisects the west side of the city. It's the original part of the city of Windsor. It's also known as Sandwich Town. It's the oldest settlement west of Montreal. It is a student area, but it is also one that has a lower socio-economic background. All of the transit services that serve that area were disrupted, so as you say, Mr. Masse, access to physicians' offices and schools was disrupted. It was a very difficult situation for people who lived on the west side of Huron Church Road, because they were effectively cut off from the other side, and that included their only grocery store options.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

How did it make you feel, as a mayor, knowing that essential services were also compromised and that if the appropriate resources weren't put there—again, because this is a trade corridor for all of Canada—people were put at risk, whether that was fire, EMS, rescue services and even general policing? That must have been a stressful time.

[Drew Dilkens]

With the closure of Huron Church Road, we had to relocate a fire service—a fire rescue operation—to the other side of Huron Church Road and relocate an ambulance so it could be dispatched and reach folks who needed service on the other side of the road. It certainly caused a number of issues from a municipal operations perspective, and it also impacted a lot of people for the better part of a week.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

You noted that the cost to the City of Windsor has been $5.7 million. I've seen the itinerary that was submitted to the ministers. We have not heard....

Quite frankly, I feel betrayed. People lost their jobs and income during this time and did all the right things. Many people came to the protests—we know from media accounts—from outside the area. Meanwhile, if nothing changes, will it be municipal taxpayers who have to pick up the cost, especially given the fact that they've lost out personally and have had loss of their own employment? There has been some minor compensation to businesses, and the Jersey barriers remained for weeks.

If we don't get support for this, then it's going to have to come from city taxpayers to protect the backbone of the nation.

[Drew Dilkens]

I appreciate the fact that the federal government stepped up and provided some financial support to the businesses that were directly impacted along Huron Church Road. However, you are correct that the City of Windsor is carrying the full freight of $5.7 million for the response that was provided, which includes over $1 million for the Jersey barrier set-up that no one in the city of Windsor asked for. It was the right response and an appropriate response, but it wasn't like I directed that to happen or our police chief or anyone in the police service directed it. Others higher up were making those decisions, but the bill was handed to us. It's been paid, and because of that issue, we are now carrying a deficit of $5.7 million.

We hope to have a response to our request for consideration, because this was a very atypical municipal response to a situation that I still deem to be a national economic emergency.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I also think this sends the wrong message to those who want to copycat or do that. We recently had another convoy come into the city of Windsor, and we still don't have a plan on how to deal with this, so the city has to continue to provide protection from its own goodwill until we actually see an official policy.

Is that it? If this happened again in the upcoming weeks, would we again have to be the ones who step up to the plate, or would we just let chaos reign and not deal with it until somebody else comes in?

[Drew Dilkens]

We would have to deal with any situation that comes forward. Windsor police would respond accordingly. Hopefully, we won't see that level of response required again.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Mr. Masse. You're out of time.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Senator Boniface, we now go to you for five minutes.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface (Senator, Ontario, ISG)]

Thank you to both witnesses for being here. Thank you for the work you do in your local communities.

Mayor Dilkens, I'll start with you. I'd like to understand the process that you went through to get the OPP assistance. Commissioner Carrique was here. I think you chair the police services board as well, so I'm trying to figure out which capacity you were in when you were having those discussions.

Within the act, it says that a municipal chief who “is of the opinion that an emergency exists” in the municipality “may request that the Commissioner” of the OPP give “assistance”. What we understood from Commissioner Carrique's evidence, if I remember correctly, is that the request came from your office to the premier and then on down. Am I accurate in that assumption?

[Drew Dilkens]

Yes and no. There was more to it before it came from my office.

In response to what we were seeing play out on the streets, my natural question to the police chief at the time was this: What do you need to deal with this? She said, “I need more bodies.” I asked, “How many bodies do you need, Chief?” She came back and said, “I need one hundred.”

I passed that information up the chain to the political folks whom I was speaking with. Then a request came in later that evening, saying, “Can you please put that request in writing?”

I told the chief that there had been a request to put it in writing. She drafted a letter. She and her office sent the letter to the Solicitor General of Ontario's office, and she and her office also sent that letter asking for 100 officers, to, I believe, Minister Blair, asking for RCMP support.

When I got a copy of those letters—I was copied on that email—I then sent them directly to Minister Mendicino and Sylvia Jones. I told the Premier of Ontario that the request was for 100 officers.

The chief made that request appropriately. I was just amplifying what the request was because everyone was asking, “What do you need? What do you need?”, so we put it in writing at others' request. Then someone made a decision that 100 officers were not enough and that 500 would be more appropriate, and they made the efforts to sent those human resources to Windsor.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

That's great. Thank you very much.

I was listening earlier to a program, and the interviewee was with, I believe, the auto parts industry. He was saying that the threat to the industry was such that if the border had remained closed, they would end up impacting auto plants as far south as Tennessee.

Can you relay any concerns that you heard from our American counterparts around the risk from not getting parts across the border?

[Drew Dilkens]

It's just one of those situations. When you have lived in Windsor for a long time, you fully understand the integration of the supply chains—Windsor being the auto capital of Canada, and Detroit being the auto capital of the U.S.—and how all of those supply chains have built up on both sides of the border for a period of more than 100 years.

The auto industry deals in a just-in-time delivery world, so when there is a closure, it takes no longer than 60 minutes for someone to ask what is going on at the border, because they see the backup in the plant.

It is real. It is felt on both sides of the border, which I think speaks to the fact that you had the President of the United States reaching out to the Prime Minister, and different ministers and secretaries communicating between the U.S. and the Canadian governments and asking what would be needed to clear this, because it was having an impact not just on my local or regional economy, but on Ontario and across Canada.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

The last time I remember a situation of things being backed up like that, I was in my former life, and it was 9/11.

Thank you for that.

Given your experience with the border blockade, Mr. Willett, I'd like to ask you to explain your understanding of how it changed after the RCMP operation found a cache of firearms, ammunition and body armour. Can you tell me how that came about and how that fitted into the time frame?

[Jim Willett]

It happened shortly after midnight on February 14. There was a raid on a local residence and on a couple of RVs that were in her parking lot. The people were arrested there ,and the cache of firearms was seized.

The protesters—the main group—were like everybody else. The impression I had from speaking with them was that they were as taken by surprise as the rest of us.

They had a meeting early that morning of the 14th. They started packing up at that time and saying that it had gone far from what they had intended, and that they had attracted an element they didn't intend to attract, so during the 14th—

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Sorry to cut you off, Mr. Willett, but Senator Boniface's time is up. I let you keep going so you could finish your answer, but it was a bit too long. Thank you.

Senator Carignan, you may go ahead for five minutes.

[Claude Carignan, Senator, Quebec (Mille Isles), C]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mayor Dilkens, the Ambassador Bridge was cleared before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, but also before you declared a municipal emergency.

Can you tell us why you declared a municipal emergency after the bridge blockade had been cleared? How did the city benefit from having the state of emergency in place?

[Drew Dilkens]

That's a good question, Senator.

The answer is that declaring a municipal emergency allows the head of council, in this case the mayor, to make decisions very quickly as things change. It could be as simple as saying that we need to redirect a bus route from point A to point B, which would normally have to go through a council process, or that we need to provide certain services that would require a budget and council approval that may not exist, and we may not have a council meeting scheduled for a week or two.

Because of the unknown nature and the fear and the threat that existed after the blockade was cleared, a report went to city council. It recommended that these authorities be rolled up to the city manager, the CAO at the time, Jason Reynar, so he would be able to make those decisions. There were some on city council who felt uncomfortable allowing the CAO that authority, so my declaring a state of emergency wrapped that authority up in the head of council, in the mayor, to be able to deal with anything that was required in the short term.

You'll see that I terminated that emergency within 10 days.

[Claude Carignan]

All right. I see.

Can you also tell me why you got tow trucks in Windsor? According to one account, you had tow trucks from the states, but I thought I also saw tow trucks from Windsor towing companies.

Can you tell us what you did to get those tow trucks?

[Drew Dilkens]

There was a lot of attention placed on the tow trucks. I appreciate the question and an opportunity to explain.

What happened was that there was the thought that tow trucks were the limiting factor in the city of Windsor to be able to effect a response to have all of the traffic moved. Our friends at CBSA had made outreach and provided a contact: If anything was required to help get tow trucks from the United States, if we needed to clear these folks to get them and the tow trucks into Canada, this was the person to call to help effect that entry into Canada.

The Governor of Michigan, when asked a question about tow trucks, made a comment that she was prepared to send tow trucks over to Windsor to help deal with the situation. I had a conversation, after the governor's comment to the media, with her chief of staff. In fact, the offer by the governor was really just to put us in contact with tow truck companies in Michigan that might have the resources. I wasn't aware that any tow trucks were actually sent to the city of Windsor until we were preparing for my November 7 appearance at the Rouleau commission, where our deputy police chief informed me that about 10 tow trucks did come into Windsor from Detroit. They were parked at a municipal park but were never used in any way.

[Claude Carignan]

I see.

You managed to clear the bridge without the help of the Emergencies Act, since it was invoked afterwards. You didn't even need the municipal emergency measures. What made your response so successful, a response which—I repeat—did not require the use of the Emergencies Act?

[Drew Dilkens]

I think it's fair to say that everyone was aligned in trying to find a response. We didn't have really any amount of infighting or friction. Everyone was trying to work together to do what they needed to do and provide information and communicate with those they thought were appropriate to try to find a resolution to the issue.

All of us in Windsor understood. You don't have to tell people in Windsor what the importance of the Ambassador Bridge is. They know it intuitively. It's the lifeline that puts so much bread on so many families' tables. They know how important it is. They wanted to see a resolution. Everyone on city council wanted to see a resolution. Everyone in city administration wanted to see a resolution. The police were trying to work diligently to get the resources to effect a resolution.

When the OPP were sent to Windsor, the police worked very effectively in a joint incident command set-up at our emergency operations centre to develop the plans and to get approval up the appropriate chains to execute the plans. It worked quite effectively.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Mr. Dilkens.

Thank you, Senator Carignan. Your time is up.

We now go to Senator Harder for five minutes.

[Peter Harder, Senator, Ontario, PSG]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses. Thank you for your leadership through this difficult period in your respective municipalities.

Mayor Dilkens, I'd like to put on the record the comments made from at least one representative of the Michigan Legislature, who pointed to the disruption at the Ambassador Bridge and said that this is why we have to reshore the auto sector to the United States.

How did that make you feel?