Declaration of Emergency Committee on Nov. 24th, 2022

[Drew Dilkens]

Well, I did see that, and I knew that the situation that was playing out provided the perfect opportunity to present that narrative. The part that isn't getting spoken about a lot that was crucial from our perspective was the work that was going on to secure the $5-billion investment between Stellantis and LG to build Canada's first electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant, which has been announced and is going to be built in Windsor.

All of that work was going on quietly behind the scenes to put the pieces together. Leadership from Stellantis was watching this situation. We were in daily conversation with the representatives in Canada at Stellantis and LG. We knew what comments were being passed along. We knew that the president of Stellantis globally was in Ontario at the time, meeting with federal leaders and provincial leaders. We knew that what was happening provided the perfect set-up for someone to say that this showed why operating in Canada may be disrupted and it may be safer for them to operate in the United States.

I think that was an undertone to at least our municipal response. We knew how important this investment was for Canada and Ontario, of course, but we knew how important it was for our regional economy as well.

[Peter Harder]

Mr. Mayor, one of the organizers of the so-called “freedom convoy” and the founder of an organization called Canada Unity, James Bauder, announced today that he's going to organize a return celebration in February of next year.

Have you heard whether or not this celebration will extend to the Ambassador Bridge? If so, what would you do?

[Drew Dilkens]

I don't know that any of us would consider it a celebration, but it's worth noting that the legislation that's in place provincially is really important. You'd have to be very committed to losing a lot to participate in this type of activity. In addition, the injunction remains in effect. It is not going away.

Mr. Masse talked about this past weekend, when 200 cars came to Windsor and did a little parade through part of the “freedom convoy”. They were directed, very appropriately, on which route they could take.

Police have a zero-tolerance approach for this. I think that reflects the temperature in our community. The community does not want to see this return and wants to see people dealt with very swiftly if they try to block the primary corridor that's putting a lot of bread on families' tables in the city of Windsor.

[Peter Harder]

Thank you.

Mayor Willett, with respect to Coutts, are you aware of any so-called celebration? How would your community react?

[Jim Willett]

I'm not aware of it, other than I heard the same story that you referred to just now.

My community, I guess, would react the same way that they did before. Some people would be out there celebrating with them. I would not.

[Peter Harder]

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Senator Harder.

We now go to Senator Patterson for five minutes.

[Dennis Glen Patterson, Senator, Nunavut, CSG]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mayor Dilkens, you described the protest as ending peacefully. I'm wondering if you could give us a little more detail. Obviously, you were very involved with those events and with the authorities.

How did it get resolved peacefully? How did that work in Windsor?

[Drew Dilkens]

Police developed an operational plan that they began to implement on the Saturday, which was around the 13th. They moved very systematically with their public order units and all of the equipment and the resources that they needed.

They were able to move some folks on that particular day. As it started getting darker—maybe two or three o'clock in the afternoon—a local pastor from a local church, who's been disagreeable from the beginning of the pandemic on any restrictions, vaccines or anything like that, put a call out to the congregation. Within 90 minutes to two hours, about 600 additional people showed up. There were kids in strollers and young kids. It was almost unbelievable to watch, frankly.

Police made a very sensible decision to not continue. Imagine however many police—80 or 90 police in a line from point to point—walking up the road, moving forward every 30 or 60 seconds.

They made a decision that was appropriate, which was that they would wait for the kids to get hungry, to have to go to the bathroom or to want to go to sleep. It was February. It was cold. At some point those kids would leave and they would conduct the operation the next day.

That's what they did. They moved in on the 14th very early and moved the rest of the folks out who were still there. By that time, the kids had left.

[Dennis Glen Patterson]

Was it without resistance?

[Drew Dilkens]

Yes. For the most part, I don't think anyone.... There were no injuries that I'm aware of. There were several arrests. I think upwards of 40 arrests were made, but the issue was resolved and the roadway was reopened.

[Dennis Glen Patterson]

Mayor Willett, obviously you were also very involved in events near Coutts at the border.

Could you describe how that blockade ended?

[Jim Willett]

Just to carry on from what I said earlier, the will went away once the firearms were discovered.

You have to understand the situation here. The main protest was here in Coutts, but the RCMP had put a separate blockade about 12 kilometres up the highway, which kept us from getting a massive influx of protesters. We had maybe 75 to 100 people here at that time, and they wisely made the decision to leave of their own accord.

[Dennis Glen Patterson]

Thank you very much, both of you.

Mayor Dilkens, I know you were very busy and engaged, but did you have time to observe the parallel situation going on in Ottawa?

[Drew Dilkens]

Yes, sir.

[Dennis Glen Patterson]

Was there anything to learn from the situation in Ottawa, from your point of view?

[Drew Dilkens]

I think it's fair to say that we did make some observations at the beginning of the blockade in Windsor, and those were observations from Ottawa with respect to folks who had brought in things like bouncy castles or hot tubs, some of these sort of ancillary things that made it look like it was a fun zone.

Police were very attentive to not allowing that type of equipment to be brought in and made sure that the folks who were there were in their trucks. Some were playing hockey in the street, but that type of equipment wasn't allowed to be brought in, and police really were attentive to that.

[Dennis Glen Patterson]

Pardon my ignorance. I have one more question, Mr. Chair.

Could you describe the Jersey barriers, please, for me? What they are? I understand that they were effective. Could you explain why, please?

[Drew Dilkens]

The Jersey barriers were probably 30 feet long, and they're just formed concrete barriers that you would see on any 400-series highway from time to time if they're doing construction. It really just created a pipeline from the provincial highway to the foot of the Ambassador Bridge. There was no cross-traffic allowed, so it entirely blocked the city. For folks who were bisected because of that road, the Jersey barriers really caused the bisection to be more amplified because there was no way around them and there was no way through.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Mr. Dilkens.

Thank you, Senator Patterson. That's all your time.

We will now begin the second round.

Go ahead, Mr. Motz. You have four minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you, Mayor Dilkens and Mayor Willett, for being here today.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Mr. Willett is a constituent of mine. Coutts is in my riding, much like Windsor is in Mr. Masse's, and I represent that area federally.

Mr. Willett, I'm going to focus on you, if I could, in these questions.

In Coutts, a Mr. Van Huigenbos assumed the role of one of the organizers. He told the Rouleau commission that the message that you as mayor and I as the federal representative were pushing was to clear the road sufficiently to not break any laws, and you can protest all you want. Does that accurately describe the conversations that you may have had with him separately from me and the ones we had with him together?

[Jim Willett]

I never had any separate discussions with him, but it is the message that I said from the beginning of the whole protest. I said that you could protest, that you have that right in this country to protest all you want, but don't break the law. That was my message all along.

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

Thank you.

During the Coutts protest, did you communicate with other protesters besides Mr. Van Huigenbos?

[Jim Willett]

I did. I spoke with Alex Van Herk. I believe you're familiar with him. He was kind of the local spokesperson for a long time. There was also a gentleman by the name of Jerry, who was sort of a media person internal to the protest. I never learned exactly how he fitted in.

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

As the leader of your community, and they were in your community, during those communications with any of those protesters, did you call them racist?