Evidence of meeting #7 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 rcmp.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Then you're unwilling to answer the question for the purpose of this committee. Is that what you mean?
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
No, I just answered the question, Mr. Green.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
I most certainly can. Thank you.
I will reset the clock.
Senator, the floor is yours.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much.
First of all, welcome to our witnesses tonight.
My first question is for the director of CSIS.
I want to give you an opportunity to put in context what you find yourself dealing with today, compared with what you would have dealt with, say, four or five years ago, so we have a framework in which we can start to operate.
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The threat environment has evolved significantly over the last four years. We have made public through our annual report and two different public comments the fact that, from a CSIS point of view, we are more worried about the rise of violent extremism in Canada. We have seen, unfortunately, people being killed in Canada by people espousing extreme ideology. We have seen minorities being specifically targeted. In Quebec City and in London, Ontario, people were killed just because they were Muslim.
This is an area that we have seen in Canada with growing concern. We have devoted more of our investigative resources to try to address this threat, to try to take measures to counter it, and to advise government and Canadians through our public discourse and public releases about the nature of the threats.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much. I'm sorry to cut you off.
In the context of this convoy, in your time as director and the balance of your career, have you ever seen an event like this that Canada has faced?
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The concern we had with the convoy at the outset and throughout was the fact that we had seen in Canada and other jurisdictions people and violent extremists using protests and demonstrations to engage in acts of violence, to recruit members and to spread their ideology further. When the convoy was coming over the country, we looked at those elements with our partners in the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre. We looked at the targets that we were aware of at CSIS. We looked at the people who were engaged in these violent activities to see how they would try to use and manipulate those demonstrations.
We also were concerned with the lone actors—people who engage in violence spontaneously. This is where we were focusing our activities during the convoy and providing information to law enforcement and to the government.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much.
My next question is for Commissioner Lucki. Welcome.
My colleague, Mr. Motz, raised the question of various jurisdictions and where issues were different. In the context of other provinces, you would have been the police service of jurisdiction, with the exception of in Ontario, where the Ottawa police would have been the police service of jurisdiction.
Am I correct?
Commr Brenda Lucki
That's that case in Quebec as well, as well as some of the municipalities within the provincial jurisdictions.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
In a place like Ontario versus Alberta, can you explain where you would have varying roles? In Ontario, for instance, the provincial responsibility falls to the OPP. What is the role of the RCMP with respect to Ontario?
Commr Brenda Lucki
We have a federal mandate. I can pass it to my colleague, Mike Duheme, who's with federal policing, to explain that mandate.
Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme Deputy Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Madam Chair, with regard to federal policing, the mandate is to tackle serious and organized crime at the transnational level at the border and between the ports of entry. We also have responsibility with regard to protective policing where we protect the Prime Minister, the Governor General, the chief justice, and other incoming dignitaries. There's also cybercrime and financial crimes.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Deputy, because our time is limited, with respect to Ontario and particularly Ottawa, your jurisdiction would be federal in nature in normal events.
Am I correct?
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
With respect to Windsor, would you find yourself in the same place?
D/Commr Michael Duheme
It would be the same place for Windsor, although we provided assistance to the OPP at the Windsor crossing.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
In Alberta, you would have all three levels, as we know, of policing in Canada: municipal, federal and provincial. Is that correct?
Claude Carignan Senator, Quebec (Mille Isles), C
Thank you.
My question is for Ms. Lucki from the RCMP.
I'm currently on the website of the Ottawa Police Service, which provides reports on the service's daily activities. For instance, we can see that, on February 6, the police issued 450 tickets and arrested seven people. That continued on February 7. On February 8, a total of 23 people were arrested and 1,300 tickets were issued.
A number of regulatory and statutory provisions were thus enforced in Ottawa before February 14, under both the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and the Criminal Code.
Isn't that right?