That's correct.
Evidence of meeting #9 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 laws.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #9 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 laws.
A video is available from Parliament.
June 7th, 2022 / 8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That's correct.
8:35 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
When we talk about lessons learned and the unpredictable nature of things, the challenge I have is this: Much of it seems, in retrospect, to be fairly predictable. If we allow the trucks to refuel with petrol, as well as food and off-site accommodations, there's a higher likelihood they will stick around.
Would you not agree with that assessment, in retrospect?
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Absolutely.
8:35 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Does it not seem logical—without needing any kind of special experience—that this course would follow?
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I still claim that it was unanticipated and unprecedented, but now—
8:35 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
This is the last question.
Would you agree it was a failure of local policing to adequately contain and deter what was a three-week occupation of the nation's capital?
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I would say, in my own words, that it was an inability.
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
It was an inability of the police to—
8:35 p.m.
NDP
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
A failure is how it ends.
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
It's how it ends.
8:35 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
That's interesting.
I appreciate your candour. Thank you so much.
We will now pass the floor on to our worthy senators, beginning with Senator Boniface.
You have five minutes.
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Thank you very much for being here. As Mr. Green said, we appreciate your candour on the issue.
I would like to zero in a little bit on the role of the provinces. As public safety deputy minister, I assume you would work through what is known as an FPT process?
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
I would assume that through the processes that took place over the weeks leading up to this you would be having discussions with your counterparts in the provinces. Is that correct?
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That's correct.
Excuse me, it was I and others.
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Yes. I appreciate that. I'm sure having worked in government at one point or another, there are lots of conversations taking place at lots of levels as well.
I'm most interested in, and your colleague in the previous panel referred to it as well, the differences in the provinces' abilities to declare emergencies and what their emergency acts particularly direct to.
Let's start with Ontario because they did, in fact, declare the emergency. Would your discussions have been with your counterpart at public safety in Ontario at the deputy minister level?
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Would you have within your department what we would know in various provinces as an emergency measures group or people who deal with emergencies that are outside the police agency?
8:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Absolutely, we do.
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Does that portfolio fall under you at the federal level?
8:35 p.m.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
Can you tell me whether or not the same exists currently in Ontario and if that would have played a role as well?