Finance committee  For Ottawa, it was more used directly, but if we had other places with protests, we could have used “indirectly”. It is possible.

Finance committee  For Ottawa we didn't.

Finance committee  We only looked into the use of the measure in Ottawa. It is possible that somebody from B.C. was located in Ottawa, but we looked at Ottawa only.

Finance committee  Some were as you just mentioned. People tried as well to go through the banking institutions to prove that they had left the area. Some of the information we had showed that a person had left the area, but you need to realize that even though the blockade was taken down in a few days, the downtown was very volatile, so we needed to make sure that the risk was not present.

Finance committee  The RCMP works with financial institutions on a regular basis. Of course, with the emergency measures being put in place, financial institutions and police communicated more. When the Emergencies Act was invoked, the RCMP offered to serve as the point of contact with financial institutions, on behalf of Ontario Provincial Police and the Ottawa Police Service, and that's what we did.

Finance committee  We did not have any discussions on the methods the banks would use to freeze and manage the accounts in question. We discussed how the information would be communicated to the banks, which were responsible for freezing the accounts. We are unaware of whether the financial institutions and the finance department had any discussions.

Finance committee  The RCMP works very closely with the private sector and other law enforcement agencies. The regime helps us make headway as well. Is the RCMP underfunded and understaffed? On the whole, the RCMP has a significant problem when it comes to resources. However, we use the resources we have to combat organized crime.

Finance committee  We did share information received from Ottawa police and Ontario police that was gathered initially. There were 15 entities provided to us based on information collected by those services. The next phase was actually looking at the trucks or vehicles that didn't want to leave, that were blocking the downtown area of Ottawa in the illegal protests.

Finance committee  Consultations were held, and we made recommendations on certain points. However, the RCMP does not ask for the act to be invoked; the RCMP only enforces it. When the Emergencies Act was put in place, the RCMP simply enforced the measures prescribed.

Finance committee  The answer is no.

Finance committee  The conversations with the government took place at various levels. The government communicated with the commissioner and with me through a number of government programs.

Finance committee  You're right.

Finance committee  There was concern and there was monitoring across the country. We looked at the Ambassador Bridge. We looked at Coutts in Alberta, and we looked at Emerson in Manitoba, as we had to monitor whether there was a risk of having more blockades eventually across the country.

Finance committee  When we provided the entities to the financial institutions and the institutions started to freeze accounts, we did reach out to some entities to see if they had left the area—for example, Ottawa—and some comments we received were “We're not going to go back. We're back home. Please unfreeze our accounts.”

Finance committee  Yes.