Senator Plett: Well, I will ask that, sir. Instead of me doing this every time somebody says something, I’ll keep on talking, and you can keep on interrupting and I will continue to talk.

And you can continue interrupting, too. I have no problem and I won’t do this.

As we deal with the Emergencies Act and its ramifications, I keep thinking about how our country got to this point, and I keep coming back to how this all started. It began with Canadians protesting — as is absolutely their right to do in any liberal democracy — the Trudeau government’s actions in dealing with COVID-19 and this government’s inability to follow the science and bring forward a plan to end the mandates.

Now, without question — you have said it, others have said it, and we all agree — we are tired. We fight amongst friends. We fight amongst families. We have differences of opinion. Some family members believe you should be vaccinated. Others believe there is a conspiracy theory. We all, I’m sure, every one of us, at least knows people, if they aren’t in your own families. So we are tired of that. We recognize that.

But that doesn’t make Canadians bad people when they say, “I’m tired of this. I’m tired of this government telling me what to do.”

Senator Gold, Canadians would like to understand what exactly the Trudeau government believes is the difference between a legal protest and an illegal protest. When did this protest become illegal? Was it when Justin Trudeau decided it was illegal? Senator McPhedran made a good point that for the longest time the trucks were held at bay. When did it become illegal? Was it when all of a sudden they moved the blockades and let trucks in? Who did that?

At what point does a legal protest become an illegal protest in the eyes of Justin Trudeau?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. Look, I have been advised that there were conversations and an engagement with some banks in the course of this, but I do not have the details, Senator Loffreda, so I don’t want to state more than I know.

But only to say — of course I’m speaking to you as someone with as much experience in banking as most of us in the chamber, with very few exceptions — that the banks in this particular instance, although charged with an additional responsibility to review and share information, nonetheless have the competency to do it and the desire to do it, to assist our efforts as a country, to make sure that illegal funds do not support illegal activities.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Would Senator Gold take a question?

Hon. Robert Black: Will Senator Gold take another question?

Senator Boehm: It took one year.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. As I believe I outlined in my speech — and I believe it’s also set out in the declaration the government tabled and that I tabled in this place — yes, quite apart from what security agencies may know, there was very public reporting of circumstances that showed the presence of representatives or adherence to far-right extremist and White supremacy groups.

Let me just cite one group. Protesters bearing the symbol of the group Diagolon were found at Coutts and the symbol was also found on the body armour of some of the protesters here in Ottawa, even after the police initiated their action to clear out our streets. As I mentioned in my speech, according to an expert from the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Candyce Kelshall, this is a group that was formed by a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces and its stated purpose is “to incite a race war.”

This is not the only example, however, of signs, symbols and rhetoric that reflect a particular world view or ideology that privileges one group of citizens against all others depending upon their race and the colour of their skin.

Again — and I repeat, colleagues — it is not the position of the government that everybody who joined this convoy, whether initially or even in Ottawa, adheres to these views. That would be a grotesque distortion of not only my position and the government’s position, but also of the truth. However, it is still the case that when you stand in a crowd with people wearing the Star of David, equating vaccine mandates with the Holocaust, and when you stand in a crowd of people brandishing Confederate flags, you are giving silent encouragement — perhaps unconscious, perhaps unwitting — nonetheless you’re standing alongside those whose agenda may be far different from yours. It’s not acceptable in our society to allow to prevail that kind of imagery or rhetoric, to say nothing of the plans underlying some of the participants and some of the key drivers of this convoy.

Senator Carignan: I am surprised at your response, where you say that people were incapable. I saw that the Ambassador Bridge was open a few days before the emergency measures were adopted, under similar conditions, with truckers and people blockading. The difference there was that the U.S. President called asking that the bridge be opened. Maybe there should have been a call to get the entrance to the U.S. Embassy opened. What is the difference between the powers or solutions that the police had for the Ambassador Bridge and those they could not use on Wellington Street?

Hon. Claude Carignan: Leader, I have many questions for you.

The act is pretty clear when it states, and I quote:

For the purposes of this Act, a national emergency is an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that

I’m trying to understand how you can claim that the municipal, provincial and Canadian laws currently in place were insufficient to arrest people on Wellington Street for mischief or possession of weapons. I don’t have a list of all of the charges that were laid or the tickets that were issued for disturbing the peace, but law enforcement officers are obligated to respond when such acts are being committed, and they can easily do so under the existing legislation. I’m therefore having a hard time understanding why the protesters could not have been forced to leave and the vehicles on Wellington Street could not have been towed under federal, provincial or municipal laws.

(1050)

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): I have a number of questions. I’ll ask one or two, as you allow, and I will ask to be put back on the list for questions later.

Senator Gold, you said the government had been very clear. The government has been anything but very clear. Yesterday, I asked you a straightforward question in Question Period about invoking the Emergencies Act. Instead of answering the question, you said you looked forward to answering it during Tuesday’s debate. So here is my second attempt, Senator Gold.

When the Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act, he claimed it would be geographically targeted. In the other place on Saturday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice confirmed that the legislation applies to all of Canada.

Senator Gold, what guidelines did the Trudeau government use before making the call to declare a historic national emergency throughout our entire country? Do you have an answer to that question directly today, Senator Gold?

Senator Gold: Of course, these are important issues. That is why we are debating them.

For the record, I did not say you didn’t have the right to be partisan in your questions. I said it was challenging to respond to serious questions on serious matters.

May I continue? I said what I said in my speech, and I stand by what I said.

The fact that the police continue, for the time being, to set up checkpoints is clearly designed to make sure that those who have expressed their intention to return when they can, as I quoted in my speech, are not able to.

Yes, having to show ID, as I did this morning walking here from my apartment in Centretown, is an inconvenience, so I am affected. This is a proportional and acceptable limit on my ability to continue to walk with my hands in my pockets, as compared —

If I may finish my sentence, and I will continue my answer.

— as compared to the impossibility of residents of Centretown, however old, young, single or with families, to leave their houses out of fear of being assaulted, harassed, intimidated and slurred by those occupying the streets.

There was one last point. I might ask you to interrupt me so that I can answer that last question, Senator Housakos. There was a last point; if it comes to me, I will say it after.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Senator Gold, my question is to you.

There was a certain amount of “trust us” in the government’s justification for these extreme measures we are debating today. However, this comes at a time when trust in governments at all levels clearly is eroding on the part of many citizens. I know this order is based on a perceived threat to the security of Canada, but yesterday during a briefing for senators, Minister of Public Safety Mendicino referred to matters within his knowledge that could not be shared. You told us today the review committee could meet in private if confidential information is required.

My question is this: Will the review committee have access to unredacted security information required to do their job of, as you put it, seriously investigating the justification for this order?

Senator Patterson: Senator Gold, thank you for a clear answer to my question, but it does concern me. You said that the review committee set up under section 63(1) will be empowered to seriously investigate the justification for this order, yet you have just said that the committee will not have access to unredacted security information. I wonder how you can say that the review committee will have the power to seriously investigate — those were your words — when you have just said that certain matters will not be available to the committee.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. Let me be clear. There are a number of processes in place under the Emergencies Act both to review on an ongoing basis and to report after the fact, and that’s the review committee. It will have certain powers appropriate for the task, largely to consider whether the regulations promulgated under it should be revoked or amended. That is an important task, as well as reporting back to Parliament on a regular basis if the emergency carries on.

Also contemplated in the act is an inquiry to do, dare I say, a post-mortem on the situation and report back.

Colleagues, we know very well — and this is not a feature of the Emergencies Act — that we accept that in a democratic society there are nonetheless categories of information that cannot and should not be made public, such as ongoing police investigations, the sharing of intelligence information between agencies — whether it is CSIS, the RCMP or the Communications Security Establishment — and information shared between governments. This has always been the case. We have well-established laws — such as the National Defence Act and the Canada Evidence Act — that provide structure for when these matters may or may not be shared. Indeed, we have legal and administrative processes for fine-tuning and challenging decisions when information is being withheld on national security grounds. There is nothing new here.

I will also remind this house that if you search Hansard and all of the public statements of this government, this government has not stood up and said, “Hey, trust us, but we can’t tell you anything that is going on.”

The declaration that was filed in this place and articulated in my speech outlines a sufficient number of publicly known facts — facts on the public record that, in the opinion of the government, more than clearly satisfied the legal test that the government had reasonable grounds to believe that the national emergency was such that the act needed to be invoked and these measures put in place.

Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Gold, section 62 of the Emergencies Act sets up the parliamentary review committee. This will be an important accountability mechanism to review how these unprecedented powers have been used. It is a joint parliamentary committee and its membership is set out at section 62(2) of the act, as you read out in your speech, and indicates that it shall include:

. . . at least one senator from each party in the Senate that is represented on the committee by a member of the House of Commons.

Well, Senator Gold, I guess the fake nomenclature in the Prime Minister’s independent Senate has come home to roost, because right now the only senators who will be able to be members of that committee, prescribed by the Emergencies Act, are Conservative Party of Canada senators. So I guess my Conservative Senate caucus colleagues and I will have to fill this committee with only Conservative senators. That’s because we don’t have any Liberal, NDP or Bloc Québécois senators.

Senator Gold, your party and your government, I should say, has been in power for six and a half years. Your attempt to amend the Parliament of Canada Act — first introduced here almost a year ago as Bill S-4, now just starting in the House of Commons as Bill C-7 — has not yet been passed. According to section 62(6) of the Emergencies Act, this parliamentary review committee is supposed to report to Parliament at least every 60 days while the declaration of emergency is in effect. We are already more than one week into this.

Senator Gold, who other than Conservative senators will sit on this crucial committee? Quite frankly, Senator Gold, your government’s poor planning and procrastination does not constitute our Emergencies Act escape hatch.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of February 21, 2022, moved:

That, pursuant to section 58 of the Emergencies Act, the Senate confirm the declaration of a public order emergency proclaimed on February 14, 2022.

He said: Honourable senators, it is with a profound sense of responsibility that I rise today to speak to the motion before us. For the first time since it was passed in 1988, on Monday, February 14, 2022, the Government of Canada invoked the Emergencies Act to proclaim the existence of a public order emergency in Canada.

Last night, our elected colleagues in the other place approved the government’s decision, thereby maintaining the additional authorities under the act. I might add, because I believe it is material to the decision before us, that the other place’s consent was given with the support of the New Democratic Party.

As Government Representative in the Senate, it is my responsibility to explain to the Senate why the government has invoked the act and to seek the Senate’s confirmation so that the act can continue to apply in the coming days under our supervision. I do so with humility, but I also do so with the firm conviction, confirmed by the events of the past seven days, that the government had reasonable grounds to invoke the act.

As we begin our debate, I would like to start by thanking the law-enforcement professionals who have been working day and night to bring peace back to the streets of Ottawa and to thwart emerging plans for new blockades, ensuring that blockades of critical infrastructure stop metastasizing across our country.

And as we stand on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, I also want to pay tribute to all who call Ottawa home — citizens who have been besieged for weeks by folks who have not respected the rule of law or the democratic institutions that our national capital represents. As senators, the people of Ottawa host us every week. They lodge us in hotels around the Hill. They feed us in restaurants, in the Senate cafeteria or even in the Rideau Centre. They staff our offices. They do the hard work of ensuring that our democratic institutions can always function, even during a pandemic or a blockade. They keep us safe. And no one should fear coming to work in this place.

The people of Ottawa deserve the freedom to live their lives free from assault, free from fear, free from harassment, free from crime and free from chaos. I know that the citizens of Ottawa have our backs.

With extraordinary measures having been in place for a little over one week, we in the Senate are now called upon to concur with our elected colleagues and accept the government’s initial decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. Should we do so, we will then bear the weighty responsibility, together with our House colleagues, to act as a check to monitor, supervise and adjudicate the uses of the act. As parliamentarians, we are now called upon to determine whether the government has satisfied the terms of the act such that the measures taken pursuant to it may remain in effect until they are no longer required.

Today, however, we have a luxury: the benefit of hindsight. We take our decisions during an unprecedented and multifaceted law-enforcement operation in which the tools created under the act are being used effectively to bring this emergency to a successful end as quickly but as peaceably as possible. As we have seen, the impact of the act has been pivotal. We know it is making the difference, because those implementing the operation are telling us so and are asking us to keep it in place so that we do not squander the progress that has been made.

In many ways, we are deciding whether our government and law-enforcement agencies across Canada can continue to use the tools that, so far at least, have turned the tide and shifted momentum back into the camp of law and order. Now we decide whether we allow these measures to continue so that Canadians can effectively put this chapter behind us and begin a process of healing.

[Translation]

Honourable senators, the government proclaimed the existence of a state of emergency.

Once the declaration is made, special temporary measures can be implemented to respond to the emergency situation. Any measure taken under the legislation must be carried out in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and must be carefully adapted to limit any impact on Charter rights and be reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances.

In order to support senators and ensure they are well informed, our office organized two technical briefings, made ministers available to answer senators’ questions, and distributed and tabled every document required under section 58 of the Emergencies Act. It is essential that the act also provide for oversight and thorough review by Parliament at every stage of the process. I will actually come back to that later.

[English]

Let me briefly outline the temporary measures that have been put in place to date, both under the Emergencies Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder. These measures were carefully chosen and designed to respond to the situation, and to fill gaps in provincial and local authorities and capacities. I would summarize these measures as follows: measures to temporarily regulate and prohibit public assemblies that lead to a breach of the peace and go beyond lawful protest; measures to temporarily designate and secure places where blockades are to be prohibited, which could include borders, approaches to borders, other critical infrastructure, the Parliamentary Precinct in Ottawa or other places where there is evidence of imminent unlawful assembly; and measures to temporarily authorize or direct any person to render essential services to relieve the impacts of blockades on Canada’s public and economic safety, and for those persons to be fairly compensated for that work.

Colleagues, this has made it possible to remove many of the large trucks that have blocked access to the Parliamentary Precinct and have imposed unacceptable hardships on the residents in the area. These include measures to temporarily limit financial support for unlawful assembly, notably through the temporary cessation of services from financial institutions and the application of reporting requirements on crowdfunding platforms. They include measures to temporarily enable RCMP to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offences where required, and the imposition of fines or imprisonment for contravention of certain orders and regulations made under section 19 of the Emergencies Act.

All these measures have been used effectively and in a responsible and respectful manner as we have seen and are seeing in Ottawa.

Let me turn now to the provisions of the act setting out the criteria for invoking a public order emergency. The government is firmly of the view that it has met the legal threshold outlined in the act. To lawfully invoke the act, the legislation requires that the government have reasonable grounds that a public order emergency exists. Based on all the facts and evidence at its disposal, the government believes that it has such reasonable grounds, and that is why the act has been invoked.

Allow me to outline for the chamber the relevant provisions of the act, which, as you will see, point to a highly fact-driven analysis. I will subsequently elaborate on the facts, context and circumstances that can be disclosed that have led the government to the conclusion that the act had to be invoked.

Section 17 of the act is the most crucial. It provides as follows:

When the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, that a public order emergency exists and necessitates the taking of special temporary measures for dealing with the emergency, the Governor in Council, after such consultation as is required by section 25, may, by proclamation, so declare.

The criteria defining what constitutes a public order emergency under the act are highly contextual. Section 16 of the act defines a public order emergency as:

. . . an emergency that arises from threats to the security of Canada and that is so serious as to be a national emergency;

The act therefore requires the government to have a belief, rooted in reasonable grounds, that there exists an emergency arising from, “threats to the security of Canada,” and that it considers, again on the basis of reasonable grounds, that those threats amount to a “national emergency.”

The concept of threats to the security of Canada is defined in section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, and it includes the following activities under section 2(b):

. . . foreign influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a threat to any person . . .

Section 2:

Meanwhile the concept of “national emergency” is defined in the Emergencies Act as:

. . . an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that

and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.

Based on all the facts at its disposal, the government has reasonable grounds to believe that over the course of the past few weeks the threats posed by the convoy movement has amounted to this.

I would underscore in passing that some provinces requested assistance or explicitly expressed that the situation went beyond their capacity to deal with it, including Ontario and Alberta. In fact, over the course of the past weeks, a range of local authorities, from municipalities to police chiefs to provincial premiers, stated that they did not have sufficient capacity to act at various points in time.

In invoking the Emergencies Act, the federal government is responding to the assessments of those levels of authority. I, for one, would be astounded — if not indeed flummoxed — if a court ever deemed that, despite all of the public statements and requests for assistance we have seen, the local authorities had the capacity to deal with the situation in an effective manner.

I would also note that, while one may argue that the situation could have been dealt with using other laws, one would be hard pressed to make the case that the situation could have been dealt with effectively, which is what the act talks about. Here the benefit of hindsight is very helpful. We have now seen how ineffectively the situation was managed without the Emergencies Act and how effectively the situation has improved since it was invoked a week ago. We also have every reason to believe that the Emergencies Act remains necessary for Canada to be able to respond to ongoing threats to re-establish blockades at critical infrastructure or border crossings.

Law enforcement agencies are currently relying on the act to set up secured areas in downtown Ottawa and at border crossings, preventing foreign money from continuing to fund illegal blockades and ensuring that our borders remain open.

Yes, the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor and the Coutts border crossing were eventually cleared, but at what cost? And as the discovery of weapons and body armour revealed, what was the risk to law enforcement and the public?

Indeed, the Emergencies Act has played a crucial role in ensuring that the situation is brought under control, avoiding a renewed spread of blockades by occupiers and their sponsors looking for a new target.

I will now endeavour to provide senators with further context and factors that have led the government to conclude that there were sufficiently reasonable grounds to believe there is a public order emergency: that is, an emergency arising from threats to the security of Canada that is so serious as to be a national emergency.

I would note that this highly factual and contextual question necessarily relies upon information that may not be shared in the context of our debates. In that regard, I think the government is owed a certain degree of deference vis-à-vis the security assessment it has made.

I would also note that the position of the government is elaborated in one of the documents tabled in the Senate on Monday and shared with all senators last week entitled February 14, 2022 Declaration of Public Order Emergency, Explanation pursuant to subsection 58(1) of the Emergencies Act.

The document states:

The “Freedom Convoy 2022” was the first manifestation of this growing movement centered on anti-government sentiments related to the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trucker convoys began their journey from various points in the country, and the movement arrived in Ottawa on Friday, January 28, 2022. Since then, the movement has only continued to gain momentum across the country, with significant increase in numbers in Ottawa as well as protests and blockades spreading in different locations, including strategic ports of entry (e.g., Ambassador Bridge, Ontario; Coutts, Alberta; and Emerson, Manitoba).

And later the document continues:

The movement has moved beyond a peaceful protest, and there is significant evidence of illegal activity underway. . . .

Colleagues, the ongoing occupation of downtown Ottawa by the so-called “Freedom Convoy” held the city and its residents hostage for three weeks. Far from being peaceful, they caused considerable harm to the city and its residents. There was evidence of destructive, racist and violent behaviour. Small businesses endured illegal obstruction of their neighbourhoods and harassment of their patrons and staff. The convoy’s rhetoric was toxic, dangerous and at times hateful. Swastikas, Confederate flags and other odious symbols of anti-Semitism and White supremacy are disgraceful and unacceptable, yet they also played a role.

The calls to topple our democratically elected government and its institutions by relying upon a show of force in our nation’s capital was evident and encouraged by the extremist entities. There were incidents of threats, an attempt to set fire to an apartment building and the need for police protection for a brave young woman who sought and won an injunction against constant noise in the downtown core.

Moreover, across the country we saw blockades at borders in multiple provinces that harmed our economy and endangered public safety. For example, near Morden, Manitoba, because of a convoy blocking traffic it took over an hour for a woman in her 80s suffering from chest pains to get to hospital.

After the federal government announced its intention to invoke the Emergencies Act, and in the days since, many of these blockades resolved, but the situation across Canada remains volatile and unpredictable. The possibility of further blockages and other illegal activities has not disappeared, as was evidenced in Quebec City and in Surrey, B.C. this past weekend.

Colleagues, the negative economic impact of all these activities cannot be overstated. Cities, especially Ottawa, have spent millions of taxpayer dollars battling the situation. More broadly, these occupations and blockades had and continue to have adverse effects on the Canadian economy — an economy that is still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. Critical supply chains have been disrupted and this is hurting many Canadians, including workers who rely on cross-border trade for their livelihood. The blockades have adversely affected Canada’s relationship with our trading partners, particularly the United States. There have been breakdowns in the distribution and availability of essential goods, services and resources to Canadians.

These demonstrations have raised the levels of unrest and violence in our country to unacceptable levels, threatening our safety and security. Indeed, there is clear evidence that some participants in these activities are prepared to use violent means to achieve their goals. We have heard reports of threats of force to oppose removal of the blockades. The recent seizure by the RCMP of a cache of firearms with a large quantity of ammunition in Coutts, Alberta, and evidence that some protesters are alleged to have conspired to murder RCMP officers are troubling examples of this fact. Demonstrators across the country, emboldened by the blockades and the occupation of our nation’s capital, have made clear that their objective is to force the government to remove all COVID-related measures, or to overthrow our democratically elected government, potentially by force.

Colleagues, what began as a protest against vaccine mandates for truckers at the border morphed into a joining of forces of all those opposing the mandates — really, all public health measures — by all levels of government, those wanting to destabilize the government through outside foreign influence and those angry about the results of the last election and who are determined to overturn it.

The memorandum of understanding put forward by Canada Unity called for a duly elected government to be replaced. The MOU reads:

In this case the parties are “THE PEOPLE OF CANADA”, the “SENATE OF CANADA”, and “THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA”, the highest authorities representing the Federal Government. The matter to be discussed and agreed upon is this; The Senate of Canada and the Governor General, combined referred to as the Federal Government are to uphold and enforce all Canadian and International Human Rights Laws that are clearly laid out in the MOU or “RESIGN their lawful positions of authority Immediately”.

The founders of Canada Unity are the same people who have also called for charges of treason to be levelled against the Prime Minister, and they are some of the first organizers of the convoy to Ottawa.

Another organizer and folk hero of the convoy has stated publicly that COVID-19 is a man-made bioweapon and warned of an “endgame” to “depopulate the Anglo-Saxon race.” In December, while talking of public health measures on his live stream, he said, “The only way this is going to be solved is with bullets.”

In its 2020 report, CSIS stated that “Some violent extremists view COVID-19 as a real but welcome crisis that could hasten the collapse of Western society.” CSIS is so concerned about these groups that it has elevated ideological, violent extremism to the highest threat to Canada ahead of religious extremism and groups like al Qaeda.

The crowdfunding site GiveSendGo was hacked and a list of donors was made public. Of those who donated to the illegal protest in Ottawa, there are reports that more than 300 donations came from Oath Keepers, the group that participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. capitol.

In Coutts, Alberta, along with the seized firearms and ammunition, there was body armour with the insignia of a group called Diagolon. According to Candyce Kelshall, an expert from the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Diagolon’s purpose is to incite “a race war.” This weekend, there were reports that members of Diagolon posted on social media the names of police officers who’ve been helping give the residents of Ottawa their city back. And let’s remember that the charges laid in Coutts include conspiracy to murder police officers.

These are but a few examples of the threats that Canada faces, not only in Ottawa but wherever a regrouping may be planned via social media.

Honourable senators, even if the initial intention of the convoy was to come to Canada and express displeasure about border vaccine mandates, these efforts were co-opted by extremist elements who used good-faith protesters as a Trojan Horse to advance their nefarious intentions.

It is a matter of public record that there have been threats of serious violence against persons and property, including critical infrastructure, for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective within Canada. This alone satisfies the definition of a threat to the security of Canada, which is a key element of a public order emergency as defined by section 16 of the act.

The other element is that this threat to our security must rise to the level of a national emergency as defined in section 3 of the act. As I have already outlined, it is clear that the convoys and blockades pose a serious danger to Canadians. As has become evident over three long weeks, as blockades became entrenched and started spreading across the country, provincial and municipal law enforcement were unable to effectively enforce the law in their jurisdictions within a reasonable time frame. For example, despite invoking provincial emergency measures, Ontario did not have the ability to compel service from towing companies, which was one of the main challenges both in Ottawa and on the Ambassador Bridge. In Windsor, tow trucks from Michigan came north to help out, but that’s not an option everywhere. Using the Emergencies Act, the federal government enacted measures to overcome this challenge.

Also, no province or territory acting alone could effectively cut off financial support for the blockades. Some financial service providers are provincially regulated, but each province can only regulate its own, and banks are federally regulated. Using the Emergencies Act, the federal government has been able to target the funding that was paying for the food and fuel sustaining the blockades.

But that is not all. As outlined in the document tabled yesterday, the blockades and protests threaten the security of Canada’s borders, with the potential to endanger the ability of Canada to manage the flow of goods and people across the border, the safety of CBSA officers and to undermine the trust and coordination between CBSA officials and their American partners. Additional blockades are anticipated.

This has been a national crisis beyond the capacity of any single province or territory to address. While after this weekend we hope we are turning a corner, we are by no means out of the woods. For this reason, the federal government has stepped in and used the legal tool at its disposal to address this unique situation. This unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act is being taken in response to an unprecedented state of affairs. These measures are necessary to bring an end to the illegal activities and blockades and to deter their repetition. As stated by our colleague Senator Vern White and former cabinet minister Peter Mackay in their joint article for the National Post:

 . . . what we have seen in the occupation of Ottawa and blockages at border crossings is not the right of protest enshrined in our constitution, but illegal activity that represents a national security and economic threat to Canada.

Law enforcement professionals from Senator White to the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have been clear in recent days that the emergency orders have been a key factor in the progress we have seen in Ottawa.

Michael Kempa, Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, has made clear that:

Once the protest took possession of downtown space, once rights for others were infringed by the illegal protests and illegal protesters, once it expanded to include border crossings affecting the economy, it became a national emergency when it threatened the stability of the economy and rights of others. Municipal, provincial governments did not have the power or the resources.

[Translation]

Esteemed colleagues, the government has taken the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act seriously. The government made that decision after carefully considering the situation across Canada, continuously working with public officials and police forces nationwide and holding in-depth discussions over the course of three meetings of Cabinet’s Incident Response Group on February 10, 12 and 13, 2022.

Before invoking the act, the government also consulted with the premiers of the provinces and territories as required under section 25 of the Emergencies Act. A number of premiers, including Premier Doug Ford, said they were unable to manage the blockades and occupations and asked to the government to take action and provide support. Other premiers said that they had the tools to keep things under control in their respective provinces.

A report of these consultations and a summary of the engagements between the government and other municipal and provincial decision makers were tabled Monday in the Senate and distributed to all senators last week.

Invoking the Emergencies Act was deemed necessary in order to provide additional tools to law enforcement agencies and other organizations so that they could respond to the emergency. These tools remain necessary, even though the situation in Ottawa appears to have significantly improved.

[English]

As Ottawa Police Service Interim Chief Steve Bell stated during his news conference on February 18:

The three levels of Government that have come together to support our efforts in this have led us to be able to have the success we’re starting to see right now.

He said the Emergencies Act, the provincial state of emergency, as well as the City of Ottawa state of emergency and injunction:

. . . have created the ability for us to use powers and use new and existing powers to be able to properly deal with the demonstration to ultimately bring it to an end. Without the authorities that had been provided to us through these pieces of legislation, we wouldn’t be able to be doing the work we are today.

Colleagues, the blockades and assemblies are not isolated incidents, nor are they spontaneous. There is evidence of coordination between the various convoys and blockades. There is also evidence of significant funding and other support being provided by those connected to far-right extremist groups, both in Canada and elsewhere. The measures authorized under the Emergencies Act are required to stabilize the situation and ensure that further illegal activities and blockades do not continue.

Let me turn to several issues and questions that have been raised about the act and the measures that have been authorized by it. The first concerns the application of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter applies to the Emergencies Act and to all actions taken pursuant to the act. There is no temporary suspension of rights or freedoms as there was under the old War Measures Act. Furthermore, all acts must be consistent with our international human rights obligations. But don’t take it from me, take it from Ed Broadbent the former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada who yesterday said:

Compared to the War Measures Act, the Emergencies Act has reduced powers, added significant Parliamentary review, and was created in part to support and uphold the Charter.

And this is one of the key reasons that the Emergencies Act is different: The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not suspended. There is parliamentary oversight. And the Act would expire in its application after thirty days.

Along these lines, Professor Michael Kempa explains as follows:

The Emergencies Act is simply not the War Measures Act. The War Measures Act, you flip a switch, on or off, and when you turn it on, it suspends everybody’s civil liberties across Canada. The Emergencies Act does not work that way. It’s an incremental act that works within the Charter, and the government takes existing laws, puts them together and amps them up for a period of time, and it has only been applied to people who are either directly involved in the illegal protest or who are supporting the illegal protest. It has not otherwise affected Canadians across the country — a much better law than the old-fashioned War Measures Act.

Because the proclamation is not legislative in nature, no Charter Statement was produced. Nevertheless, let me say the following: The Charter guarantees rights and freedoms subject to reasonable limits that are prescribed by law and can demonstrably be justified in a free and democratic society. There is no doubt that freedoms of assembly and expression are fundamental to Canada’s democratic society. In particular, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly ensure that Canadians of diverse experience, perspective and opinion have an opportunity to make themselves heard and to contribute to public discourse. Nothing in these measures negates this opportunity.

Section 2 of the emergency measures regulations provides specificity on illegal public assemblies that may lead to a breach of the peace. This narrow limitation is measured and limited in time. Canadians have exercised their freedom to assemble peacefully during the pandemic, whether to support or oppose public health measures or to take positions on other causes, as they continue to have that freedom.

However, these illegal occupations and blockages have been intimidating, harassing and pose an ongoing threat to Canada’s security and economy. They do not aim to contribute to a public debate but rather to dominate it through intimidation and physical force. These actions are beyond what any free and democratic society should be expected to tolerate.

It bears repeating that the Emergencies Act cannot be invoked to respond to peaceful protest, which is protected by our Charter, nor even to respond to unlawful protests that can, in the ordinary course, be controlled by provincial or local authorities. But the organized occupations and blockages in multiple places across our country in recent weeks bear no resemblance to peaceful protest and go well beyond the kinds of civil disobedience that we’ve seen in other contexts.

The emergency measures are carefully tailored to the underlying objective of responding to the national emergency and restoring public order. While some of the measures, notably those set out in the second regulation promulgated pursuant to the declaration, may engage privacy rights under the Charter — and I should add that the terms of the Privacy Act still apply — the measures are designed to strike a reasonable balance between privacy and the objective of addressing the public order emergency.

Finally, the act does not oust or limit the jurisdiction of the courts to address claims that rights and freedoms were infringed. Indeed, as we know, proceedings have already been initiated to that effect.

[Translation]

The second issue I want to raise relates to the geographical scope of the proclamation and the measures, and the fact that several provincial premiers are opposed to the application of this legislation in their province.

This is federal legislation, which means it has legal application throughout the country. However, the government has been very clear that not all of the measures available under the act will be used, and the measures that are used will be targeted to only where they are needed.

[English]

Canadians in towns, cities and provinces where there are no ongoing blockades or occupations will likely see nothing arising from the invocation of the Emergencies Act. Even in places where there are ongoing occupations, if municipal and provincial law enforcement do not require federal assistance or the additional tools provided under the Emergencies Act to restore order, they need not use them.

The ultimate goal for the government is to end all the illegal occupations and blockades. Local and provincial authorities were unable to resolve these incidents in the weeks leading up to the declaration of a public order emergency. Since the intention to declare a public order emergency was announced, many situations have been successfully resolved — both in Ottawa, where police used the emergency powers explicitly and effectively, and elsewhere, where perhaps the invocation of the Emergencies Act sent a message to some participants that it was time to go home. This is good news. This is the act achieving its intended purpose.

The third issue concerns the measures surrounding the funding of unlawful activities. Temporary measures under the Emergencies Act direct Canadian financial institutions to review their relationships with anyone actively participating or actively supporting the illegal occupations and blockades. On a temporary basis, a bank or other financial service provider can immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order. In so doing, they are protected against civil liability for actions taken in good faith. This order covers both personal and corporate accounts. To quote Michael Kempa again:

The freezing of accounts motivated a huge number of people to leave, and it couldn’t be done without the Emergencies Act.

The actions in Ottawa might be the best example, but it is by no means the only example, of the need for funding in order to continue and maintain a blockade or long-term incursion. Those individuals or businesses that contribute to illegal occupations and prolong the illegality will and should suffer the consequences.

Moreover, crowdfunding and payment service providers used to raise funds for the protests must register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, Canada’s main monitor for money laundering and terrorist financing, and they must report large and suspicious transactions. While this is a temporary measure, the government has signalled that it intends to introduce legislation to apply FINTRAC reporting requirements to crowdfunding platforms on a permanent basis.

Also under the emergency orders, federal government institutions may share relevant information about persons and entities participating and supporting unlawful assemblies with banks, and other financial service providers, where it will help stop the funding of illegal activities under the regulations. Following the money is an important step that will help put an end to these illegal blockades and protests.

Questions have been raised about how these measures will be applied and what protections or safeguards exist to protect Canadians who have had their bank accounts frozen or their insurance suspended.

The order requires financial service providers to review, on an ongoing basis, whether their customers are participating in or funding unlawful assemblies. The intent is that if you stop participating in the protest the bank unfreezes your account. This is meant to incentivize people to stop making contributions or to drive their truck away from a blockade and go home. As such, it’s in the government’s interest for those who make that sensible choice to have their account unfrozen quickly.

Colleagues, these temporary financial measures are not being applied indiscriminately. Let me quote the February 21, 2022, RCMP “Statement on the freezing of financial accounts”:

Under the Emergency Economic Measures Order (Emergencies Act), the list that was provided to financial institutions included identities of individuals who were influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest. At no time, did we provide a list of donors to financial institutions.

We are now working with the banks to build a process to address the accounts that were frozen.

If someone feels a mistake has been made or believes they’re being treated unjustly, there are a number of steps they can take. First, they can reach out directly to their bank or to police to demonstrate that they’re no longer participating in a blockade. That alone should be enough to have their account unfrozen.

If there’s an exceptional case where that doesn’t work, the person can make a complaint to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. And, ultimately, Canadians have recourse to the courts.

But it’s highly unlikely that will be necessary. The purpose of this short-term emergency order is for people to have their accounts frozen while they’re actively participating in the blockades and to have them unfrozen as soon as their participation stops. Importantly, these measures related to bank accounts do not apply retroactively. Let me be clear: This order does not apply to people who made donations or who participated in the blockades before February 15.

It’s worth noting that, as of Sunday, some 200 bank accounts had been frozen out of tens of thousands of donors and participants. It certainly does not appear that this measure is being overused.

Finally, let me address the concern that the invocation of the Emergencies Act sets a dangerous precedent for future governments that might be tempted to use it to shut down Indigenous protests or protests by environmental activists.

The Emergencies Act has been on the books since 1988, and this is the first time it has been invoked. As the Prime Minister has said many times this past week, it is not a tool of first resort or second; it is a tool of last resort.

Of course, there is no way to predict what a future government might do in the face of a perceived national emergency. But if the act is invoked, all actions must be consistent with the constitutionally protected rights guaranteed by the Charter, and the courts will be there to protect those whose rights and freedoms may be infringed. Equally importantly, the act requires rigorous democratic oversight if it is invoked, and ongoing oversight and review even after the temporary measures it authorized are no longer in effect.

It is to these democratic mechanisms that I now turn.

A distinguishing feature of the Emergencies Act is the comprehensive way in which it contemplates and structures parliamentary oversight and review, of all stages in the process, once a government declares the existence of a national emergency.

The first step is the one with which we are seized. Under section 58 of the act, both the Senate and the House of Commons must begin debate on a motion to confirm the declaration within seven days after its issuance. As stated at the outset, the legal test is whether the government had reasonable grounds to believe that a public order emergency exists, necessitating the imposition of special temporary measures for dealing with the emergency. If either the House or the Senate votes not to confirm the declaration, the declaration is revoked effective that day and all the measures previously authorized cease to be in force.

But that is not all. The act also provides parliamentarians with the tools to move that a declaration of emergency be revoked, even after having initially confirmed it. As set out in section 59 of the act, at any time after the declaration of a national emergency, a motion seeking the revocation of a declaration of emergency, if signed by 10 senators — or 20 members of the House — may be filed with the Speaker, and that motion must be taken up and considered within three sitting days after the motion is filed. Colleagues, this provides parliamentarians the ability to challenge the continuation of the emergency measures if they deem the emergency to have passed.

A similar power is granted with respect to orders or regulations made pursuant to a declaration. With the exception of those orders or regulations exempt from publication in the Canada Gazette by regulations made under the Statutory Instruments Act, all orders and regulations must be laid before each House of Parliament within two sitting days after they are promulgated. Section 61 of the act provides a process whereby a motion to revoke or amend a regulation or order must be filed with the Speaker and taken up within three sitting days.

In these ways, the act provides further recourse for parliamentarians to reconsider whether the emergency measures should continue, and to vote to terminate them, even before the 30-day period elapses.

Furthermore, if the government wishes to extend the state of emergency beyond the 30-day limit prescribed in the act, section 60 provides that the extension must be confirmed by both the Senate and the House in the same manner, and within the same time frame, as when it was invoked initially.

But there is even more. Section 62 of the act also provides for the establishment of a parliamentary review committee of both houses of Parliament to review the declaration of emergency and to report back to both houses of Parliament.

This committee has the responsibility to report the results of its review at least once every 60 days while the declaration of emergency is in force. However, in cases where there is a motion for the revocation of the declaration, it must report to Parliament within three days. Where a proclamation continuing the declaration is issued, or where a declaration has expired or been revoked, the committee must report within seven sitting days.

The review and reporting functions of the committee are crucial to enhance democratic accountability. This will allow senators and our colleagues in the House to stay apprised of how decisions were made, to assess what worked and what didn’t, to reflect upon the lessons learned and to inform future actions. The roles and responsibilities of this committee also provide ongoing oversight of the measures taken pursuant to the declaration.

For example, where a regulation or order is exempted from publication in the Canada Gazette, that order or regulation shall be referred to the committee within two days after it is made, or if the committee has not yet been constituted, within the first two sitting days after it is designated established. Should this be the case, the committee will have 30 days to amend or revoke them. This is another mechanism to ensure ongoing democratic review and oversight of the measures taken under a declaration of emergency.

I wish at this time to advise this chamber that there currently are no orders or regulations expected to be made that would be referred to the committee. By that, I mean any that have not been deposited or would be deposited publicly before both houses of Parliament.

The act is silent as to when the parliamentary review committee is to be established. That said, the establishment of the committee would follow the usual rules for standing up joint committees. Accordingly, if the declaration of emergency is confirmed, I will be working with my counterpart in the House to move as quickly as possible to get the committee constituted.

Regarding membership on the committee, the act is silent as to its size, nor does it say how many members should be senators and how many should be MPs. Section 62(2) provides only that the committee shall include:

. . . at least one member of the House of Commons from each party that has a recognized membership of twelve or more persons in that House and at least one senator from each party in the Senate that is represented on the committee by a member of the House of Commons.

It does not preclude the naming of additional categories of members, whether from the House or the Senate.

After the expiration — without extension — or the revocation of the act, section 63(1) states:

The Governor in Council shall, within sixty days after the expiration or revocation of a declaration of emergency, cause an inquiry to be held into the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.

Colleagues, the questions and the concerns leading up to the invocation of the Emergencies Act are far too numerous to list, and many are not even yet known. But section 63(1) will allow a committee to thoroughly investigate the “how,” “who,” “what,” “when” and “why” leading up to the decision. How did this movement begin and gain momentum? Who coordinated and organized the protests? What was the catalyst for its inception? When did the anger explode? Why was the illegal response of blockades and occupations considered the remedy?

The actions of governments at all levels, as well as the actions or inactions of law enforcement, will also need review. This review will begin within 60 days of the termination of the order and a report must be tabled within 360 days after study begins.

The Emergencies Act was passed in 1988, long before the composition of the Senate changed. It is the position of the government that all recognized parliamentary groups in the Senate should have at least one member on the parliamentary review committee.

As a matter of course, the expectation is that the committee will generally conduct its meetings in public. This committee, like all committees, can meet in private but would usually only do so to consider draft reports or if confidential information is involved. The committee is only required to meet in private if it is considering orders or regulations that cannot be published in the Canada Gazette.

To close, Canada is a country founded on the principles of peace, order and good government. Canadians expect government to protect our economy, the rule of law, our values, and most importantly, the safety and security of our people.

We select —

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Senator Gold: Thank you, Your Honour.

We select our government through democratic elections, not through threats or the use of force. We respect individual rights and freedoms. We protect each other, as we have done throughout these last two challenging years.

And when we disagree, we say so loudly, boisterously and sometimes angrily. We march, we chant and we wave banners. We vote. Sometimes, we push the bounds of the law, and we know there may be consequences for that.

Allow me to quote the Prime Minister, who yesterday said the following:

In a democracy, you can protest, and you can share your opinion at the top of your lungs, you can disagree with elected officials, and you can certainly disagree with me. But you can’t harass your fellow Canadians who disagree with you. You can’t hold a city hostage. You can’t block a critical trade corridor and deprive people of their jobs. You can’t attack journalists for reporting, which is essential to our democracy. What you can do is vote. What you can do is run for office. That’s how change happens in a democracy.

When we’re at our best, we listen to each other. Without a doubt, we could all resolve to listen more and listen better.

On that point, though, this weekend, as police were advancing, one of the demonstrators was saying on TV that he only came to Ottawa to engage in dialogue, if only someone would have dialogued with him. Perhaps that individual really did come here in good faith, but on the whole, to the question of whether this could have been de-escalated through discussion, let me say this: When you show up waving banners directing profanity at the Prime Minister, calling for him to be jailed and explicitly demanding the overthrow of our democratically elected government, that is a curious way to signal interest in constructive conversation.

Organized activities designed to destabilize our democracy have been under way across this country for weeks. They are coordinated, well funded and persistent. Many participants have been prepared to use unlawful means and violence to achieve their ends. There is no reason to assume that those behind this movement have abandoned their plans to disrupt and destabilize our country. We cannot let this continue.

The temporary measures put in place under the Emergencies Act have already made a material difference in restoring order. While the use of the act is extraordinary, the measures themselves are not extreme. They have been designed and used in a focused and proportionate manner, and they have been effective.

Even though calm is being returned to the streets of Ottawa, the need for these temporary measures remains. We need to let police and other authorities finish the work that these measures have allowed them to undertake.

You get the feeling that the people of Ottawa understand that all too well. On Sunday, for the first time in almost a month, the residents and workers of downtown, our hosts when we come here to the Senate, were able to walk around their neighbourhoods feeling — I’m searching for the word — free.

But perhaps they were not quite feeling safe — not yet. On Friday, Ottawa’s emergency lines were deliberately jammed once again. On Saturday, the Ottawa Hospital went into lockdown because of a bomb threat. As well, a number of demonstrators have regrouped down the highway and are vowing to return. As one man told La Presse —

[Translation]

 — and I quote, “This is not over. As soon as we can, we’ll be back!”

[English]

Obviously, the emergency measures we’re debating are temporary; they’ll have to end before long. But it has only been a couple of days since a phalanx of police officers from across the country was required to uproot a siege in this city. Police are saying they need a bit more time to consolidate the work they did this weekend, and I think we should give it to them.

Honourable colleagues, I humbly ask for your support to confirm the declaration of emergency that has been put before you. Thank you for your kind attention.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. In my speech, I did indeed address all the circumstances underlying the government’s decision to declare this a national emergency affecting the whole country. I’m glad for the opportunity to reinforce a number of points.

It is not simply that there were activities in many provinces of the country that caused serious harm to our economy and represented threats to people and security — and I will not repeat what those were. The activities took place with the participation of individuals and groups from across this country. They were funded by individuals and groups from not only across this country but beyond, elsewhere, in other countries. These measures and the ongoing threats for them to continue affected our borders: border crossings in Surrey, border crossings in Alberta, border crossings in Manitoba, and indications of possible border crossing protests for Saskatchewan. Clearly, we know what happened here in Ottawa with concerns about border crossings.

Frankly, it is clear that all the country is potentially affected by the movement which has hijacked legitimate and understandable concerns and frustrations with the impact of the pandemic. Moreover — and this is really critical — if you examine exactly how these measures are being applied in the last week, they are being applied only where they are needed, only where the local authorities have said we need these additional tools. Whether it is the police in particular jurisdictions or, in some cases, premiers who have asked for assistance, that’s where you see the actions being taken on the ground; nowhere else. In that regard, though, it is a federal law applying to the whole country because the whole country is at risk from the events that gave rise to the blockades on the bridges, which gave rise to the occupation and siege of Ottawa. It is an incontrovertible fact that the government had reasonable grounds to believe that was the case. At the same time, using the targeted focused measures contemplated by the Emergencies Act, being true to the letter and spirit of the Emergencies Act, actions are only being taken where they are absolutely needed in coordination with local authorities, whether governmental or police, and no other actions will be taken.

Senator Plett: I have one supplementary, if I could, Your Honour, but, as I said earlier, there are a lot of people who want to ask questions, so I’ll go on the list for a little later.

Senator Gold, you will excuse some of us if we just simply don’t believe the rhetoric that we are being given by the government both in the other place and here.

On Saturday, the Minister of Public Safety said at least 76 bank accounts had been frozen under the Emergencies Act. This action took place before the House of Commons and the Senate — before the House of Commons and the Senate — had the opportunity to weigh in on whether this instance of invoking the Emergencies Act is necessary.

Yesterday afternoon, David Akin of Global News reported new information he received from Public Safety Canada that 208 financial products have been frozen. Senator Gold, you referred to that in your speech as well, and you seem to think that is not really significant and that people can somehow get these unfrozen in due course. We all know it could take weeks and even months to get that done, and somebody cannot move; somebody cannot operate.

Leader, what are the specific guidelines, the very specific guidelines — not the government thinking somebody may have done something nefarious. What are the specific guidelines being used to determine if a bank account should be frozen? When we freeze the Mafia’s bank account, we have to get a court order; you can’t just freeze their bank account. When you have a murderer out on bail, you don’t freeze their bank account. We have people who are avoiding taxes; you don’t freeze their bank accounts without court orders.

So what are the specific guidelines or criteria that are being used to determine if a bank account should be frozen, as well as the guidelines or criteria being used to determine which type of accounts or financial products can be seized?