Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, thank you for this incredibly important and robust debate.

I’m speaking to you today from Mi’kma’ki, the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq.

Colleagues, I deeply value free speech. I deeply value peaceful protest. But these have not been peaceful protests about free speech. For example, those who came to occupy Ottawa were demanding that the federal government remove all mandates related to COVID-19, regardless of whether those mandates were issued by the American government, the Canadian government or one of our 13 provincial or territorial governments. Then we learned that the protest organizers had the stated objective of overthrowing a recently elected government and Parliament. Yet these protesters were still given the chance to voice their views peacefully on the weekend of January 29.

The voices of those protesters were definitely heard — not peacefully, but loudly. When their unreasonable and unconstitutional demands were not met, they entrenched. Day and night, the occupiers made their presence known where people lived, where they worked and on the streets. Businesses were shuttered, costing an estimated $15 million in lost wages and sales every day. Lawlessness and disorder prevailed.

The citizens and businesses of Ottawa were far from alone. Countless Canadians have been harmed by the blockades of critical infrastructure across our country. Those blockades disrupted billions of dollars of international and local trade. They caused struggling private businesses to close and send workers home, they damaged our most critical trading relationship at a crucial time and they stained our global reputation.

This level of instability in one of the world’s most treasured democracies should be deeply concerning to us all.

Colleagues, the occupation of a G7 capital by individuals who made it clear that they were not going to respect the law or leave voluntarily was untenable. Regardless of all the ineffective actions and jurisdictional failings that led up to this crisis, the Ottawa Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police were clearly incapable of restoring the rule of law. As a consequence, I firmly believe that the invocation of the Emergencies Act on February 14 was both necessary and justified.

Personally, I draw comfort from the checks and balances within the act and the fact that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms remains pre-eminent. But we will need to listen carefully to the concerns of certain groups, especially vulnerable and minority groups, who justifiably worry about precedents being set here. Canadians with a history of being marginalized, racialized and dominated by the majority are rightfully afraid that this use of the act could set a worrisome standard for future protests. Their fears are likely fuelled by their first-hand knowledge of past police actions — taken without use of the Emergencies Act — in situations that looked nothing like recent events.

Now I would like to focus on the use of the checks and balances within the Emergencies Act. An inquiry will be triggered when the act is revoked, be it through the will of Parliament with the House or Senate exercising their rights under section 59 or by a decision of this government. Canadians should rightly expect that inquiry to be thorough, balanced and non‑partisan in its examination of “. . . the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.”

Over the next year, the inquiry will call upon the Prime Minister and his cabinet to defend their use of the act and the people of Canada should ultimately have the opportunity to decide whether they agree with the actions taken.

The inquiry will need to clear up some troubling questions leading up to the invocation of the act, how special powers were used and why those special powers were needed in the first place. In leading up to its invocation, my questions include: In what ways did partisan language, tactics and actions escalate tensions and anger among protesters and broaden involvement?

During the first week of the crisis, Conservative MP Michael Chong and Liberal MP Joël Lightbound both spoke powerfully about the worrisome national divisions caused and widened by partisanship as it is now practised in Canada. For far too many, simply being anti-Conservative or anti-Liberal justifies saying and doing things that can only divide Canadians, not unite them.

Was the required security and intelligence advice available to each level of government and police force leading up to and during each protest? If not, why not? What barriers did jurisdictional issues present, and how did they prevent decisive action? Why were the police limited in their ability to secure essential services?

Those are all very important questions leading up to the invocation of the act.

In terms of the powers used under the act, I think we need to carefully examine issues that include the following: What burden of proof existed prior to freezing the roughly 200 personal and corporate accounts and 250 crypto addresses? How many accounts were frozen in error, and how quickly and completely were those situations resolved? What process was used to release the affected individual and corporate accounts so that those individuals do not remain “unbanked” and uninsured?

The actions taken could cause significant financial harm potentially to people who have not broken the law, but also to those people whom we do not want to become less connected to broader society. I trust that the inquiry will examine how quickly and completely each one of those situations was resolved.

Finally, I want us to examine why we got to the point where the Emergencies Act was required to access crucial financial measures. Specifically, I hope the inquiry will examine issues such as the following: Why is our financial oversight system not capable of monitoring the financial activities used during these occupations without invoking the Emergencies Act? The organizers showed sophistication in rapidly raising and distributing a large number of donations, including those made using crypto assets. However, those activities used are not very new and their use was far from unimaginable. Yet those activities remain unregulated. Our regulations and corresponding due process need to start to keep up with market realities.

This crisis has caused new payment technologies and platforms to be added to our list of regulated financial entities, but the fact that it took a crisis for this to happen is troubling.

Second, why have we failed to revamp our approach to anti‑money laundering and anti-terrorist financing despite FINTRAC’s existing protocols capturing less than 1% of estimated criminal money flows in Canada? How has this not been a priority? The status quo means that bad actors are 99% successful in moving their money in Canada. Our current system is a burden for good actors and fails to track bad actors unless we use the Emergencies Act. This is an unacceptable reality.

Third, how are we incapable of identifying and regulating foreign funds coming into Canada for political, ideological or illegal purposes? Why have new regulations and appropriate processes not been prioritized in the digital era? Simply, our financial regulators have not kept up with technological and market realities. Canada has stagnated as disruption has accelerated.

Highly disruptive point-of-sale technologies using crypto payments now exist, yet we still are not thoughtfully building a financial system that will keep up with market realities. We need to start to prioritize data rights, financial inclusiveness and global competitiveness, while protecting freedom in financial decision-making and dramatically limiting the role of bad actors.

That is no small task. With each of those issues, I worry about how much legislative work is needed but in an environment where Canadians’ trust in their public and political institutions has been weakened and their faith in what they see on social media is growing.

This is deeply worrisome. Rebuilding lost trust must be a top priority. It might be helped by prioritizing the use of consultative ways to engage Canadians in building shared solutions to shared problems and eliminate the paternalistic “Ottawa knows best” approach where Canadians are given a predetermined solution to a pre-selected problem.

Colleagues, throughout our country, Canadians have continued to do their jobs. They are stressed, tired and worn out, but they continued to work. I’m grateful for the million-plus Canadians who have been struggling, tired and without reprieve kept our health care system from collapsing during this crisis. I’m grateful for the 130,000 truckers who have continued to provide deliveries across our country, day in and day out. I’m grateful for the countless essential workers who remain heroes despite no longer receiving their hero pay. I’m grateful to the journalists who protect our democracy by constantly searching for the light of truth and I’m grateful for the police, first responders, business owners and ordinary citizens who keep our communities functioning. I’m grateful that all of these Canadians have continued to do their jobs.

Colleagues, I believe now is the time for Canadian politicians to lower the temperature, drop the partisan rhetoric, and focus on building a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous path forward for all Canadians. That’s our job. I worry if we don’t do it. Thank you colleagues.

[Translation]

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, I rise today to join in this historic debate. When I last spoke in this chamber, I lamented the role we are being relegated to. I called us the “chamber of the rubber stamp.” Today, however, we hold a very serious responsibility. A “nay” vote in this chamber would immediately revoke the emergency orders initiated under the Emergencies Act. We hold a unique veto power in this instance. The question before us right now is: Should we use it?

Like many, if not all of you, my office has been inundated with phone calls and my inbox has been flooded with emails urging me to vote against the continued use of these extraordinary powers. On the other hand, law enforcement, ministers of the Crown and various experts and pundits across the country urge the continued use of the emergency provisions, telling us that the emergency situation is ongoing and that we may lose control of the situation if the powers are revoked.

I understand that Canadians are angry. There are those who are angry at vaccine mandates that they feel have infringed on their basic freedoms and negatively impacted their livelihoods. There are, conversely, those who are angry at what they viewed as inaction on the part of their elected representatives at the local, provincial and federal level to quell this unrest in Ottawa and across the country until February 14 when the Emergencies Act was invoked.

When all this is over, we must find out how we got to such a sad situation for our country. I have lots of questions about how we got there. Why didn’t the City of Ottawa police prepare for a convoy we knew was driving across the country? We all knew that. Why didn’t the City of Ottawa invoke a court order? Why was the Prime Minister absent? Why didn’t we hear a word — not a peep — from the head of the RCMP? The convoy and COVID have divided Canadians, neighbour from neighbour, family member from family member. Even I had a very public falling out with my political family in the parliamentary caucuses over this.

It is no surprise to me that the debate thus far has been spirited and at times emotional. Many have lamented that we have found ourselves at this point. Canadians have always prided ourselves on our public order and good governance. We have peace, order and good government in our Constitution, and yet here we are invoking for the first time an act that gives broad and far‑reaching emergency powers to the government after a protest turned into what has been classified as an illegal occupation.

While I’m looking forward to the inquiry that will shine a light on the many failures at all levels of government to contain this issue earlier, I’m also cognizant of the fact that we cannot move forward in this debate without some serious examination with the fullest information that can be made available to parliamentarians of how these failures contributed to the current state of things.

Bylaw officers and local police did nothing to enforce the laws and bylaws that exist. No one is supposed to park on Wellington Street, at the heart of our democracy in Canada, the Senate of Canada, the Prime Minister’s Office, the House of Commons, the Supreme Court. You cannot erect structures in public places. You cannot idle your vehicle or create a noise disturbance. And yet, the convoy did all of these illegal acts for three long agonizing weeks. The premier was visibly absent during this period of unrest and all the while, the Prime Minister made antagonistic and further polarizing remarks about a group that was clearly already beyond frustrated and on edge, causing them to strengthen their resolve and further entrench themselves in Ottawa.

This is not leadership. This does not befit a Prime Minister whose mandate should be to bring Canadians together. Citizens launched a court action to stop the honking and took it upon themselves to block convoy members looking to further incapacitate the city by slowly circling schools and airports.

I received calls from concerned parents of Nunavut students attending university in Ottawa who were afraid for the safety of their children. Colleagues, Ottawa is the home of the second-largest population of Inuit in Canada, next to my own community of Iqaluit. I speak as a representative of people living, working, going to school, obtaining health services in this city who are from Nunavut and who have been greatly stressed, inconvenienced, scared by what has gone on. I heard from Inuit living in the city and helping organizations like Tungasuvvingat Inuit that they were no longer able to access services. I heard from homeless Inuit who were no longer able to reach safe spaces that enable them to survive in the harsh coldness of January and February.

I don’t agree with those that suggest that there was a diplomatic way forward in all of this. The main organizers were demanding all mandates be removed, even those within the purview of provincial governments, otherwise they would continue to occupy the downtown core.

Key leaders pointed to their — and I use this term lightly — memorandum of understanding that called on the Governor General and the Senate to overthrow the democratically elected government, then use their new-found power to end all mandates. The Governor General’s office was flooded with calls. In Ottawa, 911 was flooded with calls.

Clearly, these are unreasonable actions and demands, and when a group threatens to continue illegal actions until such unreasonable demands are met, that group is no longer exercising their right to expression, association and peaceful assembly that we cherish in this country.

The courts tell us that peaceful protest does not extend to any gatherings that seriously disrupt the peace as in R.v. Lecompte, nor does it extend to anything actions that physically block or impede lawful activities as defined in Guelph (City) v. Soltys.

Strictly speaking, the question before us today is whether the government was justified in its invocation of the Emergencies Act. Looking at the evidence, at least from what we know — and, honourable senators, as I expressed in questions I asked the government leader in the Senate yesterday, I think there is a lot that we don’t know and that the review committee should be trusted to look into regarding the aspect of intelligence information. But looking at the evidence that is available, I think it was justified. I think that there was such failure on the parts of the municipal, provincial and federal governments as well as with local law enforcement in their handling of this situation that it ballooned into such an untenable situation that the only way to coordinate a peaceable way out was through this act.

I believe, above all else, in the rule of law and its equal and consistent application. No Canadian should be above our laws, and everyone should be subject to natural consequences of breaking those laws. However, I cannot divorce from this question another question, and it’s a very important one to me. Are we still in an emergency? Do we still require the broad powers afforded by the emergency orders in order to contain what elements of the convoy and its major proponents remains?

We do have a national police force. We do have anti-terrorist capacity. We do have CSIS, which should be doing the job of staying on top of this and have the tools to do so under existing laws. Do we still require the broad powers afforded by the emergency orders? The answer to that is I don’t know. I know what I hear in the media, but I don’t know what the government and law enforcement know.

Senator Gold has vociferously told this chamber that this is not a matter of the government saying “trust me,” but at the same time he also called on us to have some faith that the government is acting in the best interest of Canadians. As a parliamentarian and a policy-maker asked to justify and support the continued use of these expanded powers, I don’t feel comfortable with that. I would feel more comfortable if I knew that voting “yes” at the end of this debate would result in a powerful oversight committee that had access to protected information — and this is an issue I’m very concerned about — that was informing decisions in real time. I would feel better knowing that there was a pan-partisan group of parliamentarians that were able to keep the government in check. These are the types of checks and balances we demand in a democracy.

I would like to pay tribute to former prime minister Brian Mulroney, with former solicitor general Perrin Beatty and his cabinet, who put together this very thoughtful Emergencies Act with a strong role for parliamentarians, representatives of the people, for adjudicating on the rightness of this order and its need to continue, as well as setting up rigorous — I hope — review and inquiry processes so we can learn from this very sad experience and make sure it never happens again.

Going forward, I cannot absolve the federal government of the blame they share in creating this situation — not just the convoy but the polarized society that we now find ourselves living in. Years of policy changes that threaten the livelihoods of provinces dependent on resource extraction have led to Western alienation, sparking the creation of such political movements as Wexit, and the Maverick Party, of which Tamara Lich, a figurehead in the convoy, was a founding member. And let us note that the identified leaders of this ragtag group are from Western Canada, a region of our country where the primary resource industry has been demonized by our government.

The politicizing of the pandemic, which happened shamefully in the last election at the hands of the Prime Minister and the demonizing of the vaccine-hesitant has further split Canadians. I am triple-vaccinated and grateful to be so, and have found that the public health measures in Nunavut have kept Nunavummiut safe. I thank the federal government for the support that has been given to the territories to help us deal with the threat of the pandemic, exacerbated as it was by our severe housing crisis and overcrowded housing. I have even refused the exemption afforded to parliamentarians and quarantined with my wife for two weeks before re-entering the territory in an effort to do my part to keep COVID out. It was only in the relaxing of some of these measures that we saw COVID spread widely through the territory.

So while I support public measures, I don’t think we should alienate those who don’t feel the same way. We should all be deeply disturbed that we can no longer have nuanced conversations in this country. Nowadays, you are either a sheep or member of the FluTruxKlan. You either support oppression or value freedom. These are not real options. You can believe in science but be hesitant about a vaccine that was developed quickly. You can support public measures but support the right of others to protest those same measures.

Quite frankly, the more I listened to this debate and the more I speak with colleagues I’m torn with how to cast my vote. As I said, I agree there was an emergency. I’m not totally convinced there still remains an emergency that requires these special powers, and I’m very concerned that we’ll not have in place the proper checks and balances to ensure there’s no misuse of these powers or to ensure that they are revoked the instant, as one minister put it during the briefing, “they become convenient, rather than necessary.”

So I will continue to listen with great interest to what respected colleagues in this chamber have to say as we continue with this important and historic debate. Frankly, right now, I’m not sure we continue to need this drastic measure at this moment. Thank you. Taima.

[Translation]

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Honourable senators, the government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act is a very rare and symbolic act that we can already assume will go down in history.

As a Quebecer, the invocation of this law and its predecessor, the War Measures Act, obviously reminded me of the events of the October crisis in 1970.

I was only 11 years old at the time, so I didn’t fully comprehend everything that was happening. I was shocked to see military vehicles in the streets and to hear that some of our artist friends had been arrested, including Gérald Godin and singer Pauline Julien.

These events were even one of the main reasons why I chose to study political science and do a number of papers, perhaps too many, on the October crisis and the arbitrary arrests under the War Measures Act.

Fifty years later, I am a senator, and I have to vote on the government’s motion to confirm the invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the protests in Ottawa. I want to say from the outset that these two pieces of special legislation are very different from one another.

When the debates on this subject began last week, it was clear to me that this was not going to be an easy decision. Whatever might be said on either side, I don’t see this as a clear-cut situation with an obvious answer.

There were certainly factors justifying a strong response from the government: the Ottawa police’s obvious inability to get the situation under control; the very organized nature of the protest, which turned into an illegal occupation of a section of Ottawa; foreign funding and support for the protesters; critical infrastructure blockades and collateral economic harm; threats, racist symbols and vandalism; the seditious nature of some of the messaging; the exploitation of children; mounting social and economic costs, including for many Ottawa residents, who had nothing to do with the protest and lived through a nightmare; and, lastly, the possibility that failure to punish illegal acts could gradually undermine the rule of law in Canada.

I would also note that the Emergencies Act, in addition to being subordinate to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, contains several provisions aimed at preventing abuse of authority, such as the parliamentary committee and the mandatory inquiry. Will they have the tools they need to get all the facts though? Of that I’m not certain.

Should the Senate adopt the motion, the government will not have unlimited discretionary power, because the declaration expires in 30 days. That is one way the Emergencies Act is more proportionate than the old War Measures Act.

That said, as early as last week, other aspects led me to wonder whether the government had demonstrated unequivocally that the disruption in Ottawa did in fact constitute a “national crisis,” in other words:

 . . . an urgent, temporary and critical situation that seriously endangers the health and safety of Canadians or that seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada.

I noted in particular that the barricades at the Ambassador Bridge and the blockades in Alberta and Manitoba were removed through the usual legal tools, without the need to invoke the Emergencies Act, and that the disruptions did not lead to any serious injuries or significant damage to property. I also noted that seven provinces, specifically Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, opposed the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and that several experts and specialists had expressed doubts about the need to invoke the legislation and the alleged inadequacy of the tools already available to law enforcement.

Comparing the events in Ottawa with certain other crises also brings into perspective the urgent, serious and critical nature of what we’re experiencing today. Consider, for example, the student strike in Quebec in 2012. It led to several months of protests, often at night, which involved violent clashes between protesters and police and caused a great deal of property damage. There was also the Oka crisis in 1990, which resulted in a 77-day blockade and two deaths. In both cases, the Emergencies Act was not invoked.

I also thought about some of the more recent protests abroad, including the major disruptions caused by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, or the Yellow Vests in France, which lasted several months and caused injuries and a lot of material damage. In each of these cases, the governments did not invoke the equivalent of the Emergencies Act.

I also note that while the government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was justifiable, the measures announced seem to cast a very wide net and could set a dangerous precedent. In particular, I will mention that all citizens are prohibited from simply participating in, or travelling to, a public assembly that may be expected to lead to a breach of the peace. The very broad designation of protected places includes such places as Parliament Hill or the government buildings, where citizens have to be able to protest peacefully. Then we have the unprecedented bans on financial contributions that ordinary citizens can make to protesters.

[English]

In recent weeks, the government has also repeatedly mentioned the international dimension of the crisis. For the government, the disruptions in Ottawa and elsewhere have damaged Canada’s image as a stable and economically secure country. These are legitimate fears, but these are not the only ones that have been expressed abroad. The Economist magazine wrote last week that invoking the Emergencies Act was a terrible idea that could make Canada a more rancorous or bitterly divided country.

For all these reasons, I was hesitant last week. There are arguments on both sides. I did not believe the government had made an unequivocal demonstration that Canada is going through a national crisis, that the tools ordinarily available to law enforcement were insufficient and that we had reached the law of last resort. But I was also aware that my perception of the Emergencies Act is coloured by my personal experience in Quebec’s history, and that in this case this law was primarily aimed at a crisis in Ottawa.

I thought that while the government didn’t deserve a blank cheque, it could still get the benefit of the doubt at least temporarily. But the reality is that the situation has changed considerably since last week. As The Globe and Mail wrote the day before yesterday:

. . . the question before Parliament is not: “Was Canada facing an unprecedented national emergency, a week ago?” It is rather: “Is Canada facing an unprecedented national emergency, today?”

Last week, there were arguments both for and against the Emergencies Act, but the changed circumstances and the basic facts on the ground have greatly strengthened the arguments against to the point where they are overwhelming.

[Translation]

The government keeps saying that it is assessing the situation from day to day and hour to hour. Our assessment of this motion also has to keep pace with the circumstances. Today, there are still some tractors and trucks parked in downtown Winnipeg, but there are no more blockades in the country. The City of Ottawa has been cleared. The most radical occupants have retreated. The extremist threat, which has existed for many years, seems more diffuse. Although some doubts remain with respect to the need for the Emergencies Act to resolve the crisis last week, there is no doubt that the urgent, critical, national crisis has passed.

In response to questions, the government claims it is necessary to maintain this legislation for preventive reasons in order to minimize the risk of new protests. I do not believe, however, that a government can invoke the Emergencies Act preventively or as a risk management tool. In every society, even in Canada, the risks will continue to exist. In my opinion, the government cannot justify using this legislation by pointing to an undefined risk, a hypothetical threat or a potential disruption.

In light of what is generally happening across the country, the government’s assertion that it has secret information about potential dangers is insufficient to justify keeping emergency measures in place. That standard opens the door to obvious abuses. This law is undoubtedly very appreciated by the police, and I commend their efficiency, professionalism and restraint. It goes without saying that this law can be useful and effective, but the issue before us today is whether it is still absolutely necessary.

The government has also stated that the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was well received by Canadians. I have no doubt that is true. However, that is not the issue. The Senate has the privilege and the responsibility of reflecting and voting free from electoral considerations.

I also note that if the Senate were to vote against the government motion this week, it would not retroactively invalidate the decisions made and actions taken since the proclamation was made. I find this to be compatible with the legitimate idea of giving the government the benefit of the doubt with respect to the situation that prevailed last week. However, I have received no satisfactory answer on the key issue today. What threshold and what criteria will serve to determine when the government suspends the use of this act?

The real challenge the federal government is now facing is how to maintain social cohesion in an increasingly polarized society. My colleagues, Senators Kim Pate and Paula Simons, eloquently covered this issue yesterday.

I helped organize a UNESCO conference in Quebec City. Its theme was “Internet and the radicalization of youth: Preventing, Acting and Living together,” and it examined how radicalization can lead to violence. Quebec and Canada are not immune to this phenomenon. Social media amplifies all this anger, and the health measures have become a rallying cry. It is very worrying. However, it is reassuring in the short term to see that the situation on the ground has changed.

Today, I cannot see any real ambiguity that would persuade me to vote in favour of confirming the Emergencies Act. I will, however, listen closely to my colleagues’ arguments as we await the vote on Motion No. 17. Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, I would like to start by thanking all senators for your interventions. It’s in moments and situations like these that rarely occur in our chamber — but with some regularity over my nine years — that I’m reminded of the incredible talent and wisdom that we have in this chamber.

I often say to people that Canadians should read the biographies and tune in once in a while to the Senate.

Truly, this has been a tremendous debate. I have to say that I’m envious of the certainty with which people have put forward their positions, with disciplined arguments advanced by both sides. In fact, there was an excellent juxtaposition of that with Senator Arnot and Senator Marshall, who had opposite plans, and both made what I found to be powerful presentations for their position.

I find myself out of my element. It doesn’t happen very often to me. I find myself almost detached and in a surreal situation, like an observer. I’ve always been able to draw on my personal and professional experience, but it has always been anchored and confirmed by the values of my family and my community. This isn’t available to me today. My community, my country, is severely divided. We can’t have a discussion about anything anymore because we can’t even agree on the facts.

This is a very distressing time in Canada. I’m not seeing leadership. I’m not seeing leadership to bring us together. I’m not seeing leadership from any quarter, whether it is the Prime Minister’s Office or the Leader of the Opposition’s office, the premiers. It is no wonder that we continue down this path.

I’d like to thank the truckers of Canada. According to the Canadian Truckers Association, there are 320,000 Canadians working in the trucking industry. It’s about 2% of the entire workforce in Canada. Day in and day out, they deliver food and goods of all sorts to and from Canada, to and from neighbourhoods, to and from homes. During COVID, we actually relied more on their work. We asked them to do more than they usually do. We all bought items and had them delivered to our homes when we would normally have gone somewhere and purchased them. For much of the time, they did it with no vaccines. No one had vaccines available to them. They did it anyway.

Their work is difficult and, in many cases, it is solitary. They’re by themselves. The road and traffic conditions are often dangerous.

I want to say to the truckers of Canada, you are appreciated, you’re valued and you’re respected. Your collective reputation has been appropriated by many people and many organizations for their own purposes in this unsettled time, but reasonable people recognize that.

I want to thank peace officers who showed remarkable skill, restraint and determination over the past few weeks as they necessarily restored the public order in Coutts, at the Ambassador Bridge and other places, but especially here in Ottawa.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to walk through the Ottawa convoy protest site on Wellington Street on a couple of occasions. Anyone who visited that site could not help but notice that this particular protest was populated by people from across the country, from coast to coast to coast as people like to say. They were represented by many cultures, creeds and political perspectives, some of them wacky, but the vast majority of them represented by millions of Canadians.

I have to say that I followed some of the media coverage as the convoy started out West and rolled towards Ottawa. I didn’t follow it closely. The media presented it as a ragtag group of westerners that were coming to Ottawa. We’ve heard discussions similar to the yellow vests and the energy support group that came from the West and they were on their way to Ottawa.

I was very surprised when I arrived up on the Hill to find that the vast majority of trucks that were parked there were from Quebec and Ontario. I actually couldn’t find an Alberta truck on Wellington Street. I have not heard one word from anyone in the media about the fact that this protest was national in nature.

I have never heard anyone ask how these crazy Albertans who have been arrested managed to communicate with all these people in Quebec — if this is a conspiracy — to come to Ottawa on this day. It strains credibility to believe that those folks — because I don’t believe any of them speak French or have a network in Quebec — were able to convince that many truckers from that province — and I am using it as an example — to come to Ottawa.

The fact is there was a groundswell of support from across this country. It’s that simple. Millions of Canadians identified with the protest. Millions of Canadians still feel the way that they did when they identified with that protest. Thousands upon thousands of Canadians gave $10 and $5 and $20 to that crowdfunding site because it made them feel good that they had a hand in supporting what was going to be a protest in Ottawa against continued government intrusion in their lives after the last two years. I don’t believe that it is any more complicated than that, but we’ll see.

You know, the sad irony of what happened on February 14, when the Emergencies Act was invoked, is that while people were here to protest intrusion by the government in their lives, the answer to the problem was more intrusion in their lives through the Emergencies Act. It’s brought the temperature up.

I agree with Senator Saint-Germain and Senator Marshall and others; it should never, ever have come to what it did come to. A three-week illegal occupation should never have been allowed to occur. There is lots of blame to go around, and the inquiry that will follow, I hope, will be unflinching in assigning that blame where it belongs, in finding out the facts and assigning responsibility. And I hope that the people and the organizations that are found wanting take responsibility for it.

Nonetheless, colleagues, I believe that the government made a decision to invoke the act based on facts in their possession in a very volatile situation, and in that moment, they did their job. They made the decision, and I believe they made it responsibly.

That decision was made nine days ago. Since then, the Coutts protest, the Ambassador Bridge protest and the Ottawa blockades and occupations have been stopped. The streets have been cleared. Traffic is going on Wellington Street and on the other streets as it did before. There has been a clean-up, and preventive measures need to be instituted, and I have every faith that the police and the relevant authorities will take those preventive measures.

Senator Gold made a defence of why we need to continue the Emergencies Act today, but I don’t believe that we are anywhere near any kind of definition of a national security emergency here today on February 23.

Canadians are divided about the use of the Emergencies Act. There is no question about that. A few days ago, in fact, after the invocation, there was a poll conducted by Mainstreet Research which highlights this fact. Of those Canadians polled, 39% strongly oppose the Emergencies Act and its use now; it’s repugnant to many of those people. Conversely, 38% strongly agree with the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and the rest of the folks either somewhat oppose or somewhat support or don’t have an opinion. So 39% versus 38% means that we’re divided. The majority is divided.

So I think that we need at this moment in time to consider this motion not for its utility in approving a decision that happened nine days ago. I think we need to consider whether or not this divisive action is still needed today.

With all of that, on these insufficient words, I will leave it there. I will vote no to the continuation of the Emergencies Act on the basis that I believe it is no longer needed, and it is doing nothing but dividing Canadians and will do so in increasing numbers every day, every hour, that it is in force. Thank you.

Senator Coyle: Thank you, Senator Tannas, so much for your thoughtful remarks. I always, I think like everyone here, pay attention when you get up because we know you have considered the matter at hand with great seriousness. I thank you for your speech today.

As you have said, all of us are grappling with the very serious matter that is before us. This is a serious matter. The divisions that you have mentioned and others have mentioned as central to what caused the situation we’re now in are matters of great concern.

I have a concern related to — I’m coming to the question — the poll that you just cited, showing almost even numbers of Canadians who are supportive of the Emergencies Act and those who are against it. What I worry about, probably on both sides, is whether they know what it is. I’m particularly worried about those who are against it because I do believe — and I know for a fact because of what has been coming at me in the many, many emails we’ve been receiving — that many people in Canada have been fed, unfortunately, a message that this is in fact the draconian War Measures Act that was invoked twice in Canada’s history, not three times. This is a new act, a very different act, and I know there is a nuance there that is very hard for Canadians to understand and, therefore, leaves people susceptible to deception. Could you speak to that?

Senator Tannas: Yes, I can. It’s never been used, this particular act, since its creation in 1988. That speaks for itself. We’ve gone all these years, more than 30 years, without needing to use it. We’ve been through some difficult times in our country; 9/11 is one that jumps to mind and has been mentioned here. It’s never been used.

I think Canadians know that it is not a piece of legislation that is meant to be used lightly and that it does impinge on freedoms. I think they know it on both sides.

I agree with you. I think the nomenclature could be torqued depending on what argument you want to make. So I think it highlights the issue and probably highlights the division.

There are people who believe that rare exceptions like this should never be used and should never be normalized, and there are others who believe that what happened in Ottawa made it necessary. To me, it is an example of the alternate facts, the torquing.

I will give you another example that bothers me. It bothers me when I looked up and down Wellington Street at the protest that was there — and I’ve said it needed to be broken up — but that was not a group of White supremacists and racists. It had some in it. There will always be some wackos that attach to every protest. We don’t need to get into that. That was the narrative of our government, our leader. I was enormously uncomfortable with that, disappointed with that, just as I was disappointed with others who went and stood with people — people, not with ideas — who were doing something illegal on the streets of Ottawa.

I don’t know if I answered your question, but that was my best shot.

Senator Tannas: Sure.

Senator Tannas: Thank you. I actually wrestled with that myself, but here is the conclusion I came to: No one is asking our permission to invoke. It’s already been invoked. It’s in play for nine days. If we don’t make a decision on this, it will continue to be in play for the next 20-odd days until it expires.

I don’t feel somehow obligated to make the two-step process, given the fact that we weren’t asked for permission. The act is fairly clear that if we reject, it’s cancelled, but all the other things carry on, the inquiry, et cetera. So it probably adds some intention. I don’t know, I haven’t read Hansard, but probably there was an intention to have this process such that it could be stopped after having been invoked and used and that parliamentarians, in their wisdom, would recognize that it was no longer needed.

I would not suggest to anyone here that you need to be troubled about granting your permission for what no one asked for permission on nine days ago, as the reason of not, if you feel strongly about having it stopped today, because the 10 senator program will take many days. Frankly, I predict that if we start the process — and I will be, like Senator McPhedran and others, I am a ready signatory to that process — it will take us into next week. We’ll have a debate. I doubt it will come to that. Speaking personally, my bet is that the NDP members of Parliament will be back at home right now visiting with their family and friends and communities and will come back on Monday and initiate the process themselves. And the police will suddenly find that they have found the way to do it without the Emergencies Act and it will be revoked. We’ll put that on the record as a bet. But if not, I will willingly participate in the next step. Thank you.

Hon. Paula Simons: Senator Tannas, would you take another question?

Senator Tannas: Yes.

Senator Simons: Thank you very much, Senator Tannas. Like you, I find myself envious of the certainty of some of our colleagues. Like you, I am deeply troubled about the precedent set by the invocation of the Emergencies Act. Like you, I am still making up my mind. But I do have a question I wanted to ask about your assertion that you saw no White supremacists involved in the occupation in Ottawa and your comment yesterday that no one had been hurt as a result of this.

The Coutts border arrests which happened south of where you live but in your larger backyard certainly gave me pause. The police seizure of that many firearms, that much ammunition, the markings of the Diagolon White supremacist group with those weapons. I’m wondering whether we aren’t being a bit naive when we say, “Well, no one got hurt. There were just a few wackos who attached themselves to this.” It seems to me that the base of this protest was a very dark, very ugly and very worrisome trend in this country that we need to be paying much more attention to.

Senator Tannas: I understand your point. However, there may be senators who are persuaded. I’m sure the government leader will be working furiously to make sure people are persuaded that this must be confirmed, that there is then a process by which we can remove it and that we shouldn’t conflate the two. I believe there will be people who will be persuaded by that. So if you believe that and acknowledge that — and I think that is real and it is every senator’s right to make their decision on whatever basis they are going to make it — there may be a different decision made whenever we vote three, four, five or six days from now — if we are still in this emergency measure; if it persists. They could then turn their minds to it, free of the fact that they’ve confirmed the original. I have done it in my speech. I have confirmed the original, and I’m saying it’s time to end it now. I’m glad you said the law is on my side with this. I didn’t know that, but I’m glad it is. Thank you.

Hon. Kim Pate: Like Senator Simons, I am still struggling as you can probably tell from my comments yesterday. Many of us are extremely concerned that once this is done in this kind of circumstance — and I didn’t mention it last night, but I share your incredible appreciation for the restraint that the police showed in this instance, at least in everything we could see and what was televised. Certainly, I have heard from other folks that things were happening that were not televised, but everything we saw was incredibly restrained, unlike what we have seen in many protests involving Canadians of African descent, Indigenous folk throughout this country, land and water protectors as well as other protests. Like you, I’m extremely concerned about that once this is done, how often this can be redone, particularly given whoever might be in power who might choose to abuse such state power.

I’m interested in whether you think the inquiry, which you have talked about, is sufficient to ensure that we have the kind of accountability you spoke about and that we need to have in the country when we talk about using such incredible measures as the Emergencies Act, or whether you think we need to actually — and I take from what you have said that you would be able to participate in a group that would do this — call for the immediate revocation of the act if it should pass this chamber. What do you see as the way forward? I agree with you about the lack of leadership. In your opinion, which I value, how do we bring this country together at this point?

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on the Emergencies Act. Its invocation is a testament to our government’s failure to control protests happening on its doorstep. Canadians asking for leadership to guide them through the third year of a pandemic and countrywide protests were abandoned for three weeks, only to learn that our government has invoked an act against its own citizens.

My office, like most senators’ offices, has been receiving numerous emails and phone calls about the convoy. There have been growing concerns about the so-called freedom protesters who are fighting for and consequently taking away freedom from their fellow Canadians. News of protesters taking over the nation’s capital has gone viral worldwide, damaging Canada’s reputation. Family and friends from around the world have reached out trying to understand what is happening in our country.

As an advocate for human rights, I will always support the right to protest peacefully. At some point, this peaceful demonstration took a turn for the worse and we started witnessing swastikas, Confederate flags and even the Islamophobic Three Percenters flag, a terrorist group as designated by the Government of Canada. I have heard stories of racialized parliamentary staff requiring escorts to enter their workplace. I have also heard of women who stopped wearing a mask when leaving their home out of fear. While protesters have insisted their rights are under threat, I cannot help but wonder who is protecting the rights of the ordinary citizens of Ottawa.

What particularly worries me is the precedent this invocation sets. The Emergencies Act allows the federal government to bypass ordinary democratic processes, and according to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke this act. The executive director fears that normalizing emergency legislation threatens our democracy and our civil liberties. On Thursday, February 17, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association announced they would legally challenge the use of the Emergencies Act.

I would like to specify that these emergency measures affect every single Canadian. Unlike the Prime Minister’s assurances, these measures are not focused on certain areas; they apply to the entire country. Already the act will be used to broaden the scope of financing laws, and allow government agencies and banks to share relevant information with the police. And this is only the beginning. I also worry about a lack of respect and adherence to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Of course, a special parliamentary review committee will be established to review the government’s actions under the act. But the committee’s insights might come too late, as it appears to be a retroactive evaluation. Every measure under the act must be scrutinized, weighed and discussed to ensure the respect of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

More importantly, I fear the sweeping powers of the Emergencies Act may turn against racialized Canadians, such as the Canadian Muslim community, of which I am a part. Since 2001, my community has been excessively targeted by Canadian authorities and fellow citizens alike. Recent Islamophobic attacks have only shown that we are not safe. And the National Council of Canadian Muslims, in reaction to this act, said that we must preserve our right to protest while working with civil society to better understand what these emergency powers mean for the future of protest and to reinforce our Charter rights. Mustafa Farooq, the CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims shared a press release in response to the Emergencies Act. He said:

Canadian Muslims are all too familiar with having community organizations, funds, and initiatives be perceived with suspicion by the security establishment. . . . Many of us have questions that must be answered through a process that is transparent and not driven by partisan interests.

Of course, handling a protest in the nation’s capital is no small feat, but the current chosen route is not one of unity. Multiple provinces have voiced their concerns and have clearly stated they are against these drastic measures. The Emergencies Act gives the federal cabinet unprecedented power to assume jurisdiction from the provinces and municipalities, which goes against the basic principles of responsible government under the Westminster tradition. Canadian provinces have worked hard since Confederation to enhance the status and particularities of their provincial governments. They now face an oligarchy and the disappearance of hard-earned powers.

The Prime Minister had the choice to extinguish the flames of dissent and defuse the situation weeks ago. The government’s lack of response to the protests and reliance on the Emergencies Act have put us at risk of severe, lasting repercussions on Canadian society for years to come. Only time will tell if our democracy will be better because of it. In the meantime, the protests are over and the roads are clear. So tell me, why do we still need the Emergencies Act?

Like Senator Tannas, I was also very disturbed by the lack of leadership. Canadians were left on their own, wondering where their government was. Canadians were looking to the Prime Minister for reassurance that everything would be well, but the Prime Minister was missing. He wasn’t there when Canadians needed him most, but what he did was invoke the Emergencies Act.

Honourable senators, for these reasons I will not be supporting the Emergencies Act and I will be voting “no.” Thank you.

Senator Pate: When Senator Housakos spoke, he slightly misrepresented what I said. I talked about the concerns with protests like the Indigenous protests and Black Lives Matter, and concerns about the use of state force against them. You also mentioned the concern you have, whether it is people of Muslim faith or those of African descent or Indigenous peoples who speak out. I want to confirm that is one of the concerns, not that it is one of those protesters who would cause harm, but it is state harm that often comes to them when we invoke these kinds of emergency acts.

Senator Tannas: One of the things that has to happen is what Senator Housakos said. This is a moment when political points — and calculations about how to score them — need to go out the window when we actually do the review of what happened. Those committee members need to be focused on what really happened and on making sure that everybody who had a role to play and didn’t play it, or who played a role they shouldn’t have, is enumerated, and it is brought to the light of day. That will go with not just the committee but the selection of who goes into the committee.

Leaders will have a responsibility. They will have the job of appointing people to that committee. Caucuses will have some role in the House of Commons — I speak specifically about the House of Commons. If you are sending your political spin master into that committee to make sure that it all comes out to your advantage, we are sunk right from the beginning. There is a moment before that committee starts where I think leadership has to begin. I would hope that the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the caucuses, the NDP, the Bloc Québécois and all of us here would take that first step of leadership and put somebody in who has the expertise, the guts and the willingness to work with others to make sure that a proper accounting of this takes place.

Senator Tannas: I think this is a very dangerous time. Over the last six years, we have spent an enormous amount of time listening to, considering and advancing the rights of lots of minorities who have been waiting for their time to get recognized. If I was a leader of a minority — if I was in that position — I would be very worried. The reason I would be worried is that the majority is at war with each other. They have split. In order for minority rights to be properly recognized and protected, the majority has to do it. If the majority is dysfunctional, then God help the minority.

We have work to do to heal the divide — this large divide, the 40-40 divide, whatever you want to call it — that exists in this country before we can go anywhere. We are as gridlocked as Wellington Street was during the protest. That must be fixed.

It’s going to take some time and it’s going to take goodwill. There will be many places along the way where I believe minorities will need to help the majority find common ground. They will need to call out bad behaviour on all sides, not just the side that maybe they perceive is most helpful to them in the moment. We have to bring people together.

Senator Housakos once said something to me, and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this. He said, “Hey, I’m Greek. We argue,” and I took that to mean, “this is politics.” Parliament is a political institution. We came here to disagree and to talk, but to find common ground and to always respect each other. We have to start modelling that behaviour if we are going to advance our country and every single citizen in it.

Senator Gold: Thank you. At least you only have 45 minutes. Senator Tannas, thank you very much for your speech, delivered as always soberly, sensibly and with thought.

As representative of the government, I appreciate very much the statement in the course of your speech when you confirmed that government made the right decision to invoke the Emergencies Act — not done easily.

You seem to assume in your remarks, however, that, were the Senate to confirm that decision, the act would persist for 20 days. But, in fact, as the government has been saying and as I have said in this chamber as recently as yesterday, the government is reconsidering this hour by hour. It was cautious, indeed, reluctant, to invoke it.

If the government made the right, prudent and cautious decision to invoke it and is committed to reviewing it on a regular basis, why would you doubt that the cabinet would not make the right decision when taking the advice of the law enforcement professionals, who have informed this process all the way through, when they put their minds — as they do regularly — to whether it should end? Why do you think the government would be any less cautious, prudent and responsible in the decision they have undertaken to review on an hourly basis?

Senator Ataullahjan: Senator, I’m reacting to what I have been hearing from the community, who are really concerned that this Emergencies Act will do nothing to protect some of the minorities. I don’t think Senator Housakos misrepresented; I thought he was talking about the protection of everyone. But I agree with you. We have to be really vigilant.

The other issue is — and here I talk about my community — that a lot of them have come from countries where they didn’t necessarily have the freedom to speak. They didn’t know their rights, and I know of cases where things have happened and there has been excessive force used and the community didn’t know what recourse they had. I am here representing Canadians, but a certain community looks to me for answers and they have been calling me. They have expressed their concern. What does this act do for our protection? Like the National Council of Canadian Muslims. We also need to have the right to protest peacefully.

I want to acknowledge that this was a peaceful demonstration. Somewhere along the way, it turned. I also want to acknowledge police did show great restraint. We were all glued to our TV sets wondering what was happening in Ottawa.