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 Cotter: This is a difficult question for me to ask, Senator Tannas, and I generally don’t do this. I did appreciate the heartfelt nature of your remarks and I’m in many respects entirely sympathetic to them. My question, I guess, is that if we were all to agree with you, we would all vote no to this motion. The problem with voting no, it seems to me, is it is impossible to distinguish whether we are sending a message that the emergency should have never been declared or it was legitimate to declare but should be cancelled out now.

I’m sympathetic to that tension, so I want to ask you this question: The legislation contemplates a power in us, with twenty senators to sign it, to initiate a process to bring this to an end. So I guess I’m inviting the question of whether — to meet the description and goal that you have in mind — we ought to endorse the Emergencies Act and then move for its revocation. By that, we would state the legitimacy of the resolution but the need for it to now be cancelled. I guess I’m interested in knowing whether that’s a better course than our consideration of the very points that you make. Thank you.

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 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.

Senator Pate: So you would share the concern of many of us, regardless of which party formed the government, that there would be a concern about not using this against individuals in a way that would actually reinforce stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes?

Senator Pate: Thank you.

Senator Housakos: Would the senator take a question?