A lineup of police officers assemble on Colonel By Drive near the truck blockade in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Senior federal civil servants are testifying or the first time at the commission investigating the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act last winter. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – A senior federal public servant says cabinet ministers considered plans to engage with the organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa in an effort to shrink the protest, but ultimately decided against it.
Rob Stewart, who was deputy minister of public safety at the time, is the first federal representative to testify at the public inquiry investigating the Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act last winter.
He says he told an emergency committee of ministers on Feb. 8 that 80 per cent of protesters in Ottawa had a “weak” connection to the protest.
An Ontario Provincial Police negotiator suggested protest leaders might be encouraged to leave and denounce the blockade in exchange for being able to register their complains with the federal government.
The hope was that the protest would shrink before police moved in to remove protesters from the streets, but the idea was abandoned after a discussion among ministers.
Stewart says the effort was not co-ordinated with other attempts by the provincial and municipal governments to engage with the protest organizers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2022.
