CSIS director David Vigneault holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, July 16, 2020. Top intelligence officials are first on the witness list this week at the public inquiry scrutinizing Ottawa's use of the Emergencies Act last winter weeks into the "Freedom Convoy" protests. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Intelligence officials say the “Freedom Convoy” protest last winter gave people with all kinds of grievances a chance to unite against a perceived common foe, and that most of the them likely had no connection to the trucking industry.
The assessment is part of a report submitted on behalf of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is scrutinizing the government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the protests.
The inquiry has previously heard that CSIS determined the protests were not a threat to national security according to the legal definition the agency uses to identify such threats.
The report says CSIS produced five threat assessments of the convoy protest in Ottawa and similar protests that blockaded border crossings, but the details of those assessments have not been shared publicly.
The inquiry commissioner, Justice Paul Rouleau, has allowed CSIS to share testimony and evidence privately with the inquiry because some details could jeopardize the agency’s intelligence operations and national security.
CSIS director David Vigneault is testifying on a public panel today with the executive director of the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, a unit housed at the intelligence service.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2022.
