The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) is currently looking into three files pertaining to the Trudeau government invoking the Emergencies Act last winter, including the order telling financial institutions to send information on “designated persons” to security agencies. The Office provided this information in a Jan. 24 brief submitted to the Special Joint Committee…

The CEO of Canadian bank BMO addressed on Jan. 19 the revelation that he had recommended to the finance minister that Freedom Convoy protesters be designated as “terrorists” to facilitate the freezing of their financial accounts last year. “I would never call the convoy protesters terrorists. What was said is that in order for the…

The federal deputy finance minister wanted to “keep the heat off the bank branches” after accounts belonging to supporters of the Freedom Convoy movement were frozen, according to internal emails from the finance department. “You should know that there have been threatening activities at certain bank branches,” Michael Sabia wrote to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland…

The Department of Public Safety did not consider the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa a threat to national security up to at least Feb. 7, internal documents reveal. “At this point, the RCMP is not aware of any national security criminal activity having taken place during the protest,” says a “Question Period Note” from Public…

Ottawa police were so concerned about leaks from Freedom Convoy sympathizers in their ranks that they proactively shut off the email accounts of members on leave, but now the force has little to say about how real those fears turned out to be. The Public Order Emergency Commission investigating the federal Liberal government’s use of…

After 300 hours of testimony, 9,000 exhibits and a few major revelations, the public portion of on investigation into the first-ever use of the Emergencies Act ended Friday with a deep dive into questions about government accountability and transparency. A panel of experts offered insight into a key issue the Public Order Emergency Commission will…

The national security adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that senior officials are planning ahead for the possibility of another “Freedom Convoy” protest in early 2023. Jody Thomas told a parliamentary committee Thursday evening that deputy ministers, some of the most senior civil servants in the government, are meeting to discuss the prospective demonstration for the first time this week. Thomas said that Mike MacDonald, an assistant…

The Defence Department’s top official says he told the military to prepare to intervene as “Freedom Convoy” protests gridlocked downtown Ottawa and several border crossings with the U.S. earlier this year. But Deputy Minister Bill Matthews says the plans were never seriously considered or presented to Defence Minister Anita Anand. Matthews instead says the Liberal…

Conservative MP Ryan Williams has alleged that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lied under oath when asked about his previous comments on unvaccinated Canadians while testifying at the public inquiry into the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act. “It is never ok to lie. It is never ok to lie under oath. It is never…

The inquiry probing the Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to last winter’s weeks-long “Freedom Convoy” protests has wrapped up its public fact-finding hearings. The Public Order Emergency Commission heard from more than 75 witnesses, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday, and introduced more than 7,000 documents into evidence over…