The federal government’s top public servants defended the rationale to invoke the Emergencies Act as they testified on Nov. 18, telling the Public Order Emergency Commission that a threat of serious violence was the main ground for the invocation.
“What we use is really 2c,” said Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council Nathalie Drouin. “The real ground was 2c.”
Drouin was referring to section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act, which defines threats to the security of Canada. Section 2c deals with threats or the use of acts of serious violence for ideological reasons.
This came in contrast to the testimony the day prior from the prime minister’s National Security and Intelligence adviser Jody Thomas, who said the CSIS Act was too narrow and a broader definition of national security should be used to declare a public order emergency….