Fact check: Emergencies Act inquiry commissioner not related to Justin Trudeau
Despite numerous claims to the contrary, the judge who led the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) examining the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the “Freedom Convoy” protests last year is not related to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
High-profile social media accounts sympathetic to the protests have claimed that Justice Paul S. Rouleau was the brother-in-law of Suzette Trudeau, Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s older sister – wrongly suggesting he is related to the current prime minister by marriage.
Many online posts used the alleged relationship to suggest Rouleau’s role on the commission represented a conflict of interest, an attempt to discredit his final report, released Friday, that found it was appropriate for the government to invoke the Act to end the three-week protests that gridlocked Ottawa.
Rouleau does have a history of connections to the Liberal party, including a family tie to former prime minister Jean Chretien, but the POEC commissioner is not related to the Trudeau family.
In fact, Suzette Trudeau was married to a Montreal dentist named Pierre Rouleau, who did not have a sibling named Paul.
The erroneous claim was further complicated by the fact there was a Federal Court of Canada judge named Paul C. Rouleau from Cornwall, Ont., who died in 2007. He had sons named Pierre and Paul Jr.
An apparent misinterpretation of these facts led to what seems to be the first online post alleging a family relationship, published back in December.
- Capital Dispatch: Sign up for in-depth political coverage of Parliament Hill
- Read the full transcript of Paul Rouleau’s statement
The POEC commissioner grew up in Vanier, an Ottawa neighbourhood, and is the son of Dr. Roger Rouleau, who once served as the city’s coroner and died at age 52 in 1973. Paul S. Rouleau does not have a brother named Pierre. His two brothers, Jean and Guy, are both doctors in Montreal.
Further online claims that Rouleau has made donations to the Liberal Party of Canada appear to be based on Elections Canada data that shows a series of contributions from a different Paul Rouleau living in Port Colborne, Ont. Among them were a $400 contribution in December 2022, when the POEC commissioner was writing his report on the Emergencies Act.
In fact, the commissioner has lived in an upscale Toronto neighbourhood since 1993 and has never lived in Port Colborne. There is no record he has made any donations to the Liberal Party since becoming a judge in 2002. However, Elections Canada records show that Rouleau’s wife, Julie, made a $100 donation to federal Liberal leadership contender Gerard Kennedy in 2006.
After finishing law school, Rouleau did work in the office of Liberal prime minister John Turner before continuing his law career.
Rouleau’s aunt Jacqueline married into the powerful Desmarais family, and her son Andre married France Chretien, daughter of the former Liberal prime minister.
Rouleau was named a judge on the Ontario Superior Court in 2002, under then-prime minister Chretien’s government. He was later elevated to the Ontario Court of Appeal by former prime minister Paul Martin’s government, and was also named a deputy judge on Yukon’s Supreme Court in 2014, under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
The Trudeau government named him a deputy judge on the supreme courts of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in 2017, and last year selected him to lead the commission of inquiry that is required under the Emergencies Act.
Correction
Paul Rouleau was named a deputy judge on the supreme courts of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in 2017, not the Yukon as previously stated.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
Concerns about Plexiglas prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglas barriers.
Facial reconstruction reveals what a 40-something Neanderthal woman may have looked like
Scientists studying a Neanderthal woman's remains have painstakingly pieced together her skull from 200 bone fragments to understand what she may have looked like.
Weight-loss drug Wegovy available in Canada starting May 6
The makers of Ozempic say their weight-loss drug Wegovy will be available to patients in Canada starting Monday.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Goring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Ontario man loses $1,500 applying for Nexus cards on social media
The trusted traveller program between Canada and the United States is extremely popular and almost two million Canadians have a Nexus card.
Companies letting customers opt out of Mother's Day ads
In an effort to balance the profitability of Mother's Day with the pain it causes some people, some brands are offering customers the choice to opt out of Mother's Day email advertising.
A mother's hopes to free her son from a Syrian prison is revitalized by a new human rights report
Just days before the seventh anniversary of the day Jack Letts was thrown in prison with thousands of suspected ISIS fighters, his mother delivered a small stack of envelopes to the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
Local Spotlight
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fergus, Ont. man feels nickel-and-dimed for $0.05 property tax bill
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.