'Utter and total mayhem': Key moments from Mendicino's testimony at Emergencies Act inquiry

OTTAWA -

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino took the stand at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Tuesday, testifying about his involvement in the federal government's handling of the "Freedom Convoy" protests and invocation of the Emergencies Act.

During his testimony—briefly interrupted by a testy exchange and ouster of a convoy lawyer— Mendicino shed light on the degree of security concerns ministers and MPs had in the lead up to, and during the convoy's time in Ottawa. 

He also offered further perspective on the federal-provincial tensions that played out as the protests waged on, talked about protester-engagement considerations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was involved in, and described the concerns raised around "hardened" and armed protesters at the Coutts, Alta. blockade as "a threshold moment" for him.

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Following Mendicino's hours-long appearance, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc took the stand to offer his perspective on the protest and the decisions made to end it.

Here's a rundown of some of the notable takeaways from Mendicino's testimony.

HEIGHTENED SECURITY POSTURE AHEAD OF CONVOY

The first area of focus in Mendicino's testimony was on the pre-convoy security concerns cabinet ministers and MPs had.

Notes from a ministerial briefing on "truckers and threats to security" on Jan. 26—two days before the first trucks rolled into Ottawa—were brought up at the commission.

In them, the briefing noted how various police forces and first responder tactical units were engaged in planning, and how security officials were monitoring the convoys coming in from various directions.

But also, the document noted concerns around some protesters potentially looking to disrupt the return of the House of Commons on Jan. 31, and converge on both the uninhabited prime minister's residence at 24 Sussex and the homes and offices of local MPs.

"With respect to the threat picture, there has been an increase in online narratives supportive of the convoy among both ideologically-motivated networks, as well as in general public discourse," reads the document in part. "On January 22, 2022, a total of 15 files were opened in 16 hours," it also notes.

"MPs are concerned for their safety amid reporting of demonstrators attending their residences," the briefing note said. This is something CTVNews.ca reported on after the Sergeant-at-Arms—the top official who oversees security for the House of Commons—issued a warning to MPs about the potential risks related to the incoming trucker protest.

The documents also suggest that Transport Minister Omar Alghabra—the lead on the cross-border trucker vaccine mandate that sparked the whole protest—appears to have been given a protective detail around this time as there is talk of his itinerary, and a need to notify RCMP if he had events outside of his home.

Meanwhile, as of Jan. 11 it appeared additional security attention was being put on a handful of other cabinet ministers including Mendicino and the Public Health Agency of Canada's Dr. Theresa Tam due to security risks identified.

First doc raised during @marcomendicino's POEC testimony highlights fed security concerns in days leading up to "Freedom Convoy" arriving in Ottawa. Talk in briefing of new files opened, protective policing, MPs worried about security.

BG from the time: https://t.co/aTkwHmk5mz pic.twitter.com/xTGue3Ndm4

— Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 22, 2022

 

Asked about this and his awareness of the threats made to politicians, Mendicino told the commission that the RCMP had briefed him that there "needed to be a significant change in the security posture" regarding the ministers listed in the document. The public safety minister said this was due in part, he said, to the "heightened degree of posts that were violent in nature, the overtly criminal threats that were being made against the lives and the security and safety of identifiable public figures."

Moreover, Mendicino confirmed that "security was elevated, not only for cabinet, but for parliamentarians and for staff who were working in the parliamentary precinct," due to the protests unfolding on Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill.

A separate text conversation presented to the commission on Tuesday between his chief of staff, Mike Jones, and Trudeau's deputy chief of staff, Brian Clow, showed that by Feb. 25—after the Emergencies Act had been revoked and protest shut down—Peel Regional Police were investigating a suspicious fire outside of Mississauga East-Cooksville, Ont. MP Peter Fonseca's office.

Jones' message said that a water-damaged note was uncovered that said the fire was in relation to Fonseca's support of the Emergencies Act, and that the fire occurred after people had been protesting outside his office.

TEXTS SHOW MENDICINO 'AMPED UP' OVER WELLINGTON

Mendicino was then asked about an earlier text conversation between Jones and Clow that indicated that by Feb. 6, Mendicino was "amped up" about what he viewed as the Ottawa Police Services' loss of jurisdiction and having "no control at all" over Wellington Street.

Jones went on to tell Clow that his minister was concerned abut the PM's safety, as he was set to return to the office that week after isolating due to a COVID-19 exposure. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pm-trudeau-in-isolation-after-covid-19-exposure-1.5756676

He went on to suggest that if the OPP wasn't going to "get working on removals" within next 24 hours, the federal government may need to look at other measures. It was only a few days later that Mendicino testified that Emergencies Act consideration became more serious.

Asked about this, here's what Mendicino said, in part:

"The concerns that I was expressing was that by that first weekend, it was my opinion that it was virtually impossible to enforce the law on Wellington Street… There were a series of events leading up to the text that Mike Jones had sent to Brian Clow, that had that had led to my concerns being elevated."

Later in his testimony, Mendicino went further calling the scene in Ottawa "utter and total mayhem" as bouncy castles and hot tubs became protest fixations, and residents reached a boiling point and lunched counter protests.

'NOT MY F***ING BOSS'

Tuesday's testimony from Mendicino also brought forward another example of how frayed relations appeared to be between the federal and provincial governments during the protests.

A text message thread involving Mendicino's chief of staff and other political staffers talking about getting Ontario at the table showed that one meeting the minister had with then-solicitor general of Ontario Sylvia Jones, ended with the provincial official reportedly stating, "I don't take edicts from you, you're not my f***ing boss."

Latest edition of fed-prov frosty relations amid the convoy, via ministerial staffer texts:

Mendicino on this: "There was definitely some colorful vernacular towards the end of that call... I think that we could all be forgiven for some rather blunt language." #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/j0peosBEJo

— Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 22, 2022

 

Asked whether that tracked with his recollection of the conversation he had with Jones, here's what Mendicino said: "There was definitely some colourful vernacular towards the end of that call. I'm happy that both Minister Jones and I still enjoy a very productive and positive rapport."

He said broadly the call was about responding to requests from the Ottawa police for help and ensuring all existing authorities were being used to restore public order.

"It was an important engagement. It was it was obviously a very stressful time, and you know, I think that we could all be forgiven for some rather blunt language. I'm sure you know, we've all heard it in various interactions but having those lines of communications open was critical."

COUTTS CONVO WITH LUCKI 'A THRESHOLD MOMENT'

Another area that Mendicino's testimony explored further was RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki's view that not all police tools had been used pre-invocation, something she expressed in writing.

Mendicino was asked whether he was aware of Lucki's view before the Feb. 13 cabinet meeting, testifying that he couldn’t recall when he would have seen it. And, while in hindsight it may have been significant, he and the commissioner did talk that day and the focus on their conversation was something more concerning, he said.

"The commissioner did not express that opinion to me at any time directly… And while she did not at all address that last point that you raised in the email, she did call me… to express her very grave concerns about the situation in Coutts," Mendicino said.

"She underlined for me that the situation in Coutts, Alta. involved a hardened cell of individuals who were armed to the teeth with lethal firearms, who possessed a willingness to go down with the cause," Mendicino testified.

"For me, this represented far and away the most serious and urgent moment in the in the blockade to this point in time and so it also spoke volumes to me about the commissioner's state of mind… And it certainly, I think, was in the in the broader context of the preponderance of the advice that we were getting from the commissioner at that time," he said.

Mendicino went on to describe it as "a threshold moment" for him in deciding to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Early the next morning, ahead of the government invoking the Act, Alberta RCMP moved in, made arrests and seized multiple weapons and pieces of body armour. Charges were then laid against a number protesters, including conspiracy to commit murder.

TRUDEAU INVOLVED IN ENGAGEMENT TALKS

One other notable area explored with Mendicino on Tuesday was how far conversations got about engaging with the protesters. Throughout the demonstrations, there were calls for Trudeau or others to meet with convoy participants, and as the commission has previously heard during OPP testimony, some consideration was made.

As Acting OPP Supt. Marcel Beaudin previously testified, he received an email from then-deputy minister of Public Safety Canada Rob Stewart indicating that he wanted some advice because federal political figures were considering meeting with convoy organizers. This was something that ultimately never materialized.

On Tuesday, Mendicino spoke more about the "engagement proposal" that centred around offering convoy organizers a meeting in exchange for asking the truckers to leave the downtown core and denounce criminal activity.

He told the commission that he had conversations with officials and the prime minister about identifying a potential interlocutor who could represent the federal government and try to de-escalate the situation, but due to uncertainty around who was actually in charge and the security risks of putting someone in this position.

Then, a text message he wrote to Trudeau's chief of staff Katie Telford was put to him in which he wrote that he received some "last minute and thin paper" from his deputy minister on an engagement strategy.

Asked to explain what he was expressing in this text, here's what Mendicino said, in part: "I'm expressing a concern that the deputy minister had socialized with a different level of government an engagement proposal that I would have wanted to have some input into prior to that. And you know, again, it admittedly in this particular moment, everybody is working extremely hard, long hours trying to quickly fulfill the tasks that had been accomplished or fulfill the tasks that had been assigned… And so I wanted to be sure that we were together, thinking through not only the engagement proposal, but also mitigating and thinking through some of the very real and practical considerations that had to be woven into the strategy."