The mayor of Windsor, Ont., said Monday he supported the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, even though police had already removed protesters the day before. were blocking the border crossing in his town.
Mayor Drew Dilkens testifies Monday at the public inquiry into the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to disperse Freedom Convoy protesters who had blocked the streets around Parliament Hill, but also border crossings elsewhere in the country, including the bridge linking Windsor to Detroit.
Demonstrators blocked the Ambassador Bridge on February 7, halting cross-border trade and travel for several days, to protest mandatory COVID-19 health measures.
Police, with a court order, eventually evicted the protesters who still refused to leave and the bridge was reopened to traffic in the early hours of February 14. On the afternoon of February 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would invoke the Emergencies Act, which had never been used since it was passed in 1988.
But Mayor Dilkens feared protesters would return to Windsor. Text messages exchanged between Mr. Dilkens and federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, filed in evidence with the commission, show that the minister, just hours before Ottawa invoked the Emergencies Act, asked the Mayor of Windsor to support the granting of new powers, in particular to help keep the Ambassador Bridge open.
Mayor Dilkens says he gave that support, but is unsure whether the special powers granted by this emergency law were ultimately used to prevent further lockdowns.
The central question of the commission of inquiry is whether the government was justified in using the Emergencies Act to put an end to the demonstrations of last winter. Public hearings are scheduled until November 25.
After Ottawa: Windsor
To date, the commission has largely focused on the disruption caused by protesters in downtown Ottawa.
Mr Dilkens is not the only Windsor official to appear on Monday: the commission is also expected to hear from Jason Crowley, acting deputy chief of the city’s police department. In February, he was the superintendent serving as the critical incident commander responsible for responding to the protest.
Details of Windsor Police’s perspective are also contained in a summary of an interview that its acting police chief, Jason Bellaire, gave to the commission in August. The transcript of this interview was entered into evidence.
According to the commission, Bellaire said attempts to negotiate with protesters were difficult because each group had different leaders.
He told the commission that the Windsor Police Service had never experienced such a situation before and that the Ontario Provincial Police had taken the lead.
Other documents the city submitted to the commission show it was also concerned that if protesters were evacuated from Ottawa, they would attempt to block the Ambassador Bridge again.