(Ottawa) The US Department of Homeland Security inquired about the “freedom convoy” crippling downtown Ottawa and other truck convoys blocking border crossings. Two senior Canadian officials from the Department of Public Safety participated in telephone conversations with their American counterparts.
Posted at 12:01
“The previous year, with the events of January 6 on Capitol Hill, they still had potential extremist elements and there was also the possibility that convoys were happening around Washington,” said Dominic Rochon, who was then under – Deputy Minister in the Department of Public Security of the Canadian government.
The United States wanted to know how the Canadian government was dealing with a potential threat to national security, and worried about seeing the Canadian capital paralyzed by hundreds of trucks and blocked border crossings.
In all, three calls were made, including the first with Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Homeland Security Advisor for the White House. The United States then offered tow trucks from Detroit to remove the trucks blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, according to Deputy Minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart.
Those conversations with U.S. Homeland Security officials were briefly touched on Monday during the two senior officials’ testimony to the State of Emergency Commission. After dissecting the police response and the motivations of the protesters, the public inquiry now enters into the analysis of the federal government’s response.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and seven of his ministers are due to testify next week. This week, the commission will hear the version of events from several senior Canadian officials. This public inquiry led by Franco-Ontarian judge Paul Rouleau must determine whether the use of Emergency Measures Act by the federal government was justified in order to end the “freedom convoy” in Ottawa and the blockades of border crossings elsewhere in the country.
More details to come.