A close adviser to Justin Trudeau who calls the Freedom Convoy a “threat to the security of Canada” argued Thursday that police intelligence is simply not equipped to see this kind of danger coming on social media.
“We didn’t have the tools in place to capture the information [sur les réseaux sociaux] and identify trends,” Jody Thomas told the Emergency Commission.
The prime minister’s national security and intelligence adviser said law enforcement would need tools to find out what’s happening on the country’s digital platforms “in a lawful manner.” The Emergencies Act, passed more than 30 years ago, would need to be updated “to reflect the threats that arise in 2022”, she said.
“It was a problem [durant la crise du Convoi de la liberté]. It is in online spaces that the planning is done. It is no longer a question of tapping lines, as was done during the Cold War. »
Jody Thomas has been responsible since January 2022 for summarizing all relevant information on national security matters for the Prime Minister. She participated in various high-level meetings on the Freedom Convoy, including the one during which Justin Trudeau decided to invoke emergency measures for the first time.
Emergency recommendation
The third time the question was put to him, Mr.me Thomas admitted having personally recommended to the Trudeau cabinet to invoke this exceptional law to dislodge trucks from the streets of Ottawa, during a meeting held on February 13.
The next day, she asked the RCMP to send her the list of “threats” present in the Freedom Convoy, in an email titled “urgent”. She added that in her opinion, the demonstrators were “preparing[aient] to be violent”. Justin Trudeau announced the invocation of emergency measures the same afternoon.
Experts consulted by The duty last spring already argued that law enforcement failed to collect enough “open intelligence” on social media to fully understand Freedom Convoy’s intentions. This vast motorized protest movement disrupted the federal capital for three weeks, although police intelligence described it as “peaceful” and “legal” before its arrival.
Various documents since revealed, however, have shown that the police were monitoring certain groups on social networks. The Border Services Agency, for example, documented events on Facebook that only had a handful of users “interested” in convoys at the Quebec border that did not lead to blockages.
security threat
The Rouleau commission went into depth on Thursday on the central theme of its mandate, namely whether the Freedom Convoy really represented a “national emergency”, so much so that the federal government needed emergency powers. According to the Emergencies Act, a threat to the security of Canada “has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act [SCRS]. »
However, CSIS indicated that it had not found any threats within the meaning of this law. The intelligence agency uses a very narrow definition of this concept, essentially referring to the influence of foreign governments, espionage or terrorism. According to Jody Thomas’ reading, however, “national security” should not be limited by this definition, she explained during a spat with the lawyer representing the main organizers of the Freedom Convoy, Brendan Miller.
In particular, she referred to messages from Internet users threatening the Prime Minister. One of them, sent via the “contact us” section of the Canadian customs website on February 12, mentioned the plan to hang Justin Trudeau. Another wrote: “We are ready to die to stop you! »
An exchange of emails between officials, filed in evidence Thursday, shows that this legal question was circulating as early as February 9. One of them shared the results of his research, concluding that the notion of “national security” had never been formally defined by the Government of Canada. “Helpful to keep in our ‘back pocket’,” replies Privy Council Office official Mike MacDonald.
These pointed debates on the legal interpretation of emergency measures set the stage for the appearance next week of CSIS leaders, seven federal ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Thursday also appeared Canada’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Michael Sabia. The former boss of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec testified that the blockages observed this winter have put at risk already tense discussions with the United States on the production of electric vehicles.