Freedom Convoy demonstrators received information directly from police sources, a lawyer who advised the main organizers of the movement that paralyzed Ottawa last winter told the Rouleau commission.
“There are a lot of police officers who still believe today that the government really made a mistake,” Keith Wilson told reporters after his appearance at the Emergency Commission on Wednesday.
It’s the Alberta lawyer who represented lead convoy organizer Tamara Lich and her inner circle of regional “captains” during major protests that rocked Ottawa last winter.
“We always knew the operations of the police. […] There was always a constant stream of information and leaks from all the police departments and security agencies,” he said.
Mr. Wilson said that it was police officers on duty, sympathetic to the cause of the convoy, who provided this information in real time to ex-agents among the demonstrators. He claims to have had access to the operational plans of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ottawa Police Service.
He initially believed that the police were launching “fake operations” to find these double agents, but said he understood during the hearings of the Commission on the state of emergency that it was rather internal conflicts within the police ranks that jostled their plans at the last minute.
An effective command
In his first meeting with commission lawyers, he described the circle of organizers of the demonstration as being very efficient and able to count on the presence of ex-policemen, ex-soldiers and ex-agents of the Canadian Intelligence and Security Service within the movement, the minutes read.
Equipped with radios, maps and aerial photos of the City of Ottawa, the latter would have helped in particular to manage the problematic demonstrators, to carry out logistical tasks, in addition to gathering intelligence.
Documents filed with this commission show that several police officers described the Freedom Convoy in glowing terms at different times during the crisis. The Ottawa police, for example, relied on an intelligence report that blithely quoted the English Canadian polemicist Rex Murphy. Another agent allegedly said in a meeting the day before their arrival that the leaders of the convoy were “pro-police”.
Internal OPP emails also circulated the idea that it was possible to announce the end of COVID-19 sanitary measures, thus offering a “victory” to the Liberty Convoy in exchange for his collaboration.
Negotiation Failure Details
Keith Wilson notably gave more details on Wednesday about the failed attempts to negotiate with a group of demonstrators who blocked the strategic corner of Rideau and Sussex streets. This grouping was presented as francophone and radical in several testimonies from convoy leaders and police officers.
Ottawa police liaison officers reportedly first agreed to lift police barriers to join the main protest in front of parliament, before urgently developing a plan to dislodge them by force.
Once the plan was deemed “too risky” and discarded due to an internal revolt within the Ottawa police, negotiations resumed with this small group. This time, a misunderstanding in the crowd of demonstrators would have turned them against the initiative to move the trucks, which had been negotiated. Protesters gathered behind the trucks to block them in place.
Keith Wilson argued Wednesday that the demonstration had never been declared illegal, and that anyone walking around in mid-February could only conclude that it was legal. Ex-Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly agreed on Monday that he never announced the gathering was illegal before emergency measures were invoked, but finds it hard to believe ” that anyone could not understand that there was a level of illegality and public danger” from the first weekend of the occupation.
Controversial influencer and Freedom Convoy organizer Patrick King also testified on Wednesday. He had to explain statements published on social networks where he alluded to the assassination of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or to plans to depopulate the “Anglo-Saxon race”, extracts which he considered to be taken out of context. After several warnings from Judge Paul Rouleau for applause, one of Mr. King’s heckling supporters was removed from the courtroom.
There are many police officers who still believe today that the government really made a mistake Keith Wilson”