(Ottawa) Fiercely opposed to the sanitary measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the “freedom convoy” made significant efforts to obtain the names and service numbers of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers (RCMP) who ended the blockade on the Ambassador Bridge in February.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
In particular, they submitted a request under the Access to Information Act to the RCMP for this information. But the police force refused outright, fearing that their disclosure would endanger the safety of the officers and their families because of the numerous threats they have been the target of on social networks.
Documents obtained by The Press under the Access to Information Act show that the RCMP feared for the safety of its officers following the intervention on the Ambassador Bridge, which connects the cities of Windsor and Detroit and is the most important commercial link between Canada and the United States .
In a 2001 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the identity of police officers involved in an operation cannot be kept secret indefinitely “absent a serious and personalized danger” and that a ban on a year on the publication of this information is reasonable.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Protesters in Windsor, in front of the Ambassador Bridge, on February 12
The Ambassador Bridge was blocked for nearly a week in February, prompting the White House in Washington to intervene with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end the blockade.
During the same period, truckers invaded downtown Ottawa, paralyzing the capital for three weeks, while other groups raged at other border crossings in Western Canada, including Coutts, Alberta, and in Surrey, British Columbia.
Many threats
To justify the refusal to disclose any information whatsoever, the persons in charge of the division of access to information within the RCMP have compiled numerous threatening messages written by sympathizers of the convoy towards the police forces.
“All police officers in Ontario must be settled,” wrote a man named Murray Lubkey in February in the Convoy to Ottawa 2022 Telegram chat channel. “Let’s turn these pigs into bacon,” offered another member of the convoy as “lowki.” “These pigs all deserve to die. Full stop,” added Fabio Papz.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Police in front of the access leading to the Ambassador Bridge, in Ontario, on February 13
In these documents, it is also noted that members of the convoy managed to get their hands on the names of the police officers who are part of the Musical Ride of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and that the latter were the target of death threats.
Musical Ride members contacted headquarters in Ottawa to report that they feared for their safety and that of their families.
Excerpt from documents obtained by The Press under the Access to Information Act
It was also noted that the police had arrested four individuals in Coutts, Alberta, who were carrying firearms banned in the country in their vehicles. They had also made it known that they were ready to use violence if the police ended the blockade in Coutts.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, security consultant and former executive at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, welcomes the RCMP’s decision not to reveal the identity of the police officers in this case.
He argued that the threats against police forces are part of a sad trend that has only recently been seen in the United States following the FBI’s search of the residence of former President Donald Trump.
“We are far from the so-called demonstration against health measures. These people were not interested in sanitary measures. It was a pretext they used to lead an insurrection. They wanted to overthrow the government. They wanted to have a January 6, 2021 like at the Capitol in Washington, ”he said.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, security consultant and former executive at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
There’s no reason to want to get the names of all the police officers who were in Windsor, unless you’re planning a campaign of intimidation and threats.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, security consultant and former executive at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Attempt to arrest police
At a time when conspirators are rampant on social networks, law enforcement agencies are increasingly faced with threats from them. A recent example unfolded on Saturday in Peterborough. Disciples of Romana Didulo, a self-proclaimed queen of Canada conspiracy, attempted to carry out citizen arrests of police officers in this city located some 140 kilometers from Toronto.
“You are involved in the crime of COVID and we put [vos véhicules] under arrest,” one instructed an undercover police officer who was inside an SUV. There followed a scuffle and violent arrests of members of the group.
Three people arrested face various charges, including resisting arrest and mischief and assaulting a peace officer. The Ontario Special Investigations Unit is also trying to shed light on the serious injuries sustained by a 55-year-old man during this altercation.
“Citizen arrests have become citizen arrests,” noted Martin Geoffroy, director of the Center for Expertise and Training on Religious Fundamentalism, Political Ideologies and Radicalization, in an interview.
However, we must avoid associating with the “freedom convoy” the movement launched by Romana Didulo, which draws on the conspiracy theories of QAnon and which is considered a sect by the professor.
Both groups, however, are part of the movement of “sovereign citizens” who challenge the state’s right to enforce the law. “What they all have in common is that they are anti-authority movements,” explained Mr. Geoffroy. They challenge police power, state power, legal power. In fact, all institutions. »
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press