(Ottawa) Judge Paul Rouleau also points out in his voluminous report that the Canada Border Services Agency has made an already difficult situation worse by mismanaging the announcement of mandatory vaccine passports for truckers at the start of the last year, when anger was already brewing and false information was circulating around this pandemic.
Its report of more than 2,000 pages, published last Friday, concluded above all that the federal Liberal government was justified in invoking the Emergency Measures Actlast winter, in response to the “freedom convoy” protests in downtown Ottawa.
But Judge Rouleau’s task was also to explore what had contributed to the popular discontent that caused thousands of Canadians to take to the streets around Parliament Hill and block border crossings.
Justice Rouleau based his findings on hundreds of hours of testimony and thousands of documents submitted as evidence during the Emergency Commission hearings last fall.
Beyond political and policing considerations, the final report also indicates that while the commission’s investigation did not focus on the government’s response to COVID-19, Canadians were confused by communications from authorities.
Justice Rouleau thus points to an error made by the Canada Border Services Agency on January 12, 2022. The CBSA issued a statement indicating that unvaccinated Canadian truckers would not need to quarantine upon their return to Canada. country.
However, the next day, the federal ministers of Health, Transport and Public Safety made a statement indicating that the CBSA’s announcement was erroneous and that all truckers were subject to the vaccination obligation, recalls the commissioner.
“This vagueness in the messages of the government […] only exacerbated the negative feelings surrounding the new border rules, writes Justice Rouleau. In some circles, “the trucker” has come to symbolize hard-working Canadians who, despite their contributions to society, have seen their lives and livelihoods disrupted by government COVID-19 regulations.
“This narrative was a factor that helped to animate the Freedom Convoy,” said the commissioner.