(Ottawa) Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), David Vigneault, has recommended that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declare a state of emergency, although he felt that the truck convoys in Ottawa and elsewhere in the country did not constitute a threat to national security.
This astonishing statement is found in one of the accounts presented in evidence to the Commission on the state of emergency Monday, during the testimony of Mr. Vigneault.
On the one hand, CSIS believed that the use of Emergency Measures Act risked further “inflaming” some extremist anti-government groups or individuals. On the other, its director recommended to the government on February 13 to declare a state of emergency. The government announced its use of this exceptional legislation the following afternoon.
CSIS was then monitoring certain individuals who participated in the “freedom convoy” and the blockades of border crossings elsewhere in the country, but it did not consider these demonstrations to be a threat to national security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act sets out a number of criteria for assessing a threat to national security. These include espionage and sabotage, foreign interference, the use of serious violence and activities aimed at overthrowing the government.
This same definition is repeated in the Emergency Measures Actbut Mr. Vigneault came to the conclusion that it could be interpreted more broadly in this legislation.
More details to come.