Judge Paul Rouleau will release on Friday his long-awaited report on the federal government’s handling of Freedom Convoy last winter.
After hearing from police, protesters, officials and local and federal politicians in public hearings this fall, the commissioner had until Monday to table his report in Parliament, by law.
It will finally be done at lunchtime on Friday, a few days earlier than expected. The media will have access to copies of the document shortly before under strict embargo conditions.
The Convoy of Freedom is a large protest movement opposed to health measures against COVID-19 that culminated in a three-week occupation of the streets of downtown Canada’s capital. The cause has also inspired blockades at border points across the country.
To dislodge the many heavyweights that surrounded the Parliament Buildings, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, a first since its creation more than 30 years earlier. The police eventually ousted the protesters less than a week later. The real usefulness of this emergency law has been questioned by certain testimonies.
The Emergency Measures Act provides in particular for the creation of a commission to assess whether the government has exceeded its powers. The Rouleau Commission had 360 days after the end of the emergency measures to establish whether recourse to this law was justified. This date coincides with Monday, February 20, a statutory holiday in Ontario when the House of Commons and the Senate do not sit.
In addition to assessing the government’s response, the Rouleau report must answer some fundamental questions about the real nature of the Freedom Convoy. Threatening for some, democratic for others, the protest movement has been the object of many irreconcilable points of view within the political class and the population.
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