“A lot of them wanted compensation, which we couldn’t have given them without making additional arrangements … so when he invoked the Emergency Act, that ability to provide that compensation was extremely helpful,” said OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique in the Emergency Emergency Emergency Class. Commission investigation. “Technically, could we force them? Did we give them information in writing that would imply they were obligated? Quite possibly. But did we really have to direct them? No, they had willingly agreed to help.” The issue of forced tow trucks has become one of the key issues facing the commission’s inquiry into whether the federal government’s use of emergency law was justified. Carrique sat down twice with the commission’s lawyers this summer before his testimony. Summaries of those interviews were entered into evidence Thursday. In August, he felt that the police had not used the emergency law to compel towing companies to provide their services. “The ability to compel tow truck drivers to provide services and compensate them was delegated by the RCMP Commissioner to [Commissioner] Carrique, but it was not used to force them to provide services,” a summary of those interviews said. WATCHES | ‘Some were reluctant’: OPP commissioner on tugs
‘Some were reluctant’: OPP Commissioner says of truck drivers during protest
OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique says it’s unclear whether the emergency law was needed to get tow trucks to help move the entrenched protesters out of Ottawa. On Thursday, a lawyer for the Commission asked whether it would be fair to say that the trucks were “compensated under the Emergency Act, but not really obligated under the Emergency Act.” “That’s how I would describe it,” Carrick said. One of the problems facing police during the occupation was moving the trucks and other vehicles that had been stuck on Ottawa’s streets for weeks. At the time, towing companies expressed fear of being targeted by protest supporters. At least one tow truck operator in Ottawa reported receiving hundreds of calls — including death threats.
The federal government says the trucker safety deal has failed
An Ottawa Police Chief who helped oversee operational planning in the final days of the protest told the inquiry Wednesday that officers did not need to rely on powers granted under the federal Truck Safety Act. Supt. Robert Bernier, who took over as OPS events commander on Feb. 10, was organizing a police operation with the OPP and RCMP. He told the commission that the OPP was able to secure 34 tow trucks with willing drivers until about Feb. 13 — before the act was invoked — as part of their plan to end the protest. But a lawyer for the federal government pushed back against that claim. During cross-examination Wednesday, Donnaree Nygard, an attorney for the federal government, asked Bernier if he knew the pledge for the 34 trucks had failed. “I wasn’t made aware of that,” Bernier said. WATCHES | OPP Supt. Robert Bernier discusses efforts to get the trucks to clear the truck convoy:
‘I wasn’t aware of that’ — OPP Superintendent Robert Bernier discusses tow truck efforts to clear truck convoy
Government of Canada lawyer Donnaree Nygard cross-examined Bernier, who said he did not know tow trucks were made available because of the Emergency Act. Nygard entered into the record a Feb. 17 letter showing Carrique referenced the Emergency Act in his communications with towing companies. The letter said the OPP is “requiring” towing companies to make their services available under the Emergency Act. “This is new to me,” Bernier said Wednesday. A Feb. 13 email forwarded to Carrique and presented to the committee Thursday said seven companies with 34 heavy-duty towing services were willing to provide services, while 57 companies with 269 heavy-duty tugs either said no or did not respond to the OPP. Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique appears before the Public Order Emergency Committee, in Ottawa, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press) The email said the OPP was starting to look to companies from the US and Quebec for help. “There were many challenges with determining the number of tugs that were available, those that would willingly provide these services, those that wanted to be forced or compensated,” Carrique testified. “There were concerns that they might pull out at the last minute, which presented a risk to us moving forward with the plan.” Carrique called the compensation issue “critical.” In a Feb. 22 letter — written after police moved to clean up Ottawa’s streets — Carrique told Ontario deputy attorney general Mario Di Tommaso that the towing industry was “very reluctant” to help police and that they were looking “an unusually broad and high risk compensation from the province for loss and damage”. That request included damages for future retaliation. Karik said this would require the finance minister’s approval and would take time. The letter also stated that securing the services of towing companies would require separate agreements. Again, Carrique wrote that there was not enough time to do this before the planned police operation. Carrique showed the letter again Thursday during cross-examination. “You said it’s a bit of a semantics issue but, in fact, sir, the OPP has asked the towing companies to provide the services under its auspices [Emergencies Act]correctly;” asked Brendan van Niejenhuis, another federal government lawyer. “Yes, we had provided that written directive and if they didn’t provide those services, we could force them to do it. Absolutely,” Carrique replied.
The OPP believed the trucks would be barred from the area
The trailer truck issue isn’t the only point of contention the investigation has uncovered so far. In March, Carrique told a House of Commons committee that officers in his intelligence unit had identified the protest in Ottawa as a “threat to national security” about a week after heavy trucks arrived in the capital. But the head of the intelligence unit, Supt. Pat Morris, told the public inquiry last week that there had never been “credible” information indicating an immediate threat to national security. A protester carrying an empty fuel can on a broom handle walks past Ontario Provincial Police officers on Metcalfe Street in Ottawa on February 7, 2022, during protests against the COVID-19 rules. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press) “Everybody was asking about extremism. We weren’t seeing a lot of evidence of that,” Morris said. On Thursday, Carrick said “the situation has been recognized as a threat to national security.” However, Carrique said during his testimony that he agrees there were no credible threats to national security. He said the word “threat” was used to indicate that something could happen and that the situation required further analysis. Canada’s spy agency CSIS raised concerns about the OPP suggesting there was a threat to national security, but Carrique said any police chief must take potential threats extremely seriously. He said OPP intelligence reports on the protests, called Project Hendon, indicated there was no exit strategy for protest organizers. He said it was passed on to Ottawa police. The reports said organizers and participants would be “unlikely to have the ability to control, influence or discipline” the “fringe elements” it expected could pose the greatest threat to public safety. The reports also noted on several occasions that while the OPP had “not identified any specific, specific or credible threat regarding the Freedom Parade protest” or related events, “a lone actor or group of individuals could make a threat with little or no warning .” According to his witness summary, Carrique believed that OPS’s business plan would ban trucks from the parliamentary section and use buses and shuttles to allow protesters to access downtown for the protests. He said he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. “OPS did not appear to have a clearly communicated and documented business plan and was not working toward an injunction,” his witness summary said. He said he didn’t think the decision by then-Ottawa police chief Peter Slowley to go public with his request for 1,800 more officers was helpful. “It revealed to the protesters that OPS was overwhelmed and needed help,” Carrique told the committee.
