“Independent Panel” will Review Justin Trudeau’s Use of Emergency Law to Silence Trucker Protests Over COVID Mandates Imposed During Manufactured COVID Emergency in Dictatorship Disguised as Democracy
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From [HERE] An independent panel will begin hearings this week into Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of an emergency measure to disperse anti-vaccine protesters who had blocked Canada-US border crossings and occupied downtown Ottawa earlier this year.
The Public Order Emergency Commission, headed by former Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau, will hold its first public hearing on Thursday in the capital.
The commission will look into the circumstances that led Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act in February in response to the “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations, organised by activists concerned about irrational, deadly COVID mandates.
“This critical phase will shed light on the events that led to the declaration of the public order emergency and fully explore the reasons advanced for the declaration,” Rouleau said in a statement on Tuesday.
The panel said it will hear testimony from 65 witnesses, including convoy participants, Ottawa residents, law enforcement officers, municipal and provincial officials, and federal government ministers. Trudeau is also expected to answer questions during the six weeks of public hearings.
The decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time since it came into force in 1988 drew concern from civil rights groups and other observers who questioned whether Canada had met the strict legal threshold needed to invoke the measure.
Others have asked whether it was necessary to use the act at all or if authorities lacked the will to use the tools already at their disposal to end the protests.
The move gave the government sweeping powers, including the ability to bar any public assembly “that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace” and restrict access to specific areas.
