(LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian committee reviewing Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act against the Freedom Convoy has blasted the government for blocking them from accessing records.
According to information released by Blacklock’s Reporter on August 15, Members of Parliament’s Special Joint Committee are prevented from viewing all the documents relating to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invoking of the Emergencies Act (EA) against the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy protesters in early 2022, which the MPs contend is preventing them from doing their jobs.
“It became obvious the Liberal members of the committee were not prepared to permit the release of any government documents,” Conservative MP Larry Brock told the Commons.
“We need complete documents,” said Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin, co-chair of the committee. “If they can’t be complete [sic] there should be an explanation.”
The Freedom Convoy protest took place in early 2022 in Ottawa and featured thousands of Canadians calling for an end to COVID mandates by camping outside Parliament in Ottawa.
In response, Trudeau’s federal government enacted the EA on February 14, 2022 to shut down the popular movement.
Trudeau had long disparaged unvaccinated Canadians, saying those opposing his measures were of a “small, fringe minority” who held “unacceptable views” and did not “represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other.”
Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23 after the protesters had been cleared out. At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed the use of the EA by Trudeau.
According to minutes of the committee’s last closed session, MPs voted to suspend their report and wait for the translation of thousands of pages of documents compiled by the Public Order Emergency Commission last February.
The committee is currently in its 18th month of deliberations as MPs have yet to be given records in both French and English.
In 2022, the parliamentary committee was established to investigate cabinet’s justification for invoking the EA. While the committee has met 25 times, it has failed to reach a conclusion.
In October, Liberal MPs and Liberal-appointed senators outvoted Conservatives 6-5 to prohibit the release of uncensored documents. The four months prior, the committee had appealed to the Department of Public Safety and other agencies for “all security assessments and legal opinions which the government relied upon” in invoking the EA.
“I think we should be realistic as to what our expectations ought to be,” Senator Peter Harder told the committee. “Those documents by definition are secure and classified.”
“We’re talking about a lot of documents,” Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi argued, while Liberal MP Arif Virani stated, “It is not something I would deem to be suitable or advisable.”
However, Conservative MP Glen Motz declared that Canadians are entitled to be shown uncensored records explaining why cabinet invoked the EA for the first time in Canadian history.
“We can certainly ask for unredacted documents,” said Motz. “That is certainly the expectation this committee had.”
New Democrat Party (NDP) MP Matthew Green pointed out that the committee seems to be prevented from finding an answer.
“It has been very difficult to get cooperative witnesses at this committee to be able to provide us with substantive answers and documents and many things this committee has been trying to get,” said Green.
Trudeau’s use of the EA has caused backlash from many Canadians. As a result, various committees have examined if Trudeau was justified in his actions.
In February 2023, Liberal-friendly judge Paul Rouleau exonerated Trudeau’s use of the EA after conducting a public inquiry as part of the Public Order Emergency Commission.
As for Trudeau, he admitted while testifying before the Commission that the Freedom Convoy was not violent, but he argued that enacting the EA was needed anyway.
He also denied calling “unvaccinated” Canadians names, despite referring to the vaccine-free as “misogynists” and “racists” on television the previous year.