Trudeau's intelligence adviser backs use of Emergencies Act to clear Ottawa convoy protest

The prime minister's national security and intelligence adviser said Thursday the government was right to invoke the Emergencies Act to clear out the anti-vaccine mandate protest that took over downtown Ottawa last month because the protesters were "dug in" and "there's no doubt [they] came to overthrow the government."

"Whether their ability to do that was there, whether their understanding of how to do that was realistic, is actually irrelevant to what they wanted to do," Jody Thomas said. "I think we have to think about it from that lens."

Thomas, the former deputy minister of national defence, became one of Justin Trudeau's top advisers almost two months ago.

Speaking at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence Thursday, Thomas said the Emergency Act is meant for extreme situations and the so-called 'freedom convoy' met that bar.

The law gave the federal government temporary powers to "galvanize law enforcement, security agencies and financial measures in a way that we would have not otherwise been able to do," she said.

She said the protesters' blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor was resolved just as the Emergency Act was coming into play, but the occupation of downtown Ottawa "was in and of itself enough" to invoke it.

"The occupation of Ottawa was dug in, they had supply chains, they had organization, they had funding coming in from across Canada, but also other countries," she said.

Thomas told the audience that it's an "oversimplification" to describe the convoy occupation as a "protest."

"I think domestic ideologically motivated extremism is here and it's here to stay," said Thomas.

"We have lived in the splendid, naive superiority that this was not our problem in Canada. That this was a south-of-the-border problem, that it existed in other countries, but not in Canada and that's simply not true. I am concerned about it."

Thomas said the government has "a lot to unpack" in order to understand the problem and address it.

She said 26 Canadians have been killed and 40 injured since 2016 by ideologically motivated violence.

One organizer demanded government leaders' resignations

National security expert Wesley Wark said anyone watching the movement could conclude there were anti-government elements in its ranks who may or may not have had a practical plan to overthrow the government.

Some of those supporting the convoy signed a "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) issued by Canada Unity, one of the convoy organizers. The document called on governments at all levels to do away with "unconstitutional, discriminatory and segregating actions and human rights violations" brought about through vaccine requirements and passport systems.

The MOU also demanded that government leaders "resign their lawful positions of authority immediately" so that protesters could somehow form a new government with the Governor General and the Senate of Canada.

Canada Unity's website claimed that the MOU had 250,000 signatures before it was taken down. CBC News has not verified that claim and the website accepting signatures is no longer online.

Wark said it's important to note that, as it triggered the Emergencies Act, the government stated that it was taking this step to address a risk of serious violence to people and property in Canada. He said the government could have included the threat to overthrow the government in that statement, but didn't.

He added that while a global movement has embraced anti-government rhetoric, it's hard to determine how much traction it's had in Canada.

He said it's an "exaggeration" to suggest there's a strong undercurrent in Canada of people embracing ideologically motivated violent extremism.

"I think it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if we turn all the government's security apparatus and attention to that problem, which I think frankly is dwarfed by many other national security problems we have here," said Wark. 

The Conservatives' critic for public safety, Raquel Dancho, has called the government's use of the Emergencies Act a "massive overreach" of federal power that wasn't justified by the blockades.

"Today's admission by the prime minister's own national security adviser proves the incredibly high threshold needed to justify invocation of the Emergencies Act was never met when they stated the freedom convoy neither had the 'ability' nor the 'understanding' of how to become a credible threat to our public safety or democracy," said Dancho in a statement to CBC News.

The government is to hold an inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act within 60 days of its revocation and table a report to Parliament within 360 days.