Internal documents show what RCMP considered 'lessons learned' from Freedom Convoy

After policing the Freedom Convoy, the RCMP came away with lessons learned, newly released documents show — including the need to better prepare for the potential targeting of emergency phone lines.

Briefing notes obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information laws also point to security pressures to protect leaders in Ottawa and detail the challenges that arose from the fact the protests had no clear leadership.

The force compiled the documents before six top RCMP officials, including Commissioner Brenda Lucki, were interviewed by lawyers with the Public Order Emergency Commission last September.

In early 2022, Lucki was among the officials Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet looked to as they grappled with how to respond to protests staged near Parliament Hill in Ottawa and at several U.S. border crossings.

To clear the protesters, who were demonstrating against Trudeau's government and COVID-19 public health measures, Ottawa ultimately invoked the federal Emergencies Act — a move that Justice Paul Rouleau ruled was justified in a final report released a month ago.

The hundreds of hours of testimony and thousands of pages of documents presented over six weeks of public hearings last fall culminated in 56 recommendations, 27 of which were directed at improving police operations.

But long before the Rouleau report's release, the RCMP had prepped its own list of "preliminary lessons learned," two of the briefing documents show.

The Mounties acknowledged that "setting the tone early with protesters" was important and was "complicated by the lack of clear leadership."

Another lesson learned was the need to prevent vehicles or other encampments from becoming "entrenched" in a public space, according to the document.

Other suggested improvements to future operations included "anticipating swatting of emergency call lines," providing officers with hearing protection and planning for an uptick in security demands for members of Parliament and cabinet ministers.

University of Ottawa criminology professor Michael Kempa suggests that the lessons learned show the RCMP realizes that it cannot use its approach to policing past protests as a blueprint for future ones.

"They're saying, 'We can't rely on our past experience."'

Kempa said the convoy was an example of a "new form of mass protest," which can be organized through social media and can raise tons of money, but that doesn't have clear leadership among different protest groups.

The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment.