Police didn’t anticipate Emergencies Act use to end convoy blockades: RCMP chief
Global News
Brenda Lucki said powers afforded to police by the government's invoking of the Emergencies Act were not used to clear blockades at Canadian border crossings.
Police had not anticipated the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the “illegal blockades” in the nation’s capital and major border crossings, the RCMP chief said Tuesday.
Speaking virtually at a meeting of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki deflected questions from committee members about the need to impose the extraordinary measures to quash the blockades by the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”
When asked by Ontario Sen. Peter Harder if the RCMP was assuming the invocation of the emergency measures in its plan, Lucki replied: “Not at all.”
“This was a very, very unique and fluid situation in Ottawa,” she said, adding that there had been various discussions with government officials in the week prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.
“We’re not in the position to … provide influence on the government as to when and where they invoke a certain act. For us, it was about keeping Canadians safe in Ottawa.”
Lucki said RCMP removed the blockades at the border without the powers offered under the legislation, though the Emergencies Act may have motivated some protesters to leave.
“In RCMP jurisdiction, we successfully used a measured approach and existing legislation to resolve border blockades,” Lucki told the committee.
She also said the RCMP had not asked the federal government to implement the extraordinary measures.