OTTAWA –
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino is trying to clarify whether anyone directly asked the government to refer to the Emergency Law in February, after his deputy minister told a committee that the minister was “misunderstood” when he appeared said police have requested that the act be used.
As he left the Liberal Group meeting, the Minister of Public Security told reporters that after consultations with law enforcement, “everyone understood that you should refer to the act.”
Mendicino says police powers needed to end a week-long blockade of downtown Ottawa “have been included in the Emergency Situations Act.”
A special commission examining the historical use of the law on February 14 is trying to determine why the government decided it was necessary.
Appearing before the commission in April, Mendicino repeatedly said the government was acting on law enforcement advice and that police were advising to use the Emergency Law.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucky and Ottawa Interim Police Chief Steve Bell later denied asking for the act to be used.
On Wednesday, reporters pressured the minister over whether a police agency had made a specific request for the act to be used.
“The request was for powers that required reference to the Emergency Situations Act,” Mendicino said.
The Conservatives tried to reach the same issue during the period in question, with MP Raquel Dancho saying that the details of why and how the act was implemented “will set a precedent in Canada in terms of government powers”.
“I am sure that the minister will agree, there is no place for you to be misunderstood when a historical precedent is set,” she said.
Mendicino replied that he agreed that “we need to look carefully at the implementation of the Emergency Law” and that the government was cooperating with both the special commission and the public inquiry into it.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 8, 2022.
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