RCMP changed federal ministers’ security a week before convoy protests arrived, Emergencies Act inquiry hears

Intelligence wing was worried convoy protest ‘could become a flashpoint for violence’ Catharine Tunney · CBC News · Posted: Nov 08, 2022 7:28 PM ET | Last Updated: November 9 An RCMP vehicle passes in front of a blockade of trucks downtown Ottawa on Feb. 17, 2022. (Robert Bumsted/Associated Press) 300 comments The RCMP changed its security plans for federal cabinet ministers a week before anti-vaccine mandate protesters rolled into Ottawa last winter and feared the event “could become a flashpoint for violence,” says a report entered into evidence before the Emergencies Act inquiry. The RCMP institutional report, reviewing Mounties’ response to the protests, said the RCMP also wondered whether the protests would stay in Ottawa for a long time — making it the second police force to raise concerns about the duration of the protests. The Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry investigating the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the protests has heard from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) that its intelligence wing feared the protests had “no exit strategy for departing Ottawa.” Despite receiving those reports, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) was prepared for a protest lasting only one weekend. City police officials have told the inquiry the OPS didn’t have a contingency plan for the protest continuing past the first Monday. Protesters and their vehicles entrenched themselves in the downtown core for nearly three weeks.

via cbc: RCMP changed federal ministers’ security a week before convoy protests arrived, Emergencies Act inquiry hears