RCMP feared forest service members sympathetic to the convoy protest against pandemic measures in Ottawa earlier this year might leak operational plans to the protesters, according to an internal threat report obtained by CBC News.
“The potential exists for serious insider threats,” the RCMP’s ideologically motivated criminal intelligence team said in a Feb. 10 release.
“Those who did not lose their jobs but sympathized with the movement and their former colleagues may be able to share law enforcement information or military information to the protesters from the convoys.”
The document, obtained by CBC News through an access to information request, shows the RCMP are concerned some of them may be cooperating with the protesters who have barricaded the streets of downtown Ottawa for weeks.
It was well documented during the protests that some key backers of the convoy had prior ties to law enforcement — among them a former RCMP officer who was part of the prime minister’s bodyguard and a former military intelligence officer.
This has raised concerns within the RCMP’s ideologically motivated criminal intelligence unit that convoy participants are getting an inside track on how the police operate.
“Convoy supporters formerly employed in law enforcement and the military have appeared alongside organizers and may provide logistical and security advice, which could create operational challenges for law enforcement if police techniques and tactics are exposed to the participants in the convoy,” says the advisory unit.
Barbara Perry, director of the Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism, said it’s no surprise the RCMP is concerned about members leaking information to convoy participants.
“We need to look at what we know about sexism, misogyny and racism in the RCMP. And you know, that’s the bread and butter of the far-right movement,” she said.
Perry said researchers have been able to delve into extremism in the Canadian armed forces, but examining extremist ties in law enforcement is more difficult.
“That thin blue line is alive and well and the police are very reticent to talk about issues like this,” she said.
Ben Froese, a crane operator parked on Wellington Street, is pepper-sprayed as police enforce a curfew against protesters in Ottawa on February 19, 2022. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
“We haven’t really done a lot of research in the Canadian context, but in the US, survey after survey shows that law enforcement scores very high on authoritarian values, which is also integral to the far right.” So I think there’s definitely an overlap.”
The CBC asked the RCMP if its concerns about “insider threats” ever materialized. Police did not respond in time for publication.
Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, said concerns about leaks may have played a role in how police shared information during the convoy occupation.
“When the convoy settled in, there would have been concerns in all police organizations that there would be a small number of officers sympathetic to the convoy,” he said.
“It is because there are these sympathies in our society. So yes, I would be very confident that police leadership would be careful in how they share information with that in mind.”
The security adviser is “unclear” about the OPS implementation plan
The police response to last winter’s Freedom Convoy protests will take center stage next month when a public inquiry begins its inquiry into the federal government’s rationale for using emergency measures.
Concerns about how information is shared between police and security forces were raised in talking points prepared for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser — also released to CBC News in the same access-to-information package.
On February 9, the prime minister’s national security adviser Jody Thomas held a meeting with federal deputy ministers to brief them on the protests and the police response, according to the documents.
Jody Thomas, National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, arrives at the West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
To date, a dedicated group of protesters upset about public health measures against COVID-19 have blocked city streets for almost 13 days, prompting the city of Ottawa to declare a state of emergency. Mayor Jim Watson described the situation as “the most serious emergency our city has ever faced.”
Peter Slowey, chief of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) at the time, told a Feb. 7 Ottawa city council meeting that an influx of almost 2,000 police and civilians was needed to “turn up the heat.”
But Slowley’s plans moving forward weren’t clear to everyone involved.
“Over the two weekends and into the week, OPS brought in additional police resources from a number of Ontario municipalities and the OPP, depending on the estimated and actual number of protesters,” Thomas notes.
“However, OPS has not yet shared its future enforcement plan with partners, and it is unclear if the plan has been developed. This has resulted in some resources being diverted from the OPP and other municipal law enforcement agencies.”
A spokesperson for the Privy Council Office (PCO) said the term “partners” would refer to other security and police agencies, including the RCMP and the Parliamentary Protection Services.
When asked for more details on the enforcement plan, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service said police would not comment “while the parliamentary review is underway.”
The RCMP also did not comment on discussions the Mounties were having at the time with OPS, the primary police force with jurisdiction over the Ottawa protest.
“It would not be appropriate to comment on specific operational discussions held with our law enforcement and security partners at this time as that information will be disclosed to the Public Order Emergency Commission in due course,” said RCMP spokeswoman Charlotte Hibbard.
“The RCMP has a longstanding positive relationship with the Ottawa Police Service and other law enforcement and security partners in the National Capital Region.”
An Ontario Provincial Police tactical officer watches from the top hatch of an armored vehicle as demonstrators prepare to leave before police impose a ban on a demonstration blocking traffic on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario on February 12, 2022. (Nathan Dennett /The Canadian Press)
Scott Blandford is Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for the Policing and Public Safety Master’s Program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He said when one police force sends help to another, they usually keep each other in the loop.
“I personally cannot see an organization withholding intelligence and information after another organization has committed to providing assistance,” he said.
“I think what happened here was that the situation was so dynamic, it was changing every day, not just the number of people who were getting involved and what their involvement was. And in many ways … the original movement was co-opted by a number of other organizations that kept adding new layers and new dimensions to it.”
In such a rapidly changing climate, he said, police plans may need to change daily.
US pushed Canada to use emergency powers: docs
Documents released to the CBC also show the government drew up a strategic action plan sometime between January 24 and February 11 that raises concerns about how police are responding to the protests.
According to the planning document, the purpose of the plan is to “support discussion by committee members on strategic direction and ideas for federal action to empower the City of Ottawa’s decision on the continued demonstration.” (PCO did not identify the committee in question to CBC News.)
“There is currently no clear path forward and an escalation of sympathetic protests in Canada risks further jeopardizing the national interest,” the document said.
“The ineffectiveness of governments and law enforcement agencies to resolve this situation shifts public attention from the actions of the occupiers to the lack of response.”
On February 12, OPS, the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP formed an Integrated Command Center to coordinate their response to the protests in Ottawa.
By now, other protests against the pandemic measures are erupting across the country. One closed the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor. Ont. — Canada’s busiest trade route.
On Feb. 10, the U.S. called on the federal government to use its emergency powers to end border blockades, according to an update on the national operations of the Privy Council Office released as part of the document.
On February 14, Trudeau announced the government would invoke the Emergency Act for the first time since it was created in 1988, a controversial move that gave authorities temporary powers, including the ability to freeze protesters’ bank accounts and credit cards. Attending any event deemed an unlawful assembly, such as the Convoy protest in Ottawa, also became illegal.
“It is now clear that there are serious challenges to the ability of law enforcement to effectively enforce the law,” Trudeau said at a news conference that day. The act was lifted on February 23 after police cleared the streets of Ottawa.
Talk about a “breakthrough” the night before the invocation
According to previously released court documents, Thomas, who was a former deputy minister of national defense before becoming Trudeau’s chief intelligence adviser, told the cabinet there was a “potential for a breach” with convoy leaders at night before the Emergency Law was implemented.
These redacted court documents were recently filed in Federal Court as part of a lawsuit challenging the government’s…
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