RCMP Commissioner Brenda Rookie Speaks on ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Emergency Act Investigation

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is set to testify this morning at a public inquiry into the federal government’s use of the emergency law last winter.

Ottawa first invoked the law in mid-February after nearly three weeks of protests against COVID-19 restrictions that clogged downtown Ottawa and caused border closures elsewhere.

Passed in 1988, the law allowed the government to give police special powers to resolve emergencies and required public investigations to investigate their decisions.

Emails presented as evidence at the Public Order Emergency Committee showed Lucki feeling that “all available tools” had not been exhausted in the police response to protests before the state of emergency was declared. was suggesting that

Lucki is scheduled to begin testifying in the morning with Deputy Commissioner of Federal Police Mike Duheme, with RCMP Deputy Commissioner for Alberta Curtis Zablocki next on the list of witnesses.

Public inquiry hearings began in mid-October and are expected to conclude at the end of next week with a final report due to be submitted to Congress in February.