The Liberal government has relinquished the cabinet’s confidence in documents related to its invocation of the Emergency Act, accepting a request from the head of public inquiry examining the use of the law.
Paul Rouleau, the head of the Public Order Emergency Commission, called for relinquishing the cabinet’s confidence in the documents the cabinet used to make the decision to invoke the act in order to provide transparency. total on the government’s decision.
“This exceptional step recognizes the fundamental importance of the Commission’s work and the importance of these documents in investigating why the government declared a public order emergency,” commission co-advisers Shantona Chaudhury and Jeffrey Leon said in a communiqué.
This is only the fourth time in Canadian history that a public inquiry will have access to cabinet documents, according to the commission.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the event on February 14, for the first time in Canadian history, during the mandate protests against COVID-19 and the subsequent occupation of Ottawa.
The act gave temporary powers to the federal government to deal with the blockades that blocked Ottawa for three weeks last winter, as protesters blocked access to the neighborhood and major arteries around Parliament Hill by obstructing the streets with trucks and other vehicles.
The commission on Monday announced who would be granted participation in the public inquiry, including the three-tier governments, convoy organizers and police.
Granting standing groups or individuals allows them certain privileges in the investigation process, including the ability to suggest witnesses or question them. It also means that they are notified in advance of the documents being presented as evidence.