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THE SPECIAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

OTTAWA, Tuesday, February 13, 2024
(28)

[English]

Pursuant to the order of the Senate of Thursday, September 22, 2022, and of Tuesday, October 17, 2023, and the order of the House of Commons of Thursday, June 23, 2022, the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency met this day at 6:34 p.m. ET in room 025-B, West Block, and with videoconference, the joint chair, Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin, presiding.

Representing the Senate: The Honourable Senators Boniface, Carignan, P.C., Harder, P.C., and Smith (4).

Representing the House of Commons: Larry Brock, Rhéal Éloi Fortin, Matthew Green, James Maloney, Glen Motz and Sherry Romanado (6).

Acting members from the House of Commons by videoconference: Yasir Naqvi for Rachel Bendayan (1).

Participating in the meeting: Iryna Zazulya and Ariel Shapiro, analysts, Library of Parliament.

Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the Senate on Thursday, March 3, 2022, the committee continued its review of the exercise of powers and the performance of duties and functions pursuant to the declaration of emergency that was in effect from Monday, February 14, 2022, to Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

Mr. Motz moved:

That, in light of developments since the Committee’s most recent meeting, including a Federal Court ruling which found that the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to have been illegal and that the special criminal laws subsequently created by the Liberal Cabinet to have been an unconstitutional breach of Canadians’ Charter rights, as well as correspondence from the Privy Council Office concerning translation of the evidence before the Public Order Emergency Commission,

(a) in relation to the Federal Court judgment,

(i) the Committee invite the following witnesses to appear, separately, for at least one hour each:

(A) the Honourable David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada at the time,

(B) the Honourable Arif Virani, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,

(D) the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance,

(E) Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Denis Beaudoin,

(F) representatives of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association,

(G) representatives of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and

(H) other witnesses whose names are provided to the Joint Clerks by members of the Committee within ten days, and

(ii) an order do issue for all legal opinions which the government relied upon in determining that

(A) the threshold of “threats to security of Canada”, as defined by section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, required by section 16 of the Emergencies Act, had been met,

(B) the thresholds required by paragraphs 3(a) or (b) of the Emergencies Act, concerning a “national emergency” had been met,

(C) the situation could not “be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada”, as required by section 3 of the Emergencies Act,

(D) the Emergency Measures Regulations were compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the analysis relied upon by the Minister of Justice in discharging his responsibilities under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act, and

(E) the Emergency Economic Measures Order was compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the analysis relied upon by the Minister of Justice in discharging his responsibilities under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act, provided that these documents shall be deposited with the Joint Clerks, without redaction and in both official languages, within ten days of the adoption of this order;

(b) in relation to the translation of Commission evidence,

(i) the Committee invite the following witnesses to appear, for at least one hour each:

(A) senior officials from the Privy Council Office, and

(B) other witnesses, representing parties which placed unilingual submissions before the Commission or entities whose unilingual evidence was before the Commission, whose names are provided to the Joint Clerks by members of the Committee within ten days, and

(ii) members of the Committee shall, within ten days, identify their preliminary lists of unilingual Commission evidence or submissions for priority translation to the Joint Clerks who, in turn, shall relay those requests to the Privy Council Office;

(i) the Committee meet during the weeks of March 4 and 11, 2024, if necessary, and

(ii) if the number of witnesses proposed under clauses (a)(i)(H) and (b)(i)(B) warrant, the Joint Chairs shall convene a meeting to discuss prioritizing their respective scheduling; and

(d) in relation to the Committee’s draft report:

(i) the Committee suspend its work on the current draft report,

(ii) the analysts be directed to prepare a second draft report, incorporating the information and analysis set out in the Federal Court ruling, along with the evidence received under paragraphs (a) and (b),

(iii) members of the Committee may, after the Committee has received evidence under paragraphs (a) and (b), submit draft recommendations and conclusions for the draft report, including those which may have been negatived by the Committee on May 16 and June 6, 2023, where reconsideration may be warranted in light of the Federal Court judgment or the evidence received, and

(iv) the Committee work toward a goal of tabling its final report by June 21, 2024.

At 7:57 p.m. the Honourable Senator Boniface took the chair.

At 8:02 p.m., Mr. Fortin took the chair.

Ms. Romanado moved that the committee do now proceed to the consideration of another order of business, specifically, the motion on notice in the name of Ms. Romanado.

At 8:05 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 9:15 p.m., the committee resumed.

With leave, Ms. Romanado’s motion was withdrawn.

Mr. Brock moved that Mr. Motz’s motion be amended:

(a) by deleting the words “in light of developments since the Committee’s most recent meeting, including a Federal Court ruling which found that the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to have been illegal and that the special criminal laws subsequently created by the Liberal Cabinet to have been an unconstitutional breach of Canadians’ Charter rights, as well as correspondence from the Privy Council Office concerning translation of the evidence before the Public Order Emergency Commission,”;

(b) by deleting in paragraph (a)(i) the word “separately” and by replacing the words “one hour each” by “90 minutes”;

(c) by replacing at paragraph (a)(i)(A) the words “the Honourable David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada at the time,” by “the Honourable Arif Virani, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,”;

(d) by replacing at paragraph (a)(i)(B) the words “the Honourable Arif Virani, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,” by “the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety”;

(e) by deleting paragraphs (a)(i)(C) to (a)(i)(H);

(f) by replacing at paragraph (b)(i)(B) the words “other witnesses, representing parties which placed unilingual submissions before the Commission or entities whose unilingual evidence was before the Commission, whose names are provided to the Joint Clerks by members of the Committee within ten days,” by “officials from the translation bureau”;

(g) by replacing in paragraph (b)(ii) the words “ten days” by “five days of the appearance of the Privy Council Office”; and

(h) by deleting paragraphs (c) and (d).

Mr. Maloney moved that the motion in amendment be amended:

(a) by replacing in paragraph (a)(ii) the words “an order do issue for” by “the committee request”; and

(b) by replacing in paragraph (a)(ii)(E) the word “order” by “request”.

After debate, the question being put on the subamendment, it was adopted on the following vote:

YEAS

The Honourable Senators Boniface, Harder, P.C. and Smith and Mr. Maloney, Mr. Naqvi and Ms. Romanado — [6]

NAYS

The Honourable Senator Carignan, P.C. and Mr. Brock, Mr. Fortin, Mr. Green, Mr. Motz — [5]

ABSTENTIONS

NIL

After debate, it was agreed that the motion, as amended, be adopted. The motion read as follows:

(a) in relation to the Federal Court judgment,

(i) the Committee invite the following witnesses to appear, for at least 90 minutes:

(A) the Honourable Arif Virani, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,

(B) the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety

(ii) the committee request all legal opinions which the government relied upon in determining that

(A) the threshold of “threats to security of Canada”, as defined by section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, required by section 16 of the Emergencies Act, had been met,

(B) the thresholds required by paragraphs 3(a) or (b) of the Emergencies Act, concerning a “national emergency” had been met,

(C) the situation could not “be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada”, as required by section 3 of the Emergencies Act,

(b) in relation to the translation of Commission evidence,

(i) the Committee invite the following witnesses to appear, separately, for at least one hour each:

(A) senior officials from the Privy Council Office, and

(B) officials from the translation bureau

(ii) members of the Committee shall, within 5 days of the appearance of the Privy Council Office, identify their preliminary lists of unilingual Commission evidence or submissions for priority translation to the Joint Clerks who, in turn, shall relay those requests to the Privy Council Office.

At 9:37 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the joint chair.

ATTEST:

Miriam Burke

Sébastien Payet

Joint Clerks of the Committee