DEDC Committee Meeting

THE SPECIAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

OTTAWA, Tuesday, April 5, 2022
(4)

[English]

Pursuant to the order of the Senate of Thursday, March 3, 2022 and the order of the House of Commons of Wednesday, March 2, 2022, the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency met in camera this day in camera in room 025-B, West Block, and with videoconference, at 6:39 p.m. ET, the joint chair, the Honourable Senator Gwen Boniface, presiding.

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

Representing the House of Commons:  Rachel Bendayan, Larry Brock, Julie Dabrusin, Rhéal Éloi Fortin, Matthew Green, Glen Motz and Arif Virani (7).

Representing the House of Commons by videoconference: Yasir Naqvi (1).

Other senators present by videoconference: The Honourable Senator Campbell (1).

Participating in the meeting: Stephanie Feldman and Colin Sawatzky, analysts, Library of Parliament.

Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the Senate on Thursday, March 3, 2022 and the House of Commons on Wednesday, March 2, 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.

After debate, It was agreed to amend the previously adopted committee motion of March 14, 2022 on questioning time as follows:

That witnesses be given five minutes to make their opening statement; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statement 72 hours in advance; that at the discretion of the chairs, the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: five minutes House of Commons Conservative, five minutes House of Commons Liberal, five minutes House of Commons Bloc Québécois (BQ), five minutes House of Commons New Democratic Party (NDP) and five minutes for each senator, and that the questioning during the second round shall be divided as follows: four minutes House of Commons Conservative, four minutes House of Commons Liberal, three minutes House of Commons Bloc Québécois (BQ), three minutes House of Commons New Democratic Party (NDP) and three minutes each for two senators on a rotational basis to be determined by the Senate parliamentary groups.

It was agreed that the committee begin its study, pursuant to s.62(1) of the Emergencies Act, of the options that the Government of Canada utilized during the invocation of the Emergencies Act and enumerated in the Proclamation Declaring a Public Order Emergency.

That in this study of each option and for the committee’s final report, the committee consider the necessity, implementation, and impact of that option.

The options enumerated in the Proclamation Declaring a Public Order Emergency on February 14, 2022 were as follows:

(a) measures to regulate or prohibit any public assembly — other than lawful advocacy, protest or dissent — that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace, or the travel to, from or within any specified area, to regulate or prohibit the use of specified property, including goods to be used with respect to a blockade, and to designate and secure protected places, including critical infrastructure,

(b) measures to authorize or direct any person to render essential services of a type that the person is competent to provide, including services related to removal, towing and storage of any vehicle, equipment, structure or other object that is part of a blockade anywhere in Canada, to relieve the impacts of the blockades on Canada’s public and economic safety, including measures to identify those essential services and the persons competent to render them and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered,

(c) measures to authorize or direct any person to render essential services to relieve the impacts of the blockade, including to regulate or prohibit the use of property to fund or support the blockade, to require any crowdfunding platform and payment processor to report certain transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and to require any financial service provider to determine whether they have in their possession or control property that belongs to a person who participates in the blockade,

(d) measures to authorize the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to enforce municipal and provincial laws by means of incorporation by reference,

(e) the imposition of fines or imprisonment for contravention of any order or regulation made under section 19 of the Emergencies Act; and

(f) other temporary measures authorized under section 19 of the Emergencies Act that are not yet known.

It was agreed that officials from the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Finance and the Department of Justice and from the RCMP, CSIS, CBSA and FINTRAC as well as representatives from PPS, the Sargeant at Arms and the Usher of the Black Rod, be invited to appear before the committee on four dates chosen by the committee, to discuss measures invoked on February 14 2022 under the Emergencies Act for a period of three hours each.

At 7:04 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 7:11 p.m., the committee resumed.

At 7:28 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 7:34 p.m., the committee resumed.

At 7:40 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 7:45 p.m., the committee resumed.

At 7:51 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 8:15 p.m., the committee resumed.

At 8:24 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 8:26 p.m., the committee resumed.

At 9:22 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the chairs.

ATTEST:

Paul Cardegna

Mark Palmer

Joint Clerks of the Committee