Emergencies Act inquiry to hear how protesters affected those living and working in Ottawa
CBC
The public inquiry examining the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act will hear later this morning how the protesters who took over Ottawa streets last winter affected those who live and work in the capital.
Ottawa-based lawyer Victoria De La Ronde and Zexi Li — an Ottawa resident who helped secure an injunction against Freedom Convoy protesters to silence their incessant honking — will testify when the Public Order Emergency Commission resumes for the day at the Library and Archives building in Ottawa.
The inquiry is reviewing the circumstances that led up to the government's decision on Feb. 14 to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time in the act's 34-year-old history. The legislation requires that a public inquiry be held after it is invoked.
Two downtown Ottawa business associations will also have the chance to weigh in on the impacts of the protests. Both Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier BIA, and Kevin McHale, executive director of the Sparks Street BIA, will take questions.
The day will wrap with two downtown Ottawa city councillors — Catherine McKenney and Mathieu Fleury — offering their takes on how the situation was handled.
McKenney is in the midst of a mayoral campaign, while Fleury is not re-offering in the upcoming municipal election.
On Thursday, lawyer Paul Champ, who is representing a coalition of business and community groups in Ottawa, told Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau, who is leading the inquiry, that people in the city are still "traumatized."
"They're bewildered, they're upset, and I can say, commissioner, these 30 days that you have, we could have residents line up every day to testify, to tell you their stories," he said during his opening remarks.
Keith Wilson, a lawyer representing some of the convoy protest's organizers, downplayed the impact on local businesses while speaking to reporters Wednesday.
"This notion that these businesses were so badly harmed is being overstated," he said.
"And to the extent that they were harmed, it wasn't because of the protests, it was because [of] the government taking the unusual step of telling so many of them to close when there was no good reason for them to close."
The commission resumes at 9:30 a.m. ET. CBC News will carry it live.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
It was sometime in 2008 that Henry Walter got a message from his lawyer.
When Fredericton High School student Matthew Jeon wanted to start saving money for university, he started applying for summer jobs.
After yet another major flood at the Sainte-Croix Hospital in Drummondville, Que., family doctor Catherine Tétreault says the situation at the facility has reached a point of no return.
As the calendar is about to flip to an election year in Winnipeg, the time is growing short for candidates to mount a serious electoral challenge to Mayor Scott Gillingham.
Claude Hardenne occasionally tries out new packaging or moulds for his locally made chocolates, but he would never tinker with the recipes Harden & Huyse has used for almost 50 years.
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of the gang leader at the centre of the murder of Tiki Laverdiere.
As temperatures plunge and Islanders crank up the heat, the City of Summerside is preparing its power plans amid mounting pressure on P.E.I.’s electricity grid.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
Ten years ago, Canada responded to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Syria with an unprecedented program that rapidly resettled 25,000 Syrian refugees in roughly 100 days.
Alberta separatist leaders expect to start canvassing in January to get their independence referendum question on the ballot, thanks to the provincial government’s latest legislation to make it easier for them to succeed.
With the holiday season fast approaching, plenty of people are making a list and checking it twice. But for many in Thunder Bay, Ont., a hot meal is their number one concern of the season.
As Mayor Olivia Chow heads into what could be her final year leading Toronto — or final test before she asks voters to re-elect her in the fall — she’s reassuring ratepayers that they won’t see property taxes rise as sharply as they did earlier in her term.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she worries about how recent actions by U.S. public health agencies, like removing a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for American infants, could hurt Canadians’ health.