Explainer: Emergencies Act inquiry — what's been said, what happens next

The final witnesses will appear this week at the public inquiry into the federal government's unprecedented use of emergency powers to end the convoy protests that had shut down Ottawa earlier this year.

You can watch the hearings of the Public Order Emergency Commission here. Here's a breakdown of why the inquiry is taking place, the key takeaways so far, and what will happen next.

It all stems from the government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.

The act, used for the first time in its 34-year existence, gave authorities new powers to freeze the finances of those connected to blockades and other protests, to ban travel to protest zones, prohibit people from bringing minors to unlawful assemblies and to commandeer tow trucks, in order to remove the many transport trucks and other vehicles that had clogged the capital's downtown streets since Jan. 29.

The Emergencies Act says it is only to be invoked when a national emergency "cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada." It also requires the government to hold an inquiry after its invocation. 

This week, several government ministers — including Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, Defence Minister Anita Anand and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland — are scheduled to appear as witnesses. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be the last to give evidence, per this week's witness list. Several of his staff are also due to appear.

Earlier this month, convoy organizers Chris Barber, Tamara Lich and Pat King testified, alongside other protest leaders and participants.

Other witnesses have included City of Ottawa officials and leaders of the three police forces involved — RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Thomas Carrique and former Ottawa Police Service (OPS) chief Peter Sloly.

CSIS Director David Vigneault and other security and intelligence leaders gave evidence behind closed doors.

Differing views on need to invoke powers

The inquiry heard conflicting views from police and intelligence agency leaders about whether the Emergencies Act powers were needed. 

The night before it was invoked, Lucki, the RCMP chief, told Mendicino she felt police had not yet exhausted "all available tools," according to an email seen by the inquiry. A former senior OPP officer told the inquiry he did not believe the emergency powers were needed.

But Vigneault, the CSIS chief, supported invoking the Emergencies Act because "the regular tools were just not enough to address the situation." He had previously said he didn't believe the convoy constituted a "threat to national security," based on the definition in CSIS's legal mandate. In a February intelligence assessment, CSIS warned that invoking the act would "galvanize" protesters and radicalize some toward violence, according to documents seen by the inquiry.