Internal documents show what RCMP considered 'lessons learned' from 'Freedom Convoy'

After policing the 'Freedom Convoy,' the RCMP came away with lessons learned, newly released documents show -- including the need to better prepare for the potential targeting of emergency phone lines.

After policing the "Freedom Convoy," the RCMP came away with lessons learned, newly released documents show -- including the need to better prepare for the potential targeting of emergency phone lines.

Briefing notes obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information laws also point to security pressures to protect leaders in Ottawa and detail the challenges that arose from the fact the protests had no clear leadership.

The force compiled the documents before six top RCMP officials, including Commissioner Brenda Lucki, were interviewed by lawyers with the Public Order Emergency Commission last September.

In early 2022, Lucki was among the officials Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet looked to as they grappled with how to respond to protests staged near Parliament Hill in Ottawa and at several U.S. border crossings.

To clear the protesters, who were demonstrating against Trudeau's government and COVID-19 public health measures, Ottawa ultimately invoked the federal Emergencies Act -- a move that Justice Paul Rouleau ruled was justified in a final report released a month ago.

The hundreds of hours of testimony and thousands of pages of documents presented over six weeks of public hearings last fallculminated in 56 recommendations, 27 of which were directed at improving police operations.

But long before the Rouleau report's release, the RCMP had already prepped its own list of "preliminary lessons learned," two of the briefing documents show.