Trudeau's national security adviser felt convoy protest posed 'a threat to democracy:' documents

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security and intelligence adviser believed that the convey protesters posed a "threat to democracy," according to a document tabled at the Emergencies Act inquiry.

The comments offer a glimpse of the advice cabinet was receiving as it invoked the Emergencies Act for the very first time in the legislation's history to end the convoy protests that blocked trade corridors and gridlocked downtown Ottawa last winter.

In an email presented at the Public Order Emergency Commission Tuesday, Jody Thomas, Trudeau's national security intelligence adviser, writes that she's looking for a threat assessment.

The email was sent just before noon on Feb. 14 — the day the government announced it was invoking the Emergencies Act and around the time the prime minister was briefing premiers.

"The characters involved. The weapons. The motivation. Clearly this isn't just COVID and is a threat to democracy and rule of law," wrote Thomas, whose title is often shortened to 'NSIA'.

"Could I get an assessment please … It's a very short fuse."

A few minutes later, Thomas wrote an email to senior government officials warning that "this is about a national threat to national interest and institutions.

"By people who do not care about or understand democracy. Who are preparing to be violent. Who are motivated by anti-government sentiment."

The request for a threat assessment made its way to the RCMP's Adriana Poloz, executive director of intelligence and international policing.

Her assessment said that ideologically motivated violent extremism "adherents" had been linked to the convoy. She pointed to a Three Percenters flag spotted on a truck taking part in the Ottawa protest and said that Diagolon members also attended that protest.

The Three Percenters are members of a listed terrorist entity in Canada. While members of the Diagolon online community claim the organization is satirical, the RCMP's assessment said prominent members have "espoused increasingly violent rhetoric opposing vaccine mandates."

The report also noted that the majority of protesters had been peaceful.

Commission lawyer Gordon Cameron raised the emails Tuesday as he questioned RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme about whether the request for a threat assessment was made properly.

"How does it happen that when the NSIA wants a security threat [analysis], it doesn't go through one of you, but goes directly to somebody in an intelligence directorate that frankly none of us had seen before we saw this email?" he asked.