Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP, Carol Hughes writes a regular column about provincial initiatives and issues impacting our community.
Like most people, I am deeply saddened, troubled, and distraught at what we’ve witnessed over the course of the past month in Ottawa, Windsor, Coutts, Winnipeg, and elsewhere across Canada.
I have significant compassion and concern for people who are exhausted by a pandemic that has dragged on each of us for two years now. People who have lost livelihoods, time with friends and family, missed significant events, etc. are justifiably frustrated that the pandemic and measures are still in place.
Some are still concerned about COVID-19 vaccines, and the benefits they provide not only to themselves but those around them. They are, in fact, our friends, neighbours, coworkers and family members, and they feel that they have been forgotten. Some turned to a movement with hope that it would amplify their concerns, and, at least on a surface level, it did.
However, the 25-day convoy blockade that entrenched itself in Ottawa constituted a significant public order emergency, which saw the implementation of the Emergencies Act restore order to the city. Citizens of Ottawa felt helpless as local police and other concerted efforts failed to contain the situation effectively from the onset.
No doubt that many people across the country felt uncomfortable with the use of the act, particularly as it had never been used before. Measures that were put in place were specific to the situation at hand, and we knew going in that the use of the act would be limited in scope, time-sensitive, and was subject to a level of checks and balances that most legislation does not have.
Although the measures came into effect on Feb. 15, the day it was initiated by the Prime Minister, it required Parliamentary debate, with a vote taking place Feb. 21, to decide the continuation of the emergency measures. On Feb. 23, the Incident Response Group advised they were confident they had the powers needed to deal with any remaining threats, which resulted in the revocation of the Emergencies Act.
Many individuals likened the act to the War Measures Act, which it replaced, but this is not the case. The Emergencies Act was designed to deal with extremely rare national emergencies without infringing on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, who was one of the MPs who worked to create the act and voted against the use of the War Measures Act in 1970, supported its use, stating “The attempt to terrorize, intimidate and even overthrow our democracy should have been stopped by the end of the first week of the occupation. It should never have come to this. Compared to the War Measures Act, the Emergencies Act has reduced powers, added significant Parliamentary review, and was created in part to support and uphold the Charter.”
The Public Order Measures were effective in providing the resources needed to contain the situation, trucks were removed, order was restored, and the siege was ended. Organizers of the illegal occupation are now facing significant legal challenges in the coming weeks and months.
We must now turn our attention to a full public inquiry to ensure that those failures that lead to the occupation are exposed so they can be fixed or prevented.
We must also turn our attention to the mechanisms that let situations like this happen. We can’t turn away from the fact that convoy protesters locked down key border crossings that crippled our economy.
We also can’t ignore how social media (Facebook in particular) have allowed disinformation to spread, how funding mechanisms allowed foreign dollars to influence our politics, as well as the growing threat of the radicalization of the extreme right and white supremacy. We have a lot of work to do, and we have to roll up our sleeves to get it done in order to safeguard our border crossings, our cities, our country and our democracy.
It is evident there is an urgent need for the provincial and federal governments to address the growing frustration and fatigue that many Canadians feel with the pandemic and ongoing public health restrictions.
Dr. Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, recently advised that we are going to need to learn to live with COVID-19. The Federal NDP has repeatedly pushed the Liberal government to table a transparent plan to ensure that Canadians can live as normal a life as possible within an endemic period.