Ottawa can present some Emergencies Act inquiry evidence without public

The federal government can present some of its evidence to the public inquiry examining the use of the Emergencies Act without the presence of the public for national security reasons, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

Public Order Emergency Commission commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau ruled that part of the evidence and witnesses from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC) can be heard behind closed doors, or in camera.

The evidence includes a classified version of one of the institutional reports submitted by the Government of Canada pertaining to the role of the CSIS in its response to the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests. In addition, the CSIS witness and a witness from ITAC will be examined on the classified version of the report in the absence of the public and the other parties, Rouleau ruled.

In the Canadian government’s request to the commissioner, it says that the disclosure of this evidence “would be injurious to national security.”

The government argued that presenting the evidence and witnesses at a public hearing would pose risk to CSIS’s past or present investigations; its methods of operation and investigative techniques; its relationships with other police, security and intelligence agencies; its members and telecommunications systems; and persons who provided information to CSIS.

Rouleau said he will decide whether the evidence must remain confidential after he has heard it.

“I may decide that some or all of the evidence can be made public, for example in a summary that describes the evidence without disclosing information that must remain confidential,” said Rouleau.

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The six-week public hearings on the government’s invocation of the never-before-used Emergencies Act began on Oct. 13 in Ottawa and are expected to run to the end of November, according to the commission.

The inquiry has been looking into whether invoking the federal emergency powers on Feb. 14 in response to the “Freedom Convoy” was justified.

More than 60 witnesses are set to deliver testimony by the end of the investigation, including high-profile protesters, law enforcement, cabinet ministers and people impacted by the occupation in downtown Ottawa for weeks early this year.