Canada border officials warned of threat to ‘attack 2 schools’ amid convoy: memo

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) warned in a situational report during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” that an individual in Germany and his group of “freedom fighters” had allegedly planned to attack two schools in Ontario.

The internal report, which was made public during the Public Order Emergency Inquiry hearings, shared a number of threats the CBSA and RCMP were assessing during the convoy protest that snarled downtown Ottawa and two major border crossings earlier this year.

Under the subheading “Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism,” the report describes information its authors received the morning of Feb. 14 “regarding individual in Germany who said he and a group of freedom fighters will attack two schools in Ontario in the next few weeks.”

The document, published Feb. 16 — two days after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act — notes there was “no open source info available” about the individual, adding that the threat was being assessed and the RCMP were “aware” of it.

The same situational report also described the southern Ontario CBSA had received multiple threats “from an individual threatening to ‘wage war’ in Canada.” That person, the document says, had indicated that they planned to attend the protest in Ottawa.

“The individual also threatens that ‘no border can stop him’. These threats remain uncorroborated,” the document added.

1:48 Mayor Jim Willett discusses divided Coutts community during Emergencies Act Inquiry testimony

An additional concern the CBSA had, according to the report, was that “both criminal actors and migrants” might use the protests as a way to “illegally cross the border into Canada.”

“This may also include protestors who wish to join events on the Canadian side of the border, but do not want to report to Border Service Officers,” the report said.

Overall, however, the CBSA said there were “no credible threats” identified at any port of entry at the time — though it acknowledged that there was an encounter at one port of entry with an “individual expressing extremist ideology.”

On Feb. 5, one person “ran the port” in Sault Ste. Marie while expressing support for the QAnon influencer and self-appointed “Queen of Canada” Ramona Didulo.

The CBSA document is the latest evidence the Emergencies Act inquiry has heard that details the threats officials were monitoring behind closed doors.

On Tuesday, an RCMP threat assessment of the convoy — which was emailed to the prime minister’s national security adviser — revealed that the demonstration was “attracting individuals who may hold IMVE (Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism) beliefs and may feel emboldened in their views amid the movement’s popularity.”

“While the majority of the convoy protesters are peaceful and denounce violence, the possibility of a lone actor attack, inspired by ideologically motivated beliefs, cannot be discounted,” the assessment said.

It added that the “presence” of people who are adherents to ideologically motivated violent extremism had been “noted” at the demonstrations in Ottawa.

The CBSA document cited information from the RCMP and warned that while “no formal organized plot of violence has been identified,” there were “factors” that could affect the demonstrators’ moods.

“The circulation of misinformation, exhaustion, substance abuse, altercations amongst protestors and with law enforcement and the influence of ideologically motivated actors or charismatic speakers may impact the temperature of the crowd. The potential for violence by a lone actor or fringe group cannot be discounted,” the CBSA document said.

The Emergencies Act inquiry has been tasked with digging into the government’s decision to invoke the controversial legislation in February.

Hearings in the public inquiry began in mid-October and are expected to conclude at the end of next week, with a final report due to Parliament in February.