CSIS DIRECTOR SUPPORTED INVOKING EMERGENCIES ACT LAST WINTER
Nov 21, 2022
By Bob Komsic
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The head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told Justin Trudeau he backed the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act during the ”Freedom Convoy” protests, even tough he believed the blockades did not meet the agency’s definition of a threat to national security.
The Emergencies Act defines a public order emergency as a threat to Canada’s safety, as defined by CSIS.
Director David Vigneault told the public inquiry into the government’s decision to use that no such threat materialized, yet he was satisfied that a threat to national security had to be interpreted differently in the context of the Emergencies Act.
Vigneault says he was asked for is opinion before it was invoked and told the prime minister he believed it was ”required” based on what was going on across the country.
This is the inquiry’s final week and its last witness will be Prime Minister Trudeau, who has defended his decision to invoke the Act, calling it a ”measure of last resort.”