Re: Protest

by Delta Sat 30 Apr 2022, 8:56 pm

04.30.2022

by Covert Mon 02 May 2022, 7:53 am

Listen to the Veterans speak

OTTAWA, THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO ~~~~~ May 1, 2022 (LSNews)

Rolling Thunder Convoy

An amazing historic moment. Afghanistan veteran Christopher Deering explains the purpose of veterans Rolling Thunder, taking back the National War Memorial and laying of the ceremonial wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Describes how he was beaten, zip tied and more on February 18, 2022 at the Freedom Convoy Protest.

Rolling Thunder Code of conduct quick summary of what I just heard: as a member
1) uphold fundament rights of freedoms charter and bill
2) peaceful non compliance
3) against new world order
3) honour integrity discipline care
4) refrain from any violence
5) deescalate 5) sobriety
6) donations properly accounted for
7) veterans board member speaks on their behalf - denounce any flags flown not of them
Listen to how Chris a decorated War Vet was attacked and beaten by Police

All eyes on thousands of Canadian Vets as they converge in Ottawa to honour their fellow vets who were abused at the War Memorial during the COVID passport and mandate protests in February 2022. Recall that war vets removed steel fences around the War Memorial to open it up to Canadians to honour, and honour it they did to counter Canadian state media propaganda narratives. Recall that vets were then forceably removed from the war memorial and even beaten. I dropped by to visit the veterans at the War Memorial while in Ottawa. Listen to what this veteran is warning a first generation Canadian about. He’s warning him about how CBC and government funded media are propaganda outlets that can’t be trusted.
Freedom 2022 Human Rights and Freedoms has nothing to do with organizing the Canadian vets honouring their own this weekend. We obviously aren’t stating this to disavow this initiative whatsoever. We’re indicating that whatever decisions any level of government makes toward the Canadian vets, is a decision they’re making toward to Canadian vets and the Canadian vets alone.
The world is watching. The vets are watching. And surely active service men and women are watching.
We know there are eyes on this Facebook page too, so ignorance is no excuse for whatever decisions governments make.
We respect the veterans’ decisions to honour their own in Ottawa this weekend and hope the governments in the country they served do not embarrass Canadians on the world stage by mistreating them.

Freedom 2022 Human Rights and Freedoms has nothing to do with organizing the Canadian vets honouring their own this
weekend. We obviously aren’t stating this to disavow this initiative whatsoever. We’re indicating that whatever decisions any level of government makes toward the Canadian vets, is a decision they’re making toward to Canadian vets and the Canadian vets alone.

The world is watching. The vets are watching. And surely active service men and women are watching.

We know there are eyes on this Facebook page too, so ignorance is no excuse for whatever decisions governments make.

We respect the veterans’ decisions to honour their own in Ottawa this weekend and hope the governments in the country they served do not embarrass Canadians on the world stage by mistreating them.

Chad Eros
Acting President
Freedom 2022 Human Rights and Freedoms

Lake Superior News

by Lux4795 Wed 04 May 2022, 4:14 pm

Surveillance aircraft over Ottawa during 'Freedom Convoy' protest operated by Canadian special forces, DND confirms

National Defence acknowledged the aircraft was in use by Canadian special forces as part of a training mission on Feb. 10 but stated the flight had nothing to do with the protests.

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: May 03, 2022

Canadian special forces were operating the mystery aircraft that flew over Ottawa during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests in late January and February, this newspaper has confirmed.

The U.S.-registered King Air aircraft was airborne over Ottawa on Jan. 28, Jan. 29, Feb. 3, Feb. 10 and Feb. 11, according to data collected by Steffan Watkins, an Ottawa researcher who tracks the movements of vessels and planes.

For instance, on Feb. 10 the aircraft was flying circular patterns over Ottawa before disappearing from publicly available aircraft tracking systems, Watkins said.

The flights coincided with the large-scale protests held in downtown Ottawa as part of the “Freedom Convoy.”

Protesters in Ottawa demanded the government remove rules designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But other demonstrators also called for the overthrow of the Canadian government.

National Defence spokesperson Dan Le Bouthillier acknowledged the aircraft was in use by Canadian special forces as part of a training mission on Feb. 10. But he stated the flight had nothing to do with the protests.

Information wasn’t available from National Defence on who operated the plane on the other dates, but military sources said those flights also involved Canadian special forces.

Canadian special forces are preparing to receive their own King Air aircraft outfitted with surveillance equipment and have been conducting training leading up to the delivery of those planes.

Those aircraft, the first of which is to be delivered this summer, will give the Canadian military the ability to collect data for missions overseas and at home. The modified small passenger planes are outfitted with surveillance equipment allowing for the interception of cellphone calls, radio transmissions and other communications. Electro-optical sensors would also allow crews onboard the aircraft to track the movement of individuals and vehicles on the ground, the Canadian military has noted. Canadian special forces had access to similar aircraft in Afghanistan to track and target insurgents.

Le Bouthillier said the special forces training was already planned before the Ottawa protests and to have cancelled the flight would have been wasting money.

Watkins claimed the aircraft could have flown anywhere in the Ottawa region if the situation called for regular training. But, instead, the plane was involved in specific flight patterns, he noted.

“I believe their precise circular tracks over Ottawa suggest a form of electronic surveillance, not simply digital electro-optical imagery or video,” Watkins added in a separate report on the flights.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing Watkins’ data, first reported the Feb. 10 flight in an article last month. At the time, National Defence acknowledged the plane was conducting military training, but did not reveal it was being operated by Canadian special forces.

The new surveillance aircraft will be based at CFB Trenton, Ont.

Canada paid the U.S. government $188 million for the aircraft. The overall project is estimated to cost taxpayers $247 million.

The U.S. military operates similar surveillance aircraft.

A maintenance contract for the new planes was awarded to a team consisting of General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada of Ottawa and Voyageur Aviation Corporation of North Bay, Ont.

Canadian special forces has conducted other training to prepare for the arrival of new surveillance aircraft. In October, members of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command went to the U.S. to work with that country’s special forces in developing tactics and procedures for use with the planes.

In 2019, U.S. special forces personnel were in Ottawa and Petawawa doing similar training. In mid-November of that year, members of 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, both based in Petawawa, conducted an exercise supported by one of the American aircraft. The U.S. plane operated from the Ottawa airport, and flights occurred between Petawawa and Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Que., according to Canadian special forces.

The surveillance gear onboard the new Canadian military aircraft is still subject to tight U.S. restrictions. Canadian military staff and aerospace employees won’t be allowed to work on parts of the equipment as they contain sensitive American-made systems that can only be handled by U.S. citizens. Instead, the gear will have to be sent to the U.S. for maintenance or U.S. government staff will have to travel to Canada to work on the planes, according to Canadian officials.

Defence Watch

by Scorpion Tue 10 May 2022, 7:16 am

Canadian Forces veteran makes it to Ontario, with under 2000km left to go

By Harley Sims -May 9, 2022

Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran James Topp embarked on the last and longest leg of his protest march to Ottawa this week, crossing into Ontario from Manitoba on Day 79 of his trek and putting more than 2300km behind him.

“This is the final province but it’s huge, so we’ll be here for a while,” Topp posted from the Ontario border on Monday. “Thunder Bay is roughly 550km away, so you’re on notice! Roughly 1.5 months to get to Ottawa from here for your mental calendars.”

Ontario marks the final province of Topp’s journey, which began in Vancouver on Feb. 20. Topp is marching in opposition to government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic – in particular vaccine mandates that forced people out of work or pressured them “into taking part in medical procedures that they would not otherwise have accepted.”

The army veteran and his crew arrived in Manitoba on Apr. 26 and crossed the last of the prairie provinces in just under two weeks.

There were several highlights to the trek across Manitoba, including Topp calling out the CBC for ignoring his march. Last week, Topp denounced the state outlet – which received $1.4 billion last year from taxpayers and is mandated to reflect Canadian cultural expression – from the sidewalk in front of their Winnipeg headquarters.

“We just walked 2343 kilometers,” Topp said. “Check it out. And here we are in front of CBC Winnipeg/CBC Radio Canada here and, curiously enough, nobody from this organization has come to talk to us. Isn’t that interesting?”

“We’re only going to be marching from Vancouver to Ottawa, and we are at the halfway point here in Winnipeg. And so far, nobody in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has seen fit to come and talk to us about what we’re doing.”

To date, the CBC’s only reporting on Topp seems to have been in mid-February, when the state outlet contacted the Department of National Defence (DND) to ask for comment on active military members supporting convoy protests.

Topp, who is in the process of being removed from the CAF over his refusal to accept COVID shots, is also now being represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which has retained lawyer and military veteran James Millar.

Having moved into the reserves after his full-time career, Topp is facing what is known as a 5F release – or “Unsuitable for Further Service” – which “(a)pplies to the release of an officer or non-commissioned member who, either wholly or chiefly because of factors within his control, develops personal weakness or behavior or has domestic or other personal problems that seriously impair his usefulness to or impose an excessive administrative burden on the Canadian Forces.”

Millar argues that the 5F release was never meant to be applied in this way and that the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for military personnel is unjust and political.

“The mandatory vaccine is a flawed policy based on a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that the underlying justification for the mandate has changed,” said Mr. Millar in a press release. “The government is using the Canadian Armed Forces as a policy arm to promote its vaccine mandates. The policy hurts the operational effectiveness, morale, and integrity of the system.”

“We cannot let them get away with ruining the lives and careers of dedicated Canadians who serve their country,” he said. “Our soldiers, sailors and air force personnel deserve more. They are highly trained, and many have served their country for years.”

Topp expects to arrive in Ottawa some time in early-to-mid June.

TRUE NORTH

by Covert Sat 14 May 2022, 8:43 am

Canadian Forces veteran still marching despite rumours of arrest

By Harley Sims - May 13, 2022

Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran James Topp is reassuring supporters he has not been arrested after legacy media outlets reported on Wednesday he was being charged by the Defence Department for his protests against vaccine mandates.

Topp – whose military career has spanned nearly three decades and included tours in the Balkans and Afghanistan – began marching from Vancouver to Ottawa on Feb. 20.

He spoke from just outside Vermilion Bay, Ont. on Thursday, crediting the legacy media for finally noticing his 4293km trek and explaining that the charges stem from investigations into his original protests back in February.

“I just want to verify to everybody right here right now, I am walking around free as you can be in this society that we live in,” Topp said in a Facebook video.

“Do not mistake these for charges being placed against me by any police service in this country. These are charges that have been placed against me because I went out in uniform and made statements critical to vaccination mandates and mandates in general. So, this is why I’m being charged.”

“So, I am walking around – marching around – and we continue to go to Ottawa because that’s what we’re doing, and that’s our mission. So please get the rumor mill under control.”

Topp now faces two charges under section 129 of the National Defence Act – involving counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline – for speaking out against vaccine mandates while in military dress. The incidents occurred on Feb. 12 when Topp said he made the decision to appear in full uniform at the Pacific Border Crossing protest in Surrey.

“Anybody can stand there and beak off,” he told True North in an exclusive interview. “But the uniform was the only mechanism I had available to me with the strength of the convictions I now have to get the message out there to people to start doing something.”

“I took my uniform, got in my car, drove down to Surrey – the level of sheer terror I experienced was right up there with jumping out of an airplane.”

Topp then referred to a letter he had posted on his original website, titled “A Letter to Higher.”

“If I am to be punished for what I have said and done then I accept that,” the letter reads. “While I lament what has happened to this country and the direction that our society is going, as it becomes enslaved by the technology that has the potential to uplift us, I go to the gulag with the ability to hold my head up and look at myself in the mirror. I will rest easy in prison or leave this earth with peace of mind.”

An order by Chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre required all military personnel to have received two Covid shots by mid-October – a deadline that was later extended to mid-December. Topp, who is now a warrant officer in the reserves, was also affected by the RCMP vaccine mandate, having worked as a civilian employee for the federal police force.

Topp’s lawyer Phillip Millar – himself a CAF veteran – told the Canadian Press that Topp was initially offered a trial by court martial, which would have allowed his case to be heard by an independent panel or judge. Instead, Topp will now face a summary trial, leaving judgment to his chain of command.

“The opportunity to explore whether or not the policy was, in fact, legal is denied to him,” Millar said.

According to the Defence Department, 13 CAF members have been or are being investigated. Two of the investigations are being done by military police, with four others by individual units. The department has also said that officials chose not to charge the last five, three of whom have since left the military.

Topp, who reached Ontario this week, expects to arrive in Ottawa in early-to-mid June. His progress can be followed on Canadamarches.ca and its social media channels.

TRUE NORTH

by **Accer** Tue 07 Jun 2022, 2:04 pm

Special forces flights over Ottawa protests offer lessons for military communications

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jun 07, 2022

Ill-timed special forces surveillance training flights over the so-called Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa in January and February exposed continuing problems with Canadian Armed Forces public communications. But the controversial flights offer more vital lessons for top brass and their military public affairs advisors.

First observed by Ottawa-based open-source researcher Steffan Watkins, the unannounced flights were conducted by Canada’s special operations forces in a contracted U.S.-registered King Air surveillance aircraft. The special forces have acquired three of a newer model with the first to be delivered this summer. Costing over $80 million each, the planes have high-tech electro-optical suites that can precisely track and target human activities on the ground. The aircraft can intercept electronic communications, including cell phones.

Since mid-2015, when then Chief of the Defence Staff, now retired, Gen. Jon Vance ordered the “operationalization” of military public affairs, the armed forces have been beset with poor military strategic communications. Many of the recent problems stem from multiple allegations of sexual misconduct—including against Vance himself—and other misbehaviours, but there were numerous other self-inflicted issues.

In 2020 alone, there were four formal investigations into military strategic communications missteps. There was also a review of misguided plans to target Canadians with propaganda. Led by the military’s Public Affairs Branch, a five-year project to create a formal military strategic communications group—that included psychological operations staff—was abruptly shut down by Vance in November 2020. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and then Deputy Minister Jody Thomas later deemed the project “incompatible” with federal policy and lacking in strategic-level direction, guidance, and oversight.

In the Internet age—with its high-speed, inter-connected, global communications enabled by progressively more potent computers and smartphones—military brass and their uniformed public affairs advisors must be decidedly more diligent in anticipating the exposure of military actions, and how those actions may be perceived or even distorted. They must also better assess the potential risks—such as the loss of public trust at home, or the negative impact on operations overseas.

Some in the Canadian military believe that information has become a sixth operational domain, along with sea, land, air, space, and cyber. The foreword to a draft concept paper on Canadian Armed Forces information operations, attributed to now retired Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, a former Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, asserted that, “we project information into the environment whether we intend to or not,” therefore the military must be more deliberate in its use of information capabilities to achieve military aims.

Despite this outlook, and despite all the information already in the public domain or discoverable by astute journalists and open-source researchers enabled by the Internet, the Canadian military took the measurable risk of covertly conducting special forces aerial surveillance training flights over the volatile Ottawa protests, in January and February.

The planned procurement of the King Air surveillance aircraft was well known—it had been reported several times by Ottawa Citizen defence reporter David Pugliese. In October 2018, he wrote that, “Canadian companies had wanted to provide the aircraft, but the Canadian military decided it needed the planes quicker than they believed Canadian firms could deliver.”

Pugliese reported the three aircraft would “be outfitted with sensors and equipment to intercept cell phone and other electronic transmissions. Canadian special forces and, potentially, other government departments will use them for missions overseas and in Canada.” He also accurately reported the procurement was facing significant cost overruns.

In a June 2019 update, Pugliese added that three King Air surveillance aircraft were expected to be delivered in 2022. He also wrote that Royal Canadian Air Force “pilots will fly the aircraft but members of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command will operate the specialized equipment in the planes.”

In a pertinent story, on Nov. 22, 2019, local CBC reporter Stu Mills reported that an RCMP Pilatus PC-12 spy plane was spotted flying over rural Ottawa by amateur plane spotter John Clarke. “I’ve been tracking planes my whole life,” said Clarke. He picked up the aircraft’s transponder code with a $200 receiver and confirmed its six-digit serial number identifier through ADSBexchange, a website that specializes in identifying military and VIP aircraft.

Mills reported the aircraft was a “Spectre” special mission aircraft “equipped with an electro-optical turret capable of capturing high-resolution video and photos, as well as intercepting radio and cellular communication.” The RCMP told the CBC they had no information about the flight.

In September 2020, Globe and Mail senior parliamentary reporter Steve Chase reported that an RCAF CC-144 Challenger passenger aircraft had been observed emitting a transponder code for a British aircraft—on at least 80 flights since 2018. The blunder was noticed by Watkins, the same open-source researcher who spotted the King Air flights over the Ottawa protests.

The RCAF initially stated Watkin’s claim was impossible, but after an internal investigation public affairs officer Lt.-Col. Adam Thompson acknowledged an “electronic glitch” had resulted in the wrong transponder code being broadcast. Said Thompson about Watkin’s efforts: “On behalf of the RCAF leadership, we sincerely appreciate your educated interest in this and thank you for reaching out to us so that we could quickly fix this.”

Thompson also declared: “The RCAF does not hide the identity of its aircraft and always respects civilian transportation procedures and regulations when it comes to the operation of military aircraft in domestic civilian airspace.” A practice that Watkins later suggested was not followed during the special forces training flights. Along with his own electronics, Watkins monitors websites like ADSBexchange, RadarBox24, FlightAware, and Flightradar24.

This was the narrative already out there in the information domain. Still, when the story broke about military surveillance flights over the Ottawa protests, National Defence was wholly unprepared.

The news was initially buried in a Globe and Mail article co-written by Chase and Ottawa bureau chief Bob Fife, published on April 21, 2022. The article’s headline and lead focussed on the acquisition of the three spy planes, a $247 million deal “brokered by the U.S. government.” They wrote that the special forces planes “are primarily intended for offshore use and would only be used to surveil Canadians domestically–in support of civilian authorities–with the approval of the federal cabinet.”

Down into the article, however, Chase and Fife noted National Defence “is declining to offer many details about precisely what a U.S.-registered aircraft, an earlier model of the King Air, was doing Feb. 10 in the skies above Ottawa while the city’s downtown was paralyzed by convoy protests.” Watkins—the researcher who had been previously thanked by the RCAF for his “educated interest”—had tweeted extensively on Feb. 10, 2022 about what appeared to be an American-registered “spook plane” operating over Ottawa.

Despite Watkins’ long record of accurately tracking military aircraft, National Defence did not immediately confirm that multiple flights over Ottawa in January and February were linked to the armed forces. Only after the Globe contacted several federal security agencies did civilian National Defence spokesperson Dan Le Bouthillier admit they were pre-planned military training flights that “had nothing to do with the surveillance or the monitoring of activities.”

In a later Twitter thread, on May 16, 2022, Watkins tweeted: “They turned off (or otherwise obfuscated) their transponder, while circling above a city under siege, for hours. Arguably one of the most eye-catching suspicious things they could have done these days…. They thought they’d be invisible, but by being invisible, they were remarkable.”

A week after the Globe story, on May 3, 2022 Pugliese reported the training flights were linked to Canadian special forces, which was belatedly acknowledged by National Defence. The next day, Chase reported that, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a surveillance plane circling Canada’s capital during the convoy protests was merely a military training operation and was not spying on those blockading Ottawa’s downtown core.”

That the prime minister was now taking provocative questions from opposition MPs no doubt resulted in some internal rebukes directed at National Defence. Le Bouthillier told the Globe: “Cancelling such training would have been costly and would have had a negative impact on maintaining required certifications and qualifications, and thus on Canadian Armed Forces operational readiness.”

Finally, on May 16, 2022 Pugliese exposed seemingly contradictory statements by National Defence when he reported that a military directive issued on Jan. 27, 2022—at the outset of the Ottawa protests—stated that, “Canadian Forces vehicles and personnel were to avoid the Ottawa protest and Royal Canadian Air Force planes were not to fly over the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration.”

The explanation offered to Pugliese by Le Bouthillier was that, “amplifications provided by the RCAF through this directive did not apply to these training activities, which were contracted outside of the RCAF.” This despite the fact RCAF pilots would be flying the soon-to-arrive new surveillance aircraft, and special operations personnel would be operating the sophisticated onboard equipment.

No one from National Defence explained why it was necessary to conduct the training flights directly over one of the most contentious and protracted protests in Canadian history—at times with the location transponder possibly switched off. Nor did anyone reasonably explain why such military activity was conducted despite the prime minister’s declarations or the military’s directive for military personnel, vehicles, and aircraft to avoid the protests.

Even if the training flights had been conducted elsewhere over an urban area, military brass and their public affairs advisors should have been asking themselves if there were other strategic communications risks. Outside observers might ask, for example, if the flight was monitoring the activities of Canadian citizens to test and certify special forces personnel and equipment?

Similar questions were raised in July 2020 during Operation Laser, which was the military’s contingency plan activated in response to the coronavirus pandemic that included armed forces support to long-term care facilities in Quebec and Ontario. In mid-pandemic, among other missteps, it was reported by Pugliese that service members working for military intelligence were monitoring the social media posts of Canadian citizens.

When he learned of this, then Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan ordered a review of the questionable intelligence collection activities—one of the four formal investigations noted above. The investigation concluded that the intelligence-led teams broke the rules “by not conducting a risk assessment prior to conducting activities on the internet” and by collecting data about Canadian citizens without higher direction.

Even if, ostensibly, they were training flights, observers might ask if the surveillance capabilities were tacitly offered to the RCMP as they and other law enforcement agencies grappled with the protests—or if military support had been requested? They might ask if military personnel, vehicles, and equipment were on the ground in downtown Ottawa to emulate targets? Or, was any of this approved by higher authorities? On May 6, 2022, Watkins tweeted: “If it wasn’t the convoy, who was the target?”

In the Internet age, tactical or operational decisions, or even personal choices, can have enduring strategic consequences in the information domain. Consider the tactical if not common-sense failure to place vehicle barricades in downtown Ottawa prior to the Freedom Convey protests. The resulting chaos dominated the headlines and social media for months and inspired other disruptive protests nationally and internationally. Like their law enforcement counterparts, military decision-makers must be more strategically minded in today’s information domain.

Recognizing this, NATO has made strategic communications a priority, especially after Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, where it waged aggressive Internet-enabled information warfare. Defined by NATO as the “coordinated and appropriate use of … communications activities and capabilities,” strategic communications includes tools like public affairs—appropriate for all audiences—and information, psychological, and deception operations—appropriate for defined adversaries. NATO policy informed the Canadian military’s efforts, but there was an egregious failure to heed the essential notion of “appropriate use.”

Despite past missteps, building a professional military strategic communications capability—aligned with whole-of-government and Allied efforts—remains essential if Canada’s armed forces are going to communicate and operate effectively in the Internet age. But this must be done ethically, with the right authorities, independent oversight, and frank input from outside experts and critics—input that was frequently ignored by proponents of the shuttered project to operationalize public affairs.

To build vital capacity, military public affairs in particular must be routinely plied and honed in the real world. Indeed, all government public communications need to be better exercised—and less centrally controlled—to be effective. The tendency at National Defence to use a civilian spokesperson and centrally massaged media lines allows the armed forces to avoid public accountability while denying needed experience to military public affairs officers and others who will have to advise commanders on operations in an increasingly complex information domain.

The sophisticated King Air surveillance aircraft itself epitomizes the very challenge of the Internet age—there is almost nowhere to hide. Military brass are fortunate the spy plane story played out in a peace-time, domestic context—if you can’t get it right at home, it doesn’t bode well for complex operations overseas.

Getting it right at home will require a new strategic mindset committed to truthfulness and transparency, the “appropriate use” of public communications, and a commitment to rebuilding eroded public trust in a valued national institution shaken by often self-inflicted communications missteps.

The leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces can and must do better in the 21st-century information domain to earn and retain the trust of Canadians, while ethically developing the information capabilities needed to protect Canadian values and interests at home and abroad.

(Retired navy captain Dave Scanlon is a former senior military public affairs officer. During his 30-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces, he advised at all levels of command in Canada, served in both of NATO’s strategic commands, and served as a NATO spokesperson in Bosnia and communications advisor in Afghanistan. He is also a graduate of the US Defense Information School and the NATO Defense College.)

Defence Watch

by Covert Wed 15 Jun 2022, 7:14 am

15.06.2022

by **Falcon** Fri 17 Jun 2022, 4:07 pm

Freedom Convoy participants set to return to Ottawa for Canada Day, stay through summer

David Fraser · CBC News · Posted: Jun 17, 2022

Protest - Page 17 Ottawa-freedom-convoy-protest-feb-12

CBC News

by Garrison Wed 22 Jun 2022, 7:35 pm

CPC MPs meet with Freedom Convoy organizers

David Fraser · CBC News · Posted: Jun 22, 2022

Protest - Page 17 Freedom-convoy-organizers-cpc-mps

CBC News

by **Forcell** Sat 25 Jun 2022, 11:36 am

Conservative MPs free to attend 'freedom' protests this summer: Bergen

Published June 25, 2022

CTV News

by Rocko Thu 30 Jun 2022, 5:32 pm

Poilievre joins soldier protesting COVID-19 mandates in march through Ottawa ahead of Canada Day

Published June 30, 2022

CTV News

by Scorpion Tue 05 Jul 2022, 6:26 pm

Court martial planned for soldier who criticized vaccine mandate, led march to Ottawa

Published July 5, 2022

CTV News

by **Apollo** Wed 06 Jul 2022, 7:53 pm

Soldier James Topp wore uniform while criticizing vaccine mandates to draw attention

Published July 6, 2022

CTV News

by **Vexmax** Sat 27 Aug 2022, 6:34 am

Trucker protests: Docs show Canadian military grapple to deal with members taking part in convoy

Aug 27. 2022

by Covert Thu 10 Nov 2022, 9:11 am

Freedom Convoy was perfectly Canadian in its moderation

Rex Murphy
Publishing date: Nov 10, 2022

The Inquiry into the calling out of the Emergencies Act. Why are we having it? I know they are hearing witnesses.

And I also know we’re hearing of noise-making, some traffic-jams, proven false-alarms of attempted arson, general discomfiture. Likewise we are hearing of confused and mixed reactions from the various security and police forces. With no intention of taking a jab at them, they, the forces of the law, were under confused command and mixed directions. It’s easy to jump on the people in uniform, but (a) we aren’t them, and (b) they are faithful to the various directions given them.

I am not hearing that there were threats of serious violence, or incidents of the same, because there were none.

The truckers protest may not have been a February picnic, but neither was it a heartless siege. The description that it was an “occupation” — are we thinking France in the second world war — is “journalese’’ of the laziest kind.

Here’s a description that might fit the Ottawa truck protest: It was Canadian in its moderation. It came into being because of a real issue. It did not adopt the tactics of green protesters or the more extravagant Black Lives Matter, or of Antifa outrages down south. The latter were sometimes violent, saw property destroyed, and even lives lost.

By contrast. Canadian truckers put in the miles, didn’t set fires, left all buildings unburned, and there was no violence or threat of violence.

The leaders asked for meetings. They were refused. The Prime Minister, preemptively labelled them a “fringe minority — not to be tolerated.” These words sharpened the conflict.

Now to go to the core.

Is there anyone, anywhere, from Bay Bulls to Nunavut, or anywhere in between, who holds, as a serious thought, that the protest — I will grant its inconveniences, I will grant its annoyances, grant even the displeasure that Ottawa, queen city, should have been its unwilling host even though Ottawa is the seat of government and it was government regulations that were being protested — really was an effort to overthrow the government of Canada? Or that, even for a minute, the government of Canada was in real jeopardy?

The question itself is a bad joke. That was never, at all, what this protest was about. The idea is as ludicrous as the charge. Many things may characterize the Ottawa protest. But overthrowing the government and thereby justifying the legislative dreadnought of the Emergencies Act is not one of them.

For what friction there was, and there was friction, it could have been massively reduced by the simplest and most Canadian of gestures. Meeting and talking with some of the protesters.

Whatever your view of the issues involved, they were Canadian citizens engaged in reasonable protest. Could it have hurt for someone in the Canadian government to talk with them? Why did that never occur?

From which comes a core question: Would or could such an effort from the government, have de-escalated the whole “crisis?” But, no. The choice was to portray this protest of ordinary Canadians as the actions of an “intolerable minority.” To play the game of division and marginalization. And then to elevate an organic protest into a national crisis, to which the invocation of the son of the War Measures Act was the only response.

The government of Canada was never in jeopardy. No one in the Convoy had the slightest idea of such a repugnant, ludicrous and — just to be clear — so impossible an idea.

The basic and central question this inquiry has to ask — and answer — is was there ever a true “national” emergency. On what we know, there was not.

And therefore the Emergencies Act should never have been invoked. It was a needless overreach.

National Post

by Sponsored content