Photo: Cole Burston Archives The Canadian Press In February 2022, police intervened to clear downtown Ottawa, near Parliament Hill, of Freedom Convoy protesters after weeks of occupation.
Anja Karadeglija – The Canadian Press in Ottawa
Published at 2:30 p.m.
- Canada
A joint parliamentary committee is expected to soon resume writing a report on the use of the Emergencies Act during the occupation of Ottawa by anti-government protesters in February 2022.
The document was to be presented in December… 2022.
Committee members finally agreed to resume their work on May 21.
This work was delayed after committee members decided to translate all documents presented during of the commission of inquiry into these events.
The cost of the translation could amount to several million dollars. And according to Senator Peter Harder, this work could extend over many years.
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The committee has suffered several interruptions since its creation.
It had delayed its deadline the first time in order to to receive a greater number of memories. And then, in June 2023, it was decided that all documents submitted by the State of Emergency Commission, which had submitted its final report a few months earlier, should be available in English and French.< /p>
For the sake of speed, the commission itself chose not to follow this approach.
The president and CEO of the Translation Bureau told the committee in February that translating a fraction of the requested documents involved about $124,000 and would cost about $16 million. But as the members of the committee have received an index of several hundred pages, they will be able to be more selective in the documents that must be translated.
During a meeting, committee members continued to debate whether to wait even longer for documents to be translated.
Committee co-chair, NDP Matthew Greeen, suggested to continue working on the report while waiting for all the requested documents to be translated. Otherwise, the work could extend until 2025. Federal general elections must take place no later than October of that year, if the Trudeau government is not overthrown by then.
“It would be irresponsible for us to continue the work of this committee in perpetuity,” he said.
Block MP Rhéal Fortin declared that if he is logical to use the testimony heard by the commission of inquiry, “these should be available in both official languages.”
He added that “if any this proof was in French, would our English-speaking colleagues wonder if we need all that.”
Quebec senator Claude Carignan says he has no problem to submit a report at the beginning of the fall, but the committee must have access to all the evidence.
He himself says he has identified a certain number of documents that he wishes to see.
“It would not serve the public to say that I have these documents, that I do not even look at them […] We must be conscientious. We must look at them at a minimum and continue to aim for a complete draft this fall,” he told his colleagues.
For Conservative MP Larry Brock , the committee “can walk and chew gum at the same time,” but acknowledged that it was not comfortable delivering a report without “the full participation of my French-speaking colleagues.”
At the end of the meeting, the committee compromised and agreed to return to work. But he did not establish a new timetable.