A briefing provided by the director of Canada’s spy agency to senior officials at different levels of government on Feb. 6 said there was no foreign involvement in the Freedom Convoy protest, in contrast to claims made by federal cabinet ministers.
“There [are] no foreign actors identified at this point supporting or financing this convoy,” CSIS Director David Vigneault said in his briefing given during a teleconference.
“CSIS has also not seen any foreign money coming from others states to support this.”
The CSIS director mentioned that Canada’s financial intelligence agency FINTRAC and banks were involved in the work to track money and supported the assessment about the absence of foreign involvement.
The transcript of the teleconference was presented as evidence during an Oct. 18 hearing of the Public Order Emergency Commission.
The commission is reviewing the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last winter to deal with cross-country protests and blockades demanding the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
Other officials participating in the teleconference included Deputy Minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart, National Security Advisor Jody Thomas, then-chief of the Ottawa Police Service Peter Sloly, and Ontario’s Deputy Solicitor General Mario Di Tommaso.
Vigneault told them his organization was not seeing truckers in the United States organizing to join the protest.
“There is not a lot [of] energy and support from the USA to Canada,” he said. “It is primarily a domestic issue.”
Nevertheless, Vigneault said CSIS put in place lookouts at the border which he said were “quite effective,” indicating that individuals of interest crossing into Canada, citizens or foreigners, were being flagged for national security reasons.
Vigneault touched upon the potential for violence in his briefing, noting the presence of “hardened elements” from “other causes.”
He said they would “likely use violence but they see this as not their mission.”
Vigneault added these individuals were in different locales across the country, “however they are not actively participating or organizing [the protests] and are likely using this as a recruiting ground.”
Though some protestors were charged with alleged violent crimes, OPP Intelligence Bureau chief Pat Morris told the commission on Oct. 19 that the lack of violence during the demonstration was surprising.
“The lack of violent crime was shocking. … Even the arrests and charges, considering the whole thing in totality—I think there were 10 charges for violent crimes, six of which were against police officers,” said Morris.
Government Claims
Several Liberal cabinet ministers said the Freedom Convoy had a foreign dimension.Mendicino was commenting on the issue of fundraising by the Freedom Convoy.
The initial fundraiser through the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe raised millions of dollars in a short time, and Ottawa city officials provided information to the company which it used to justify the suspension of the fundraiser.
‘Coordinated Attack’
The Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 and two days later Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair called the cross-country protests and blockades a “largely foreign-funded, targeted, and coordinated attack.”The Liberal government has yet to independently substantiate its claims of foreign influence or funding.
“According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s February 14, 2022 analysis of the data, 55.7% of the 92,844 donations made public were made by donors in the U.S., compared to 39% of donors located in Canada,” says the document.
Not Terror-linked
Aside from the foreign funding angle, a government official has also challenged the claim that funds collected by the Freedom Convoy were from nefarious sources.“It was their money, their own money. So it wasn’t money that funded terrorism or that was in any way money laundering.”
“We are working very hard with partners at different levels of government to make sure that the flow of funds through criminal activities is interdicted.”
