An internal RCMP review of the force’s response to “Freedom Convoy” protests found that some officers at the scene of an Alberta blockade were unaware of threats to harm police until after the episode ended.
The review report also describes “chaotic” efforts in early 2022 to mobilize officers in Ottawa, a lack of proper equipment, inadequate training, poor intelligence co-ordination and exceptionally long days that prompted some Mounties to sleep in their offices.
In addition, the federal government’s “demands for hourly briefings” during the upheaval left no time for intelligence units “to prepare an assessment, nor to collect the most up-to-date information,” the review says.
The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain the 92-page national after-action review, part of a post-convoy effort dubbed Project Natterjack.
The review includes the results of a survey of 1,641 RCMP personnel involved in the response to the 2022 protests that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for weeks and jammed key border points.
In early February 2022, the national capital was besieged by protesters, many in large rigs that rolled into town beginning in late January.
Initially billed as a demonstration against COVID-19 health measures, the gathering attracted people with various grievances against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government.
Meanwhile, the protests spread, and trucks clogged border crossings, including important routes to the United States at Windsor, Ont., and Coutts, Alta.
At Coutts, the RCMP found firearms, ammunition and tactical vests in trailers. Police also uncovered an alleged conspiracy to murder RCMP officers.
The after-action report says the survey found that some personnel at Coutts “were not aware of the threats to police officers until after the blockade concluded. Others noted that they only learned about the threats through media reporting.”
“This raises a number of officer safety concerns for members who are deployed to the front line and as an organization this issue must be addressed,” the review report says. “It is imperative that all front-line members receive briefings prior to being deployed which includes…
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