Taxpayers have spent more than $21 million on Department of Justice lawyers handling civil litigation tied to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, records released in Parliament show.The $21,031,000 in billable hours is more than double the $8.6 million paid to Ottawa businesses for lost income during the protest, which included expenses such as rent, wages, utilities, and spoiled inventory. Blacklock's Reporter says the figure does not include costs of prosecuting roughly 230 protestors charged with offences such as mischief, nor the $17,478,831 spent on the Public Order Emergency Commission investigating cabinet’s use of the Emergencies Act.The Department of Public Safety previously disclosed $73.5 million in costs for RCMP overtime, with up to 250 officers deployed to patrol Parliament Hill during the protests. A total cost for the government’s response to the convoy has not been fully disclosed..Conservative MPs have criticized the spending, noting that compensation funds for affected businesses were largely unspent. Of a $20 million fund for 1,900 Ottawa businesses, 57% remained untouched. In Windsor, Ont., a $2.5 million fund covering 240 businesses saw four-fifths unspent, with just 77 businesses applying for a total of $462,469.Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled in 2024 that cabinet acted unlawfully in invoking emergency powers against the protestors, stating the decision infringed on Charter rights. An appeal is pending.
