Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s department censored hundreds of pages of documents that were requested by MPs reviewing security measures taken against the Freedom Convoy. “It makes no sense,” said Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin (Riviere-du-Nord, Que.)..“Look at the documents we received here from the Department of Public Safety,” Fortin told the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, according to Blacklock's Reporter. “You have these entire pages with massive redactions. We’re talking about hundreds of pages of redactions.”.“What do we do with redacted documents?” said Fortin. “I don’t know what is hidden here. I don’t know why this information is hidden and I think it’s unacceptable.”.The committee last May 31 ordered the public safety department and other federal agencies to surrender “all security assessments and legal opinions which the government relied upon” in concluding the Freedom Convoy threatened national security. “We are entitled to an answer,” said Fortin..Minister Mendicino last April 29 told the Commons he had evidence truckers protesting outside Parliament posed a national security threat. “Yes the evidence exists,” said Mendicino..“If the government has the evidence to support its extraordinary actions it should be pleased to take the opportunity to table it in the House,” Conservative MP Dane Lloyd (Sturgeon River-Parkland, Alta.) said at the time. “Canadians are increasingly wondering whether the Liberal government even had the evidence at all.”.Legislators on the Special Joint Committee complained their investigation has been stonewalled by censored records and uncooperative witnesses. “It is really preventing us from doing our work,” said Senator Claude Carignan (Que.). “There are many questions we could have asked of the witnesses based on information that was redacted.”.“We’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s manageable as is,” said Conservative MP Larry Brock (Brantford-Brant, Ont.). “We are simply scratching the surface with witnesses so far. We have dozens and dozens yet to go likely requiring further documentation from those witnesses.”.A separate judicial inquiry, the Public Order Emergency Commission, opens on Thursday in Ottawa. Counsel at the inquiry were promised they would receive full access to uncensored records in attempting to determine why the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act against truckers..“This exceptional step recognizes the fundamental importance of the Commission’s work and how critical these documents are in inquiring into why the government declared a public order emergency,” counsel for the Commission said in a statement. Lawyers did not detail the number of documents..“I am committed to ensuring the inquiry will be fair and open,” Justice Paul Rouleau, head of the inquiry, said in a statement. Hearings must proceed “in a timely and orderly way,” he said.
