Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members told pedestrians door-to-door wellness checks, or “door knocks” was an operation the forces conduct on an annual basis. The military training operation CAF conducted with the cooperation of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) over the weekend, which was announced in the weeks leading up to it, has sparked a debate online. The purpose of the exercise, “Trillium Venture,” was to undergo “simulated extreme heat” training in the Ontario counties of Huron and Bruce to prepare for emergency events. More than 400 members of CAF’s 31 Canadian Brigade Group were stationed from Wingham to Blyth, Goderich, Clinton and Hensall. Members of the public were told to expect to see military vehicles in the area, and they may have a knock on their doors by military members training in “door knocking” to conduct “wellness checks.” .Citizen journalists posted several videos to social media of troops marching down the sidewalks, convoys of military vehicles driving down local roads, and interactions with CAF members. The soldiers were polite and willing to answer civillian’s questions. One member told Rebel News they were “doing a practice for domestic operations.”He said if there were a natural disaster, such as “an ice storm, or flooding, it gives the capacity to check on the population, to make sure the elderly, or the sick, would be able to receive care or assistance.”“All it does is it allows the army to deploy soldiers in that capacity and provide confidence to Canadians we’re able to perform that task.”Another group of soldiers told Dacey Media, the door-to-door operation is “just an annual thing that we do.”“We go all over the place,” he said.CAF veteran Rex Glacer, who served 30 years in the military, said on social media, “Prove me wrong, when in history was this done before?” adding he had “never heard of this.” .Stratford, ON, lawyer Nicholas Wansbutter addressed widespread questions on social media about the CAF wellness checks. He said he believes it’s legal, explaining “there's nothing in the National Defense Act or any other laws that prohibit the use of Canadian soldiers in aid of civil authorities.”Wansbutter noted Canadians have actually “seen this all the time.” He listed examples of the military stepping in to help with snowfalls “over the years,” floodings, and setting up vaccination clinics and “helping out” in seniors’ homes during COVID-19. In the US, however, this would never fly, Wansbutter noted. “We have a different culture in Canada, obviously,” he said. As to whether or not these door knocks are a “good or bad thing,” Wansbutter discussed it seems reasonable to step in and help people in need, but “the problem comes in how these laws are being practically put into effect.”The lawyer described the “precedents that were set during COVID-19” and raised questions surrounding the “use of emergency powers and what is defined as an emergency.”“We can see the fallout from COVID-19. Some people might still argue ‘oh that was a valid emergency’ – I would disagree, I think the numbers were completely overblown.”“Looking at the Freedom Convoy, I mean the courts have now ruled that that was not an emergency. Now it's being appealed, but I think that the federal court ruling, that was some solid legal reasoning.”“Now look at what else has been determined an emergency – they declared an emergency over an eclipse in the Niagara region. Just recently they declared an emergency over snowfall, where people were locked in their homes for 10 days in the Maritimes.”“You can see what happens once that barrier has been crossed, of you invoking martial law.”“Let's called the Emergencies Act what it really is — it's martial law, never been used before. Now that it's been used, the seal has been broken and now these things are being trotted out all the time.”Wansbutter said that though it is legal for the military to knock, “you do not need to answer the door. You never have to answer the door.”“I think the best response to send the message to the military, that we don’t think this is a good way for our military to be used, it should be used to defend the country, not to harass citizens, is to not answer the door.”
