CSIS reported no violence, no Section 2 violation; Miller wins fight for unredacted documents

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino Photo: POEC

“Okay. Yes, I was aware that CSIS had concluded that Section Two under the CSIS Act was not met. I was aware of that fact.”

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino

Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller’s fight to gain access to unredacted documents from senior political staff provided immediate results yesterday.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was surprised with a written record of notes which indicated the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) did not believe the Freedom Convoy met the standard required by Section Two of the CSIS Act, a requirement for invoking the Emergencies Act.

Miller was removed from the Public Order Emergency Commission hearing room yesterday morning when he spoke over Commissioner Paul Rouleau. Miller was visibly upset that the Convoy’s request to receive unredacted documents from senior political staffers, which was made on November 17th, had not yet been been decided upon by the Commission.

Over the lunch hour, Rouleau announced the decision and permitted Convoy lawyers access to unredacted notes and documents. Miller returned to the hearing room, where he apologized to Commissioner Rouleau for “speaking over” him earlier in the day.

Convoy lawyer Bathsheba Vandenberg used time allotted for re-examination to introduce the unredacted notes in which were clearly hand-written the words “violence not met” and “does not meet Section 2.”

“There has been an unredacted document shared to the parties by counsel for government of Canada,” Vandenberg told the Commission. “Pursuant to your decision earlier today, we advise that the Commission counsel should look at it as it is relevant and material to this witness. In particular, Jody Thomas, the national security and intelligence adviser states in that document that there is no national security threat pursuant to Section Two of the CSIS act.”

Mendicino then spoke clearly and said, “Okay. Yes, I was aware that CSIS had concluded that section two under the CSIS Act was not met. I was aware of that fact.”