OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — As the national inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act (EA) heats up in Ottawa, new documents reveal that claims by the RCMP saying “Freedom Convoy” had weapons were unsubstantiated.
DOCUMENTS: @RCMPgrcPolice the day feds invoked Emergencies Act at 12:59pm falsely claim #FreedomConvoy had guns outside Parliament. They didn’t. 100% false. https://t.co/gkvrxSIwFn #cdnpoli @CommrRCMPgrc pic.twitter.com/TiIVtbRRg1
— Blacklock’s Reporter (@mindingottawa) October 13, 2022
As reported by Blacklock’s Reporter: “The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in a briefing to deputy ministers the very day cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act falsely claimed Freedom Convoy protesters had weapons outside Parliament.”
The false claims of potentially violent weapons present at the non-violent demonstration came from a police memo citing a rumor sourced from unspecified “intelligence information.”
On February 14 – the day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the EA – the memo stated: “Intelligence information also suggests that convoy protesters are beginning to weaponize themselves.”
Despite the so-called “intelligence information,” no weapons of any kind were found in any of the trucks that were part of the massive convoy.
This, however, did not stop Trudeau’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and the widely-distributed Toronto Star from perpetuating the false claim.
A March 19 story from the Star reported: “Fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient… A police source said loaded shotguns were found.”
Mendocino was also quoted, saying: “It was nothing short of miraculous that nobody was seriously injured.”
These claims were later refuted by Ottawa Police interim chief Steve Bell during a March 24 testimony at the Commons public safety committee.
Giving testimony, the police acknowledged that there were neither loaded shotguns nor firearms of any kind found inside “Freedom Convoy” trucks parked at or near Parliament.