The former head of the CBSA was surprised to learn last winter that officers did not have the authority to stop protesters from entering.
CBSA started to see the first slow-roll protest past the border at the Emerson crossing in Manitoba on Jan. 17, John Ossowski told the inquiry investigating the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act, which was invoked in February after blockades of vehicles stopped traffic at border crossings and gridlocked downtown Ottawa.From our newsroom to your inbox at noon, the latest headlines, stories, opinion and photos from the Toronto Sun.
The Public Order Emergency Commission has been tasked with investigating the events that led to the federal government’s history-making decision to invoke the legislation for the first time since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988. But the law does not allow CBSA to prevent people from entering the country to take part in a lawful protest if they meet all the other requirements, he said. Agents could only turn people away if they were suspected of coming to Canada to do something illegal.
Once the act was invoked and protests at the borders and in Ottawa were considered “prohibited,” Ossowski said agents were able to turn people around at the border if they were suspected of coming to take part.
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