The lawyer representing the convoy organizers at the Emergency Act inquiry in Ottawa was ejected from the hearing room Tuesday morning after a tense exchange with Commissioner Paul Rouleau.
The Public Order Emergencies Commission listens this Tuesday to the testimony of the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino. As Rouleau was about to announce the customary mid-morning break, Brendan Miller, an attorney for Freedom Corp., interrupted to say he had been speaking with Alexander Cohen, Mendicino’s director of communications, who Miller said was in the courtroom.
“He has very relevant evidence in terms of the investigation, in terms of the circumstances, in terms of the invocation of the Emergency Act,” Miller said.
Miller claimed Cohen has unpublished evidence of “misinformation” about a text message exchange that was key “to building the narrative that the Ottawa protesters were extremists,” including some with “Nazi symbolism.” .
Commissioner Paul Rouleau speaks with Freedom Corp. attorney Brendan Miller before asking security to remove the attorney Tuesday. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Rouleau calls security
Miller then asked Rouleau to allow Cohen, who is not on the commission’s witness list, to testify after Mendicino.
“I’m not going to do that orally right now,” Rouleau replied
“Well, sir, we are given 15 minutes to cross-examine, to obtain relevant material evidence, and here we have relevant and material witnesses. The Government of Canada has redacted without legal authority all these statements of these staff members and deleted them. records,” argued a visibly frustrated Miller.
Rouleau responded that the commission had a schedule to meet and asked Miller to reach an agreement with the commission’s attorney during the break.
“Sir, the schedule is not as important as getting to the truth,” Miller replied.
“There’s no doubt we want to get to the truth, but you know what, it’s a very complex issue and it’s not about what you want,” Rouleau said.
After the break, Rouleau advised Miller that any request to add a witness must be made in writing. The two had a brief exchange before Rouleau called for another break.
“I’ll be back in five minutes, if security can deal with the lawyer,” he said.
Expanded documents
Miller then left the courtroom. Outside, he stopped to speak to reporters, where he again complained about some of the redacted documents presented as evidence before the commission.
“They have drafted these documents claiming they are irrelevant or in fact subject to a cabinet trust, despite the fact that the law is very clear and undeniably clear that the cabinet trust does not apply to political employees,” he said. .
“The Government of Canada has continually, and every day, left hundreds of documents on the parties, and the parties are frustrated. I am not myself. They have tried to turn this whole proceeding into an inquiry into the failures of [former Ottawa police] Chief Sloly instead of invoking the Emergency Act.”
Miller left with convoy organizer Tamara Lich.
This was not the first time Rouleau and Miller have clashed during hearings, including a related exchange on Monday.
When the hearings resumed, Rouleau told attorney Keith Wilson, who also appeared as a witness before the commission, that counsel for the convoy organizers would have an opportunity to cross-examine Mendicino after the break for lunch.
Miller was later allowed back into the courtroom and began questioning Mendicino shortly before 4 p.m. Before starting, he offered Rouleau a brief apology.
“Just before we start, I apologize for talking to you today,” Miller said.