02-12-22, 12:51
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#10
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Re: Freedom Convoy 2.0*Already Being Prepared For
Freedom Convoy 2.0 Already Being Prepared For, National Security Adviser Says
The federal government is already preparing to deal with a new convoy protest being planned for February, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser says.
BBC News 2 DEC 2022.
Police move in to clear downtown Ottawa of protesters after weeks of demonstrations on Feb. 19.
Jody Thomas told a parliamentary committee Thursday evening that work had already begun and deputy ministers would be holding their first meetings about it this week.
Her comments came a week after James Bauder, the founder of a group called Canada Unity and one of the organizers of last winter's convoy protest, posted on social media calling for a "Freedom Convoy" 2.0 to descend on Ottawa from Feb. 17 to 21. Bauder, who was among those arrested last February, is facing several charges. Among his bail conditions is he is not to return to downtown Ottawa.
Thomas said lessons came out of the protest: for one, the threat posed by some ideologically motivated violent extremists who participated in the protest.
"We underestimate and underestimated — probably no longer — the ideologically motivated extremists," she told the committee. "This problem exists in Canada and it is here to stay. We need to understand what it is and have the tools to do something about it."
Another lesson was about how the government understands open-source domestic intelligence. "You can't just sit on Twitter and understand what is going on," Thomas said. "You need to use tools, artificial intelligence, those kinds of things."
While Twitter is public, there are still rights to privacy so a legal framework is needed, she said. "Understanding the information and the trends that are out there without associating it to individuals who are not persons of interest to law enforcement or intelligence agencies is a big, complex issue and it is something that we are focusing a significant amount of work on but we don't yet have an answer to."
MacDonald said the lessons learned from the convoy protest helped officials handle the Rolling Thunder motorcycle protest last spring and a protest on Canada Day. Thomas said not allowing trucks to stop was another lesson learned.
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