Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will cooperate with an investigation into the use of emergency powers against protests by truckers in Ottawa and blockades at border crossings with the United States, his office said Tuesday.
Rarely used in peacetime, these powers were invoked in February after weeks of protests that paralyzed the federal capital, Ottawa, and disrupted trade.
The commission on the state of emergency, headed by a former judge, is due to begin a six-week public hearing on October 13.
The prime minister’s office told AFP that Trudeau hopes to be asked to testify and welcomes the opportunity.
His decision to use the Emergency Measures Act, which gives the government broad powers to deal with a crisis, was seen as an overstatement by political opponents and civil liberties groups.
Trudeau argued at the time that authorities needed “more tools to restore order” after three weeks of “dangerous and illegal activity”. A decision strongly criticized by the opposition.
Initially underestimated, the protest movement grew out of truckers critical of requiring vaccinations to cross the US border, before spreading to a general rejection of public health rules in Canada.
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© Agence France-Presse
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