Confidential minutes from a meeting of the Ottawa Police show that the FBI was providing support to the Canadian police during the trucker convoy protests opposing vaccine mandates.
The minutes do not specify what support the FBI was providing to the Canadian police, though it is implied that they were providing financial and intelligence-related support.
The minutes also indicate that the Ottawa police were receiving assistance from Canada’s top spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
It is possible that the FBI was investigating US citizens who donated to the trucker convoy movement via GiveSendGo, as hundreds of Americans allegedly donated to the convoy via the platform.
Canadian police used heavy-handed measures against Freedom Convoy protesters. The matter was made worse after confidential text messages between police officers depicted them bragging about inflicting physical harm on the protesters.
The Ottawa police declined to provide comment to CBC regarding the assistance they received from the FBI.
CBC Reports:
“Confidential minutes of the Ottawa Police Services Board presented to the Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry show that, during an in-camera discussion on Feb. 11, members of the Ottawa Police Service, including Chief of Police Peter Sloly and Deputy Chief of Police Steve Bell, briefed members of the board on the demonstrations,”
“The Service indicated that while there was a foreign element, it primarily stemmed from financial support coming from the United States,” say the partially redacted minutes tabled before the inquiry, which is examining the federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the protest.
The FBI provided support to the Ottawa Police Service as it struggled to deal with the truck convoy protest that paralyzed the nation's capital last winter. https://t.co/3bFRSZz5uK
— CBC News (@CBCNews) October 27, 2022
“There had been threats traced back to the U.S. as well. Support was being provided by the FBI,”