Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and Windsor Police Deputy Chief Jason Crowley have been called as witnesses to the Public Order Emergency Commission.
On February 14, the Government of Canada issued a Declaration of Public Order Emergency under the Emergencies Act. Under the Act, once the declaration is revoked, an inquiry must be held to examine the circumstances that led to it, and the measures taken to deal with the emergency.
"The Commission is about to embark on the public phase of the process of finding answers to the questions assigned to it by Parliament under the Emergencies Act. This critical phase will shed light on the events that led to the declaration of the public order emergency and fully explore the reasons advanced for the declaration," said Commissioner Paul Rouleau.
The hearing will begin on Thursday and are set to run until November 25. Dilkens will appear on November 7.
"Clearly the questions will involve the timeline and the actions that were taken over the course of the week that the events really were taking place here in the City of Windsor," said Dilkens. "The commission is going to want to know why we did what we did and whether we felt that this was really an emergent event that required more drastic action."
The emergency declaration was made after the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge was cleared by the Windsor Police Service.
"I don't think it really provided anything else to us down here, and that's why I think, in reality, the majority of the focus of this federal commission will be upon what happened in the City of Ottawa," said Dilkens. "In order to provide a full context and all of the colour and commentary to what was happening in other parts of the country, the commission has called witnesses to provide that testimony so they can put the full picture together."
Also on the list of witnesses to appear before the commission are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, protester Tamara Lich, and members of the Ottawa Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police.
