How can the City of Windsor protect itself from future blockades at the Ambassador Bridge and other sensitive sites? Windsor City Councillors can expect to get an idea on Monday.
Lawyer Jennifer King will present councillors with the policy recommendations from the public inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act.
The Public Order Emergency Commission, headed by Justice Paul Rouleau, ruled the federal government did not overstep its authority when it invoked the Emergencies Act to end protests in Windsor, downtown Ottawa, and Coutts, Alberta.
"The one that is really of interest to the City of Windsor is recommendation 30," she said. "It recommends that the federal government should initiate discussions -- to establish protocols to protect critical transportation corridors and infrastructure."
King represented the City of Windsor at the hearings and pointed out the city has spearheaded the charge to implement plans to protect critical infrastructure.
"There's quite a lot of analysis to be done about the implications of all of [the recommendations], and I think how much they impact Windsor will depend on what the federal government decides to do with it," said King.
After a year, there has been no movement, but King isn't surprised. Rouleau gave the federal government a lot of runway to respond to the report and plan its next steps.
"He has given the federal government one year from the date of the release of his report, to report on their response to the recommendations, which ones they accept and which ones they do not," she explained. "For the ones that they accept, they are to give him a timeline for implementing them -- so, this isn't a short process."
The protest over COVID-19 mandates blocked trade at the Ambassador Bridge for almost a week, but there were closures on Huron Church Road for another week while police worked to ensure a second blockade didn't take hold.
Windsor Police, with the help of the Ontario Provincial Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and police services from across Canada, arrested 46 people, laid 90 charges, and seized 37 vehicles.
King said many of Rouleau's recommendations are about policing. Another third discusses modernizing the Emergencies Act, and as many as ten could impact Windsor.
