Freedom Convoy lawyer Keith Wilson said police blocked trucks from moving away from residential areas following negotiations in which protestors agreed with a request from the city to move the vehicles.
Wilson said he had text conversations with the city manager and the mayor’s chief of staff, proving that protesters had agreed to move the trucks.
“Police completely blocked it. We now see all the back communications and in-fighting going on. We didn’t know that at the time, obviously,” Wilson said.
Wilson, whose legal costs are being covered by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, was referring to previous testimonies at the Emergencies Act Inquiry.
Two weeks ago, Freedom Corp lawyer Miller showed Ottawa City Manager Steve Kanellakos text messages from February showing an exchange between Kanellakos and lawyer Keith Wilson, representing Freedom Convoy protestors.
“FYI Trucks are ready to move but are being blocked by police,” a text from Wilson to Kanellakos revealed.
“I’m fixing that. We are allowing 10 trucks now as a sign of good faith,” Kanellakos responded.
The next day, Wilson reiterated the truckers’ desire to fulfil their end of the negotiations.
“The truckers want to move 40 plus trucks tomorrow starting in the morning…”
But by this time, then-police Chief Sloly was relieved of his duties, and Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act.
On Wednesday, Wilson added extra context to the negotiations that fell apart.
He said he wasn’t sure if all the trucks would have moved if police hadn’t blocked them. But he added that the convoy organizers discussed cutting off “stragglers” from receiving gas and supplies provided to protestors.
The government’s lawyer accused the truckers of causing “gridlock” on Wellington Street, but Wilson reminded him that the road is blocked to this day.
“I’m not sure if your concern is about trucks or the road being blocked. It can’t be the road being blocked because the road is still blocked to this day by the government.”
Following his testimony, Wilson told reporters the convoy was receiving leaks from the Ottawa Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s spy agency,
“People would be careful to not reveal themselves, but they were very concerned about what they saw happening and and were very supportive of the effort to bring attention to the harms of the government lockdowns and mandates,” he said.
