Thread by @Paulatics

Up now with ISG Senator Kim Pate. The urgent events of the last week could have been prevented, she said. It didn't start as an emergency but became one. White supremist, populist ideas filled the minds of organizers.

But, Pate says, many of those who protested are people who feel left behind, abandoned and disenfranchised. The EA she says won't address the plight of the most marginalized or the divisions in our country.

Sen Pate says the full force of the law is often used to squash protest. Police, she says, tried to discourage her from going to her office, while waving protesters into the parliamentary precinct.

Sen. Pate says she can't imagine Indigenous, Black or environmental protesters being allowed to drive onto parliament hill, to bring in jugs of flammable liquid, etc.

Sen. Pate asks again and again why these protesters were privileged with police protection.

Sen. Pate asks how people in Ottawa can trust their police, after seeing them posing for selfies with the protesters, after seeing them giving the protesters special treatment.

Sen. Pate says many ordinary people are struggling to get by. She calls out the government for not reaching out to the protesters, for not trying to understand why they were protesting.

Sen. Pate says we must fight hate propaganda - but we also must try to support people who feel marginalized and left out.

Next to speak is Sen. Brent Cotter of the ISG, a former constitutional law prof and former DM of justice in Saskatchewan. He too is calling back to the days of the War Measures Act and the debates of that era.

(BTW - if time allows, I may be up next. I will not be live-tweeting myself.)

Sen. Cotter says this might be the most important decision he makes in his professional life. He agrees that we might have averted this situation. But that, he says, is not the test today.

Just because we didn't avert WWII, for example, didn't mean we shouldn't join the war effort in 1939.

Sen. Cotter says he's never seen protests of the like that we've seen in the last month, to see a protest become an occupation, and an attempt to leverage the government out of power.

Sen. Cotter goes through all the way the Emergencies Act helped to deal with this. Says he's never seen such disciplined, effective policing as he saw in the ending of this occupation.

The EA powers made it possible for police to resolve this crisis the safest and most honourable way possible, says Sen. Cotter.

Sen. Cotter says the test is this - not if the cabinet made the best decision, but if it made a reasonable decision. We are, he says, considering an administrative decision made by the cabinet.

I would have made decisions differently, says Sen. Cotter. But again, he stresses, that's not the test.

(BTW - it looks as though I will just squeak in to give my speech. I hope. It will cover some new ground.)

I will post my own speech ASAP. Meantime, let me resume my live tweeting with my ISG colleague, Yvonne Boyer, a Metis lawyer and activist. She underlines that freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are essential right.s

Sen. Boyer points out that Indigenous people and people of colour are more likely to be victims of police violence.

Sen. Boyer says we need to have a diverse representation of senators on the review committee, to ensure all communities are heard from.

A speech now from Sen. Patrick Brazeau, who talks about his first summer job as a groundskeeper on Parliament Hill - during the summer of the Oka crisis.

Sen. Brazeau says what happened in Ottawa wasn't a protest, but an occupation. He calls out the people who dressed up and pretended to be Indigenous. And comparing Trudeau to Hitler? That's infantile, he says.

On the other hand, says Sen. Brazeau, wryly, he's never seen police hugging any Indigenous protesters.

Sen. Brazeau now speaks to foreign influence - so many emails and calls from American, so much American traffic. American politics don't belong here, he says.

Sen. Brazeau says we are not a rubber stamp. But he will support the act, because we can then have an inquiry in a non-partisan way.

Oops. Brazeau had a great line, thanking everyone who made Ottawa boring again. Except...my mic was still on and think everyone heard me when I burst out laughing. My apologies, @senatorbrazeau!! Great speech, even with my interruption.

Sen. David Arnot of the ISG gave the first two minutes of his speech. He'll finish tomorrow. But we are now adjourned! Thank you for following me through this. The calibre of debate over these 12 hours has been extraordinary, and it's been a privilege to share it with you.

Also - I couldn't live tweet myself. But...

https://twitter.com/Paulatics/status/1496322786276503552