Canada: Hearings to begin on use of Emergencies Act to end convoy

So-called 'Freedom Convoy' participants occupied the streets of downtown Ottawa, Canada's capital, for weeks earlier this year [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]

Montreal, Canada – An independent panel will begin hearings this week into Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of an emergency measure to disperse anti-vaccine protesters who had blocked Canada-US border crossings and occupied downtown Ottawa earlier this year.

The Public Order Emergency Commission, headed by former Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau, will hold its first public hearing on Thursday in the capital.