Victor Ryan
Victor Ryan spoke 61 times across 1 day of testimony.
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Good evening, Mr. Bulford. My name is Victor Ryan and I’m part of the counsel team with the Government of Canada. You already testified to your previous history of service with the RCMP, but I'd just like to go back to it briefly. You stated you began your RCMP career with a posting with N Division in the Yukon, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And within a few years of working in the Yukon, you were selected to become a member of the Emergency Response Team, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And by virtue of your selection to join the ERT, you were trained as an assaulter, I believe, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And then as a sniper?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And would you agree with me that the selection process for an Emergency Response Team is highly competitive?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay. Because ERTs are responsible for resolving incidents beyond the capabilities of regular police, in part, due to the increased risk of violence that they can face?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you continued to work as part of the ER Team Yukon, as you stated, in both Whitehorse and Mayo before you transferred to Ottawa; is that correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And when you came to Ottawa, you were working with the National Division Emergency Response Team?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
You were also often involved in high-profile protective operations for individuals such as the prime minister, foreign heads of state when they came to Ottawa, and members of the royal family, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you were often deployed around the world to protect the prime minister and other high- profile individuals attending various international summits and conferences, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Two times.
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you eventually rose to the rank of corporal and second-in-command of the Surveillance and Reconnaissance Team within National Division ERT; do I have that right?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And so you would agree that your career with RCMP was a successful one, right? I think your evidence was -- earlier was that you felt that you were a dedication professional?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And so while you were in Ottawa and while you were working with the Emergency Response Team, I believe the dates were 2013 to 2021; is that correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
You were trained by a variety of external law enforcement agencies during that time?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
More than one?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Yeah, including the FBI Hostage Rescue Team?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Canadian Special Forces Operations Command?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And the types of things that you were trained in, the various tactical aspects of policing for which you received training, included things like covert surveillance?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Yeah. Explosive force entry and breaching?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Mass casualty response?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And so through this training that you received and through your experience working in the National Division, you would have come to have an intimate knowledge of the Parliamentary precinct and downtown Ottawa; is that correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And so you knew, for instance, how police would train for and plan for a large-scale demonstration like the convoy?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
But you would have been familiar with how the ERT would have interacted with various other police forces in Ottawa during an event such as this?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And of course, you'd be keenly familiar with the jurisdictional, I guess, intersections in the downtown area between RCMP, the PPS, the OPS?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
You knew how police would gather intelligence on the leadership and the key figures of any sort of protest movement that would come in?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
You knew what the police goals and strategies would be in policing a large-scale demonstration?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And when you talk about mobilizing resources, one of the ways that you do so is by pulling other police officers from other jurisdictions, that’s correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And as an RCMP officer, former RCMP member, you would have been aware of the different RCMP detachments and divisions across the country, have a general understanding of where the RCMP are police of jurisdiction in other areas of the country?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you would have been aware of the practical difficulties involved in pulling RCMP officers from provinces far flung and transferring them to Ottawa to assist the local police here in any enforcement?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
You would have had a knowledge roughly of how many police officers would be required to manage a large-scale demonstration?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And that role, you touted quite a bit during the occupation publicly, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And my friend from Commission counsel showed you a document that contained a quote from you from a press release, where you said: "I have extensive experience in protective operations for large-scale events here in the National Capital Region. I have been involved in tactical planning for many of these large-scale events, so I'm keenly familiar with what is happening right now in regards to the police presence down around Parliament Hill and the downtown core." Does that sound familiar to you?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Also in that same press conference, you also stated: "My primary concern is individuals or groups with the potential to deliberately instigate conflict with the Freedom Convoy movement." Correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And that was to you, your most important concern, because you knew from your past experience the potential for individuals or groups, whether associated with you or not, to use the convoy as cover for their own needs, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And by February 3rd, you had already begun to appreciate the number of different factions and elements that were converging on downtown Ottawa, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
For instance, you were involved, as I take your evidence with Mounties for Freedom, you were volunteering with Adopt a Trucker, and you were also closely associated with the Freedom Convoy, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
But you were not associated with Canada Unity, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
But Canada Unity was there at the convoy?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Yeah. And you were not associated with James Bauder, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
No. And the MOU that he brought with him?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
But he was there at the convoy, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
M'hm. All right. And you were not affiliated with the Farfadaas that were at Rideau and Sussex, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And the individual describing herself as Queen Ramona and her supporters, you weren’t associated with her or her supporters, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And but they were there at the convoy, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you weren’t associated with any outlaw motorcycle gangs, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
No, but they were there at the convoy, correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
So you heard that they were there but you didn’t actually see them?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay.
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
So you so a photograph of them at the convoy but you didn’t actually encounter them?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay. You’ve already testified that your main role was to collect intelligence from the convoy, collect, you know, threats of violence, assess their credibility, and forward them onto the police. But I also take your evidence that this was a peaceful protest; correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay. And in the chronology that’s set out in your witness statement -- and I won’t take you to it unless you are required but it’s again HRF00001553 -- you state that on January 29th, 2022, you sent a photo to OPS and RCMP of an identified in Ottawa who reportedly wore body armour and stated, “They don’t realize what things will be like when the hard boys show up with a legitimate beef”; is that correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And on January 30th, the next day, you emailed PLT about a conspiracy to stage a hit and run with a tractor trailer hitting a horse that contained specific information regarding a member of the Prime Minister’s Protective Detail; correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And you relayed information to PLT regarding fights that you either saw or that were relayed to you; correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay.
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
I believe you’re referring to the individual referred to as “Black Buffalo”?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
And so speaking of that, “Black Buffalo became very angry at what he perceived to be an encroachment to his territory, began yelling, pulled a crowbar from his truck, pushed a female, actually, into you ---
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
--- as I understand it correctly. Would agree that that’s a fight?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay. And just one last question. You also dealt, at the insistence of, I believe, Keith Wilson, with people at Coventry Road referring to themselves as “sovereign citizens” who were deputizing themselves and planning to arrest peace officers; correct?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Okay. So just one last question. These examples that you and I have just discussed, in your view, are they examples of a peaceful protest?
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Victor Ryan, Counsel (GC)
Thank you. Those are my questions.