by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense:
The Canadian government said it will appeal Tuesday’s ruling by Canada’s Federal Court that the government’s use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 to disperse truckers protesting the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates violated several articles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In a historic decision, Canada’s Federal Court on Tuesday ruled the Canadian government’s use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 to disperse truckers protesting the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates was “unreasonable” and violated several articles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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The truckers, dubbed the “Convoy for Freedom,” organized a cross-country protest beginning in January 2022, following a Jan. 15, 2022, order by the Canadian federal government mandating the vaccine for all cross-border U.S. and Canadian truckers.
In his 190-page ruling, Justice Richard G. Mosley said the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act “does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness — justification, transparency and intelligibility — and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration.”
The court ruled that invoking the Emergencies Act infringed upon Section 2(b) of the Charter, which protects freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, and Section 8, which pertains to the right to be secured from unreasonable seizure.
Mosley, who according to Global News “is a 21-year veteran of the Federal Court and is a respected voice on national security legal matters,” found that the freezing of protesters’ bank accounts amounted to such seizure.
Arguments in the case were heard over three days in April 2023, CTV News reported.
EMERGENCIES ACT INVOCATION DECLARED UNREASONABLE BY FEDERAL COURT!!!! pic.twitter.com/IGD6W44es2
— Christine Van Geyn (@cvangeyn) January 23, 2024
Plaintiffs included the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), Canadian Frontline Nurses and five individuals — two of whom “had their bank accounts frozen.”
According to The Epoch Times, the plaintiffs “argued … that the Liberal government did not meet the legal threshold to invoke the legislation in response to the protest.”
In a statement provided to The Defender, attorneys for the Canadian Frontline Nurses said:
“We are proud to be the party that initiated the application to the Federal Court challenging the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy protest.
“We are pleased that the Federal Court agreed with our position that the Trudeau government’s action in invoking the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and outside their jurisdiction and that it was a violation of Canadians’ rights and freedoms under the Charter.”
Tom Marazzo, a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy and author of “The People’s Emergency Act: Freedom Convoy 2022,” told The Defender, “The ruling by Judge Mosley was a great victory for all who participated and supported the Freedom Convoy.”
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