In a landmark ruling, a Federal Court judge ruled this week that the Liberal government unconstitutionally and unjustifiably invoked the Emergencies Act in response to ongoing Freedom Convoy blockades in early 2022.
On Feb. 14, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announced it was invoking the exceptional powers of the Emergencies Act for the first time in response to ongoing, weeks-long Freedom Convoy blockades in Ottawa that thwarted police control. This was the first time the Act was invoked since its enactment in 1988.
The Act, invoked for just over one week, was used to freeze some convoy participants’ bank accounts, compel tow truck companies to co-operate with local police clearing out blockades and mark parts of downtown Ottawa as a no-go zone. It was also meant to prevent protesters who had blockaded the US-Canada border in Ontario and Alberta from returning.
Four groups applied for judicial review of the decision. The Applicants/Parties raised issues which lead to the following three key questions.
Was the Proclamation unreasonable? The Court concluded that the Proclamation was unreasonable and illegal. “The Proclamation applied the temporary special measures in all of Canada’s provinces and territories, despite the lack of evidence that it was necessary. Apart from the situation in Ottawa, the police were able to enforce the rule of law by applying the Criminal Code and other legislation,” the court document mentions.
Also the Court said that there was not enough evidence to support that the activities reached a threshold defined as “threats to the security of Canada”.
The Court found that there was no infringement of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
Regarding the argument raised by the two men whose bank accounts were frozen, that their rights to due process and the peaceful enjoyment of property under the Canadian Bill of Rights were violated the Court found that there was no infringement.
“I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation 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,” stated Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley.
At a press conference from the cabinet retreat in Montreal, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the federal government plans to appeal the decision.
“I would just like to take a moment to remind Canadians of how serious the situation was in our country when we took that decision,” she said. “The public safety of Canadians was under threat. Our national security, which includes our national economic security, was under threat.”
