Canadian Court: Govt. Emergency Powers in Trucker Protests 'Not Justified'

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Facts

  • A federal court in Canada found that the Canadian government's use of the Emergencies Act during the 2022 trucker protests against COVID health mandates was 'not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration.' Justice Richard Mosley further ruled that the government's actions were 'unreasonable' and violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.1
  • In response, Finance Minister [and Deputy Prime Minister] Chrystia Freeland said that while the government 'respect[s] very much Canada's independent judiciary,' it disagrees with the ruling and 'will be appealing it.' She claimed the decision to invoke the emergency powers — which ranged from making arrests to the impounding of trucks to freezing the funds of suspected convoy financiers — was to protect public safety and national security.2
  • In early 2022, truckers — in response to COVID vaccine mandates — jammed downtown Ottawa for three weeks and barricaded some critical US-Canada border crossings. On Feb. 14 of that year, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in history.3
  • The invocation of the Act was previously upheld by an Ontario Court of Appeal Judge last February — a public inquiry that was mandated by law. That judge ruled the use of the emergency law was acceptable given a breakdown of police responses and limited political coordination.4
  • The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Constitution Foundation, alongside two individuals whose bank accounts were frozen under the emergency law, filed this latest case in federal court. Justice Mosley agreed with the plaintiffs, ruling that while 'there was a rational connection between freezing the accounts' and stopping the convoy's funding, the economic orders were 'overbroad.'5
  • Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc also cited the discovery of 'two pipe bombs and 36,000 rounds of munition' as reasons for the federal government to step in, but Mosley said those threats should have been dealt with by provincial and local authorities.5

Sources: 1The Guardian, 2Reuters, 3CTV News, 4The New York Times and 5CBC.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by ABC News. If the trucker convoy wasn't a threat to national security then nothing is. Not only did this far-right, reactionary operation threaten the Canadian economy by blocking border crossings consisting of 25% of US-Canada trade, but some of the truckers had large amounts of weapons and ammunition. The previous public inquiry was correct, and hopefully, the next appeal will come to the same logical conclusion.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Post Millennial. Not only did Justice Mosley rule in favor of the Freedom Convoy, but he said he did so after having previously leaned in favor of the government. It wasn't until he heard the facts of the case and witness testimonies that he understood the authoritarian mindset behind Prime Minister Trudeau's invocation of the law. These were peaceful protesters who had their bank accounts frozen — and other basic rights violated — because they disagreed with COVID rules.

Predictions