Federal Court Grants Victory to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Emergencies Act Challenge
'Setting a clear and critical precedent'
The Federal Court of Canada has concluded that the federal government’s decision to declare a public order emergency under the Emergencies Act in February 2022 was unreasonable and not justified on the facts of law. According to a press release by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the court also concluded that the regulations violated the Charter right to freedom of expression and the right to secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
CCLA Executive Director Nao Mendelsohn Aviv stated:
Emergency is not in the eye of the beholder. Emergency powers are necessary in extreme circumstances but they are also dangerous to democracy. They should be used sparingly and carefully. They cannot be used even to address a massive and disruptive demonstration if that could have been dealt with through regular policing and laws. The threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act is extremely high. The government must demonstrate that there is an emergency arising from threats to the security of Canada and that that emergency truly has a national scope. The Federal Court agreed that this threshold was not met… The Federal Court's decision sets a clear and critical precedent for every future government.
Link to Federal Court decision
The federal government has announced it will be appealing the decision.
The Quaking Swamp Journal has covered this story from the very beginning: from the Freedom Convoy to the Public Order Emergencies Commission to the CCLA court challenge.
Here is a list of the articles as they appeared in chronological order:
Great work on this Linda with all your articles
The Emergencies Act is dangerous to civil liberties like the War Measures Act was
Looking forward to seeing this result on CBC! (Sound of sarcasm dripping...)