OTTAWA – The Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable, unjustified and violated the Charter, the Federal Court has ruled.
Mosley’s ruling stems from four legal challenges by civil liberty groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF).
The groups argued the Liberals exceeded their powers when they invoked the Act on Feb. 14, 2022, in response to ongoing Freedom Convoy blockades in Ontario and Alberta.
In a lengthy ruling published Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley found that though the Freedom Convoy protests in early 2022 were causing harm to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce, they did not rise to the level of a threat to national security as defined by the law.
Mosley sided with civil liberties groups who argued the Liberal government went beyond its powers, violated the Charter and was not justified in its historic invocation of the Emergencies Act in February 2022.“I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation (of the Emergencies Act) does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified,” Mosley wrote
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government did not agree with Mosley’s decision and promised to appeal it.
2 replies on “Court rules Liberals’ use of Emergencies Act was unjustified, unreasonable”
seeing the popular support that the truckers got
on the road made me the proudest I’ve been in years
Trudeau’s reaction was an international shame
Agreed! The whole protest, which I participated in locally, as cheesy as it sounds gave me hope that Canadians weren’t going to lay down and take the abuse.