The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is taking the federal government to court over the Emergencies Act, saying it isn’t warranted and impinges on the right to peaceful protest.

“Never before has a government declared a national emergency under the Emergencies Act and with that, given itself the enormous powers to bypass the ordinary accountable democratic process,” says Noa Mendelsohn Aviv.

Her organization is not trying to minimize the impact the protests are having across the country, but say it’s unclear that they endanger the lives, health or safety of Canadians so seriously that they constitute a national emergency.

The group says police deal with law-enforcement every day and have cleared multiple border blockades across the country without emergency powers.

The Association believes the measures are clearly unconstitutional and it will ask the courts to step in to defend the rule of law and the constitutional rights of all people across the country.