Apr 03, 2023
By Jeremy Logan
According to a national civil liberties organization, vague claims about economic insecurity or general unrest were insufficient to legally justify the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act early last year.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is among the organizations and individuals who appeared in Federal Court Monday to argue that Ottawa lacked sound statutory grounds to use emergency measures to quell protests that paralyzed the national capital and key border points.
The government claims that the measures taken to address the pan-Canadian emergency situation were targeted, proportional, time-limited, and in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Public Order Emergency Commission, a mandatory review that occurs after invoking the Emergencies Act, determined that the government met the extremely high threshold for using the law.
Legal arguments for and against the decision are currently being heard in a court of law.
The three-day hearing started Monday morning with the federal government’s arguments for why the case should not be heard in court at all, given that the emergency measures have been lifted.
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