The Canadian government announced on Friday that it will appeal a Federal Court judgement associated with the Freedom Convoy protests. This judgement discovered that when addressing the Freedom Convoy protests in 2022, the government acted illegally. It stated that the implementation of the federal Emergencies Act exceeded its authority. Additionally, it found violations of some protesters’ constitutional rights.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, alongside Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Justice Minister Arif Virani, announced their appeal of the decision in a televised speech. Freeland reassured that the government upholds the country’s independent judiciary, but maintained its intent to appeal.
The Emergencies Act was invoked in an attempt to regulate the Freedom Convoy protests taking place in Ottawa in February 2022. These protests, in opposition to the parliamentary COVID-19 vaccination requirements, had brought the city to a halt for as long as three weeks. The Act endows the Canadian government with authority to prohibit certain protests, limit travel to or from a particular area, and restrict the use of specified property when there is sufficient proof of a public order emergency.
Reacting to the use of the Emergencies Act, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation, along with other individuals, brought a case against it. The court found that the protests under scrutiny did not meet the necessary criteria stipulating a public order emergency since they did not involve threats or serious acts of violence against people or property. Moreover, it ruled that by making participation in a public assembly that might reasonably result in a breach of the peace a criminal act, the government had violated protestors’ freedom of expression.
Pending acceptance of the appeal, the case will be revisited in the Federal Court of Appeal.
Find more details on the Jurist.