(Ottawa) The Federal Court hearings on the historic use of the Emergency Measures Act more than a year ago opened on Monday morning. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CLAC) challenges the use of this exceptional legislation which put an end to the “freedom convoy” in February 2022.
The federal government’s lawyer argued that the case should not even be heard by the Court since these were exceptional circumstances that are unlikely to recur. He also argued that the Rouleau commission has already studied the issue and that a joint parliamentary committee is still examining it, two safeguards included in the law.
In his voluminous report, Judge Paul Rouleau concluded “reluctantly” in February that the Trudeau government was right to resort to the Emergency Measures Act to end the “freedom convoy” and blockades of border crossings elsewhere in the country. It had issued 56 recommendations, including that of modernizing the definition of the state of emergency in this legislation.
Rather, the CCLA believes that the government has failed to demonstrate that the truckers’ demonstration that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for three weeks constituted a national emergency and that, therefore, the threshold for resorting to Emergency Measures Act has not been reached. The Trudeau government had used it in order to put an end to these demonstrations against the vaccination obligation for truckers and the other health measures imposed during the pandemic.
Federal Court hearings are scheduled to take place over three days.