A Federal Court in Canada has declared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act to suppress the Freedom Convoy protests in 2022 as unconstitutional.
By yourNEWS Media Staff
A Canadian Federal Court Judge has found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s application of a counter-terrorism law against the Freedom Convoy trucker protests in 2022 to be unconstitutional. This ruling marks a significant legal setback for the Trudeau government’s response to the vaccine mandate protests.
Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the use of the Emergencies Act by Trudeau’s Liberal government to quell the trucker-led protests in February 2022 was “unreasonable,” as reported by CBC. The decision came in response to a legal challenge filed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and others. They argued that the protests did not meet the legal threshold required to invoke the powers granted under the act, originally designed to combat terrorism.
The protests, which began in January 2022, were largely peaceful and involved truckers using their vehicles to block roads in Ottawa and along the U.S. border. These actions were in opposition to vaccine mandates and other lockdown measures, leading to false accusations of racism by the Trudeau government.
The activation of the Emergencies Act by Trudeau, reportedly influenced by the Biden administration, enabled the government to arrest protest leaders, freeze bank accounts, and seize donations meant for the protest.
Judge Mosley stated in his ruling, “The decision to issue the Proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration.”
He further noted that while the potential for serious violence was a valid concern, it did not meet the criteria to invoke the Act. The judge also pointed out that the government’s actions infringed upon the rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This ruling contradicts the findings of an inquiry led mostly by Trudeau government officials, which had previously stated that the government met the required threshold for using the Act. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, as mentioned by CBC, announced the government’s intention to appeal Judge Mosley’s decision.
Trudeau Ministers Discussed Deploying Army Tanks During Freedom Convoy Protestshttps://t.co/KQV4Z0lJTt
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 24, 2022
In light of the court’s judgment, Ezra Levant, founder of Rebel News and a strong supporter of the Freedom Convoy, remarked, “For two years Trudeau and the regime media called the truckers illegal. Today the Federal Court ruled that Trudeau’s violent response was illegal. Shame on every #JustinJourno who parroted his line. Today’s ruling was a judgment of them, too.”