Use of Emergencies Act Against Ottawa Protesters Not Justified

On Tuesday, Canadian Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley said that the use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 to clear convoy protesters was unreasonable.

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"There was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act and the decision to do so was therefore unreasonable and ultra vires," Mosley said, using the "Ultra vires" Latin term to refer to actions beyond the scope of the law.

The Federal Court case was brought by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF), and people whose bank accounts were frozen who argued Ottawa did not meet the legal threshold when it invoked the legislation.

“Emergency is not in the eye of the beholder. Emergency powers are necessary in extreme circumstances, but they are also dangerous to democracy... They cannot be used even to address a massive and disruptive demonstration if that could have been dealt with through regular policing and laws,” the CCLA said, as reported by the National Post. 

In January 2022, thousands of protesters angry with the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine requirements, descended on Ottawa and blocked border points elsewhere. They parked large vehicles on this city's key arteries for nearly a month.

A month later, the government invoked the Emergencies Act, which gave law enforcement extraordinary powers to remove and arrest protesters and gave the government the power to freeze the finances of those connected to the protests.

The temporary emergency powers also gave authorities the ability to commandeer tow trucks to remove protesters' vehicles from the streets of the capital.