{"id":543396,"date":"2026-03-18T00:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543396\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:17:11","slug":"ottawa-appeals-emergencies-act-use-during-freedom-convoy-to-supreme-court-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543396\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa appeals Emergencies Act use during \u2018Freedom Convoy\u2019 to Supreme Court – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government is appealing to the Supreme Court a lower court decision that found<\/a> its use of the Emergencies Act<\/a> four years ago during \u201cFreedom Convoy<\/a>\u201d protests was unreasonable and led to the infringement of constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

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The government invoked the act to quell protests in the national capital and at key border points.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada has sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada<\/a> to review of the use of the Emergencies Act during the convoy protests and blockades that caused serious disruptions across the country,\u201d said Justice Minister Sean Fraser\u2019s spokesperson Lola Dandybaeva.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government remains committed to ensuring it has the tools needed to protect the safety and security of Canadians in the face of threats to public order and national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dandybaeva said it would not be appropriate to comment further because the matter is before the courts.<\/p>\n

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In 2024, a federal court ruling rejected the use of the emergencies law and found its use of the act breached Charter rights.<\/p>\n

A January ruling from the Federal Court of Appeal<\/a> affirmed that decision.<\/p>\n

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The court said the government lacked a basis to declare that the events across Canada posed a threat to national security or amounted to a national emergency \u2014 requirements that must be satisfied to invoke the Emergencies Act.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFederal Court of Appeal rules use of Emergencies Act during 2022 \u2018Freedom Convoy\u2019 protests was unreasonable\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

For about three weeks in January and February 2022, downtown Ottawa was filled with protesters, including many in large trucks that blocked streets around Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n

The influx of people, including some with roots in the far-right movement, prompted many businesses to temporarily shut down and aggravated residents with noise, pollution and harassing behaviour.<\/p>\n

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While many people demonstrated against COVID-19 health restrictions, the protest attracted some with a variety of grievances against then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and his government.<\/p>\n

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Trucks also jammed key border crossings to the United States, including routes at Windsor, Ont., and Coutts, Alta.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 14, 2022, the government invoked the Emergencies Act, which allowed for temporary measures, including regulation and prohibition of public assemblies, the designation of secure places, direction to banks to freeze assets, and a ban on support for protest participants.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the law had been used since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.<\/p>\n

The Emergencies Act defines a national emergency as an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians, exceeds the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it and cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal concluded the government \u201cdid not have reasonable grounds to believe that a national emergency existed,\u201d taking into account the wording of the act, its constitutional underpinning and the record that was before it at the time the decision was made.<\/p>\n

The judges said the failure to meet the requirements to declare a public order emergency led them to conclude the federal proclamation \u201cwas unreasonable\u201d and exceeded the bounds of legal authority.<\/p>\n

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The government had contended the steps taken to deal with the pan-Canadian turmoil were targeted, proportional, time-limited and compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n

\u2014With files from Jim Bronskill<\/p>\n

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