{"id":547913,"date":"2026-03-20T00:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547913\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T00:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:51:11","slug":"ottawas-appeal-of-the-emergencies-act-case-shows-contempt-for-civilians-and-corporations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547913\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa\u2019s appeal of the Emergencies Act case shows contempt for civilians and corporations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Truckers block lanes of traffic to protest against pandemic restrictions in Ottawa in February, 2022.Ted Shaffrey\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s decision to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a lower-court ruling that censured its use of the Emergencies Act against protesting truckers is an affront to civil liberties and capitalism. <\/p>\n

Ottawa filed its appeal application<\/a> on Tuesday, arguing that two earlier court decisions in this case were flawed and \u201chamstrings governments\u2019 ability to respond effectively to future crises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney should be concerned instead about his predecessor\u2019s ham-fisted invocation of the crisis legislation against civilians participating in a 2022 political protest. Apparently, Mr. Carney, who called the Ottawa blockade \u201csedition\u201d in an op-ed for The Globe and Mail<\/a> that year, is sticking to that view. <\/p>\n

The truckers may not garner much sympathy after their reprehensible behaviour during the protests. But make no mistake, the government\u2019s decision to seek an appeal is a one-finger salute to all Canadians and corporations, including banks and insurers, which were co-opted to quell political dissent.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope the Supreme Court denies the government\u2019s request because a costly appeal is not in the public interest, especially after Ottawa suffered two decisive legal defeats. <\/p>\n

Group asks Supreme Court chief justice to recuse himself from Emergencies Act case<\/a><\/p>\n

The most recent of those losses was on Jan. 16, when the Federal Court of Appeal unanimously upheld<\/a> a lower-court decision that found Ottawa was not justified in using the Emergencies Act against participants in the trucker convoy. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs disturbing and disruptive the blockades and the Convoy protests in Ottawa could be, they fell well short of a threat to national security,\u201d stated the Federal Court of Appeal. <\/p>\n

The former Trudeau government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022, and temporarily wielded extraordinary powers, including barring citizens from participating in public assemblies. A related economic order<\/a> directed banks to freeze personal and business accounts, and ordered insurers to suspend coverage on vehicles such as semi-trailers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt turned us into a banana republic with polar bears,\u201d said John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, in an interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to look down on regimes where you criticize the president and then all of a sudden, you\u2019re locked up in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Federal Court of Appeal said \u201cthe most egregious problem\u201d with the economic order was that \u201cpersonal banking information belonging to individuals\u201d who were suspected of committing offences was shared with the RCMP and CSIS without a warrant or prior authorization. <\/p>\n

It also stressed that businesses, including banks and crowdfunding platforms, were \u201ceffectively deputized\u201d to act as agents of the state and required to turn over account-holders\u2019 personal information using a \u201crelatively lax\u201d standard.<\/p>\n

The court took issue with the RCMP\u2019s advice to banks on how to identify account-holders and determine whether they were participating in unlawful activity. It seems the Mounties counselled lenders to \u201cleverage the news\u201d and use information on the internet and social media. <\/p>\n

What a cavalier way to conduct investigations. <\/p>\n

It is shameful that Ottawa put private-sector businesses in such a terrible position. As The Globe reported at the time, the economic order created confusion<\/a> for banks.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Federal Court of Appeal was critical of the lack of redress for the affected customers. <\/p>\n

From Feb. 15 to 23, 2022, the RCMP disclosed information about 57 entities and individuals to financial institutions, resulting in the temporary freezing of about 257 accounts, according to the court. <\/p>\n

The government still owes Canadians answers about what happened to the lists of customers and accounts that were shared between banks, the RCMP and CSIS. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know a man who works for a financial institution and was shocked to see this list of names come across his desk,\u201d wrote Josh Dehaas, interim litigation director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, in an e-mail on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Will these customers face long-term financial consequences<\/a> even though only some were convicted of minor offences? Canadians deserve to know. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Supreme Court of Canada decides to hear the case, we will be very proud to defend our historic victory for the rule of law and civil liberties,\u201d said Ana\u00efs Bussi\u00e8res McNicoll, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always agreed that it was time for the blockade to go, but our point was that this could and should have been done using ordinary laws.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although the government argues in its filing to the Supreme Court that the convoy consisted of \u201cextremist elements,\u201d it fails to prove an existential threat to Canada. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the government\u2019s pursuit of an appeal is troubling. <\/p>\n

Ottawa wants to reserve the right to compel businesses to assist in curbing civil liberties for political protesters. Yet, it struggles to clamp down on illicit funds that fuel foreign interference<\/a>, sanctions evasion<\/a> and terrorism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the extraordinary powers of the Emergencies Act have been unlocked, cabinet can essentially govern by decree,\u201d said Ms. Bussi\u00e8res McNicoll. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these powers may be necessary in an acute crisis, it\u2019s important that the government knows that even in times of crisis, it is not above the law.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sedition absolutely poses a threat to our democracy. But so does submission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Truckers block lanes of traffic to protest against pandemic restrictions in Ottawa in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,5152,20739],"class_list":["post-547913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dei","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}