On Tuesday, The Federal Court of Canada ruled the decision to use the War Measures (Emergencies) Act to respond to the Freedom Convoy was unreasonable and excessive, validating the claims made in a lawsuit brought by various civil liberties groups.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (“JCCF”) said it was pleased the War Measures (Emergencies) Act lawsuit had been decided in favour of the Freedom Convoy protestors.
“This is a great victory for democracy, for Charter rights and freedoms, and for the rule of law,” said JCCF President John Carpay.
Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn was thrilled with this decision. “We know the government has said that they plan to appeal, and with these reasons, they now have a mountain to climb.”
Charles “The Great Reset” King’s representatives in Canada initiated and recommended that emergency powers be invoked and used against Freedom Convoy protestors. Yet, after the court ruling, the King’s representatives have remained silent.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the War Measures (Emergencies) Act on 14 February 2022 in response to the Freedom Convoy protest.
The move allowed the federal government to enact wide-sweeping but temporary powers to help officials crack down on protesters’ access to funds, grant the RCMP jurisdiction to enforce local laws, designate critical infrastructure and services, and impose fines and imprisonment on participants who refused to leave the protest zone.
The JCCF provided lawyers to a group of protestors who launched a court action with various civil liberties groups ten days after the War Measures (Emergencies) Act was invoked and sought a court declaration it was invoked without legal justification.
The constitutional challenge to the War Measures (Emergencies) Act was filed on behalf of four Canadians who had participated in the Freedom Convoy.
The JCCF said each of the applicants suffered significant harm after the War Measures (Emergencies) Act was invoked. With two of its applicants, it said they had their bank accounts frozen and seized without judicial authorization or a review process under laws applying to terrorists and enemy countries.
On Tuesday, the Federal Court ruled in favour of the citizens who participated in the peaceful 2022 Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. You can read the court ruling HERE.
Those patriotic Canadians who called Ottawa’s repressive covid policies “outrageous” can longer be dismissed as “dangerous nutters.” The Convoy truckers knew enough about what was at stake to push back and can now celebrate some validation from Canada’s Federal Court.
As Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, representative for the World Economic Forum Chrystia Freeland responded to the federal court ruling that found the invocation of the Emergencies Act “unreasonable” and violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to expression and security against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Freeland said she remains “convinced” that invoking the Emergencies Act in early 2022 was “the necessary thing to do.”
So, Freeland has responded. The same cannot be said of Canada’s Governor General, Mary Simon.
The governor general represents King Charles III at the federal level in Canada and is authorised to exercise most of the Crown’s powers on behalf of the Sovereign. As such, Simon’s parliamentary responsibilities include:
- summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament;
- setting out the government’s program by reading the Speech from the Throne; and,
- giving Royal Assent, which brings parliamentary bills into law.
The governor general is also the commander-in-chief of Canada, exercising supreme command and control over the Canadian Armed Forces. Constitutionally, command-in-chief is vested in the Canadian monarch, presently King Charles III, but the governor general of Canada, presently Mary Simon, executes most of the duties of the sovereign, including in his role as commander-in-chief.
The position of governor general forms part of the King’s Privy Council for Canada, a group of personal consultants to the monarch on Canadian state and constitutional affairs.
One of the Privy Council’s committees is the Privy Council Office (“PCO”), a central agency of the Government of Canada that acts as the secretariat to the Cabinet of Canada, It is led by the Clerk of the Privy Council, who is the head of the civil service of Canada and acts as the deputy minister to the prime minister.
Tuesday’s court ruling revealed a secret memo from the PCO recommending Trudeau invoke emergency powers in response to the Freedom Convoy. Canada’s most senior bureaucrat at the time – Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette – approved the memo recommending the Emergencies Act be invoked, Global News reported.
The memo shows the PCO was in active talks with the Canadian Armed Forces about how the military might assist in ending the protests should they be required.
Sheldon Yakiwchuk, author of the Substack page ‘Yakk Stack’ has pointed out that Simon has remained completely silent on the Federal Court’s decision that Trudeau’s government acted unconstitutionally in response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy. “This is a total disgrace to the role and to all Canadians,” he wrote and continued:
The disdain that Prime Minister Trudeau holds for Canadians in general and the use of office to divide and bankrupt the country, should have been enough for anybody in this chair of Governor General, to have stood up and at least commented on the house burning down around them.
When this level of narcissistic and ego-driven vengeance, against those who found cause and used tools afforded by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was used to stomp on the civil liberties of Canadians…to not say or exercise the powers afforded to them is a dereliction of duty.
A signed coalition that allowed this Emergencies Act to be supported, is a subversion of democracy to begin with and now federal ruling supports this exact thing.
If Mary doesn’t feel like she wants to do her job and only receive the fruits of the position, it’s time for her to pack her bags and vacate this esteemed position in Canada.
I’ll be penning another letter (email), over the next couple of days and I’ll be inviting you to also send this out to Mary Simon, include your Member of Parliament in it, and we will be asking for her to either use her powers as intended or resign her role.Dear Governor General Mary Simon: It’s time to do your job, Yakk Stack, 24 January 2024
Sources for this article include:
- Updated: Federal Court declares War Measures (Emergencies) Act usage against Freedom Convoy wrong, Western Standard, 23 January 2024
- Who would have thought that it would be the courts that said ‘Enough!’ to Trudeau? Western Standard, 24 January 2024
- Federal Court finds Emergencies Act for ‘Freedom Convoy’ violated Charter, Global News, 23 January 2024
