OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian Federal Court of Appeal today affirmed in a ruling that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act (EA) in 2022 to take out the Freedom Convoy protesters against COVID dictates was illegal.
According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), the appeals court today upheld a 2024 ruling by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley that Trudeau’s use of the EA was “not justified.”
“This decision confirms what Canadians witnessed in real time in 2022. The Emergencies Act was never meant to be used against peaceful citizens exercising fundamental freedoms,” JCCF president John Carpay said in a media statement sent to LifeSiteNews.
“Today’s ruling is a significant victory for the rule of law and for the principle that governments are bound by limits, even in moments of political pressure. Emergency powers must remain truly exceptional, or they cease to be compatible with a free and democratic society.”
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, who was a vocal opponent of using the EA, welcomed the news, noting on X, “When governments stretch the law, public trust erodes.”
“This case is a reminder of how fragile our democracy is. When millions of people lose the right to work, travel, and socialize, governments must act with humility and restraint. Invoking the Emergencies Act when police indicated the situation was under control crossed a dangerous line. Freedom and liberty endure only when we are willing to defend rights, even those we may not agree with.”
The JCCF observed that today’s ruling “affirms the lower court ruling that the Trudeau government’s use of the Emergencies Act against peaceful protesters in Ottawa in February 2022 was illegal.”
“The Court confirmed that the high legal threshold required to invoke the Emergencies Act was not met, and that the situation in Ottawa could have been addressed using existing Canadian laws without resorting to emergency powers,” the JCCF noted.
JCCF-funded lawyers were provided for four Canadians who participated in the Freedom Convoy and who then challenged the invocation of the EA.
The JCCF said it was granted standing before the “Public Order Emergency Commission, where lawyers cross-examined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other senior government officials under oath about their decision to invoke emergency powers against peaceful demonstrators in 2022.”
“Since that time, the Justice Centre has continued to fund the legal defence of dozens of Canadians, including Chris Barber, who have been criminally charged simply for peacefully exercising their Charter rights during the Freedom Convoy,” it noted.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Trudeau’s federal government enacted the EA in mid-February.
Trudeau had disparaged Canadians who chose not to get the COVID shots, saying those opposing his measures were of a “small, fringe minority” who hold “unacceptable views” and do not “represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other.”
After the protesters were cleared out, which was achieved through the freezing of bank accounts of those involved without a court order as well as the physical removal and arrest of demonstrators, Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23, 2022.
At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed Trudeau’s use of the EA.
