Unreasonable, Illegal, and Unconstitutional: Challenging the Emergencies Act in Federal Court
Commentary
Inside a spectacular courtroom at the Supreme Court of Canada building in early April, Justice Richard Mosley of the Federal Court heard arguments from national civil liberties organizations about why the Government of Canada’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last year was illegal and unconstitutional. The Federal Court is the last guardrail of accountability for the Trudeau government’s use of the extraordinary and powerful legislation.
The applicants in the judicial review included two national civil liberties organizations: the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. They sought to convey two major arguments.
The first was that it was unreasonable for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to invoke the Emergencies Act because its legal standards were not met. Cabinet did not have reasonable grounds to believe a threat to the security of Canada existed, and the requirement that the law only be used as a “last resort” was not met. The second line of argument was that the special regulations (like the prohibition on assemblies and the freezing of bank accounts) created under the Emergencies Act violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms….