Canada Emergency Declaration: Media Fails to Tell the Whole Story

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 25, 2021) — Late Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was withdrawing his invocation of the Emergencies Act, a law enacted in 1988 by Parliament and never before utilized but which Trudeau declared on February 14 as a result of a weeks-long protest.

Those involved included truckers, farmers and average citizens who brought their dissatisfaction with the government to the Parliament Hill in the capital city of Ottawa as well as to some border crossings with the U.S.

The protesters were expressing their opposition to Canadian COVID-19 mandates and restrictions which required truck drivers to be vaccinated in order to re-enter Canada after making deliveries to the United States. The mandate took effect on January 15.

On February 17, three organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” were arrested in Ottawa. By the following day, approximately 70 individuals had been arrested, The Washington Examiner reported, and a number of vehicles towed.

Of the Emergencies Act, Canada’s Department of Justice states:

The Act contains a specific definition of “national emergency” that makes clear how serious a situation needs to be before the Act can be relied upon.  A national emergency is an urgent, temporary and critical situation that seriously endangers the health and safety of Canadians or that seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada.  It must be a situation that cannot be effectively dealt with by the provinces and territories, or by any other law of Canada.

The government additionally claims there are “democratic safeguards” built into the Emergencies Act and that there must be “consultation with the provinces and territories before a Declaration is issued, unless the provinces and territories cannot be adequately consulted without unduly jeopardizing the effectiveness of the proposed action.”

On February 19, in an exclusive interview, the Edmonton Sun published an article titled, “Alberta Premier Jason Kenney filing legal challenge to end Trudeau’s Emergencies Act.”

“In an exclusive interview with Postmedia, Kenney said the use of Canada’s most powerful law was ‘unjustified in the circumstances,’ an ‘overreach,’ a violation of due process and ‘an intrusion into provincial jurisdiction,'” the outlet reported.

“Once a Declaration is issued, a report must be tabled in Parliament within seven sitting days explaining the consultations that have taken place,” the judicial department further states, and “The Government must respect constitutionally protected rights and freedoms.”

The government further explains:

When the Emergencies Act is invoked, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) continues to protect individual rights as the Government of Canada takes the necessary steps to safeguard the safety and well-being of Canadians. In deciding on measures to take, the Government must respect constitutionally protected rights and freedoms, including the rights of citizens to enter Canada and the right to life, liberty and security of the person, as well as Canada’s obligations under international law. The Charter allows the Government to balance the rights of the individual with the interests of society where limits on guaranteed rights and freedoms can be justified in a free and democratic society.

Specifically, section 1 of the Charter allows the Government to put limits on rights and freedoms if those limits:

• are set out in law;
• pursue an important goal which can be justified in a free and democratic society; and
• pursue that goal in a reasonable and proportionate manner.

This means that during a public order emergency, as defined by the Emergencies Act, the Government must only take actions that are a reasonable and proportionate response to the risks to safety of Canadians.

“Lawmakers affirmed the act on Monday,” the AP reported, although the Canadian senate had not yet debated the measure.

Fox News, too, reported that “Canadian Parliament approved a motion to extend the act by a vote of 185-151” when the vote did not include the Senate chamber.

On February 22, the House of Commons had overwhelmingly approved the declaration. On that day, LifeSite News reported:

The motion will be presented to the Senate chamber this afternoon, and the debates will take place from Tuesday to Thursday next week. The Senators will then vote.

As expected, the New Democrats bolstered the minority Liberal government by voting in favor of the Act, whereas the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois opposed it. 

Following the declaration, 206 truck drivers and protesters attending the event found their bank accounts locked, and insurance companies were instructed to cancel truckers’ policies effective February 15.

On Tuesday, a reporter for Canadian-based Rebel News told Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle” she was assaulted by Ottawa police with an accompanying video. It was not the first confrontation between the outlet and Canadian authorities.

According to Rebel News reporter Ian Miles Cheong, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau withdrew the Act before senators had an opportunity to vote on the matter.”

On Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) reported the Emergency Act restrictions to be “temporary,” but Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on February 19 had said many of them were intended to become “permanent.”

According to National Review the same day, “Canada’s government is unlocking accounts linked to organizers of the trucker protest that snarled traffic in downtown Ottawa for three weeks and was cleared by police over the weekend.”

The Senate began debating the issue Tuesday, CTV reported. As to the process, it wrote:

On Monday evening a majority of the House of Commons voted in favour of confirming the act after the NDP backed the minority Liberal government.

The act must also pass through the Senate, which plans to hold extra-long sittings to debate it. If it fails to approve the act, it would be immediately revoked.

In a reversal which surprised many, Trudeau stated Wednesday, “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe.”