The Courts Have Caught Up to Canadian Government Overreach

Governments everywhere did many absurd and unaccountable things during the Covid pandemic, but one, at least, is now being held accountable by the courts. In Canada, the Federal Court has ruled that the Trudeau government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable, unjustified, and unconstitutional.

Christine Van Geyn of the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), a Calgary-based public-interest organization that alongside other civil-liberty groups mounted a legal challenge against the use of the Emergencies Act, called the Federal Court decision “a complete repudiation of the government’s position and a massive political humiliation for the Liberals” and “extremely gratifying for Canadians of all political stripes who understand the value of public protest and the dangers of governments using a massive sledgehammer to shut them down.”