Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared a national emergency in response to the ongoing truckers’ protests against various Covid-19 related measures including vaccine mandates.
Trudeau made the announcement invoking the Emergency Act, which was enacted in 1988, and never used before in the country’s history as the agitation entered its 18th day. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue,” he said in Ottawa. The emergency powers came into immediate effect and will last for 30 days.
Among the measures that will be applied will be stronger tools for law enforcement to disperse gatherings of protestors including at major border trade routes connecting Canada to the United States. In addition, the act will allow the government to go after crowdfunding platforms and payment processors that have been used by the Freedom Convoy 2022 to fund their protest, and compel financial institutions to freeze accounts of individuals or organisations linked to the agitation.
The announcement came after reports that there was pressure from the United States on Trudeau to act expeditiously to deal with the crisis, which affected trucking routes to Canada’s four provinces - Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta.
{{/usCountry}}The announcement came after reports that there was pressure from the United States on Trudeau to act expeditiously to deal with the crisis, which affected trucking routes to Canada’s four provinces - Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta.
{{/usCountry}}Rights groups were concerned over such action, as the Canadian Center for Civil Liberties tweeted, “The federal government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. This law creates a high and clear standard for good reason: the act allows the government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met.”
Justin Trudeau also spoke of the “reputational damage” Canada had suffered due to the ongoing protests, and said such opposition to vaccine-related issues was “something democracies around the world are concerned about”.
He later tweeted the “scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically-targeted, and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address. The act will be used to strengthen and support law enforcement agencies, at all levels, wherever needed across the country”.
The federal action came after a state of emergency was declared in the province of Ontario last week, following another in the capital Ottawa, which has been under siege by the demonstrators for over two weeks.
The announcement came after Justin Trudeau hosted a conference call with premiers to provinces and territories. According to report, there was some opposition to the proposed measure from multiple provincial leaders, including those from Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
Trudeau, who has refused to enter into any discussion with representatives of the protesters, said it was “no longer a lawful protest” and was now an “illegal occupation”.
The decision was taken after a major artery linking Canada and the US, the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor in Ontario and Detroit in Michigan was cleared of protesters by police.
The invocation of the emergency still needs to be ratified by parliament within a week, or it will be subject to revocation.
The protests were triggered by vaccine mandates on cross-border truckers imposed by the federal government in mid-January. However, the federal government is getting largely isolated in persisting with such mandates, as several provinces have announced either lifting of the mandates or planning such action soon.
The action drew immediate criticism. The daily, Toronto Star, usually a pro-Trudeau outlet, featured an editorial headlined: “Invoking the Emergencies Act is a shocking admission of failure.”
Leah West, Professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, who specialises in national security law, tweeted, “Invoking Canada’s biggest hammer to quash dissent when the legal thresholds are not met is a dangerous precedent to set.”
The Canadian Constitution Foundation issued a release stating it was “concerned by the federal government’s historic invocation of the Emergencies Act today. The government has set a dangerous precedent for the right to free assembly and protest, declaring the protests occurring in Ottawa and elsewhere across the country to be unlawful without any further explanation.”
Opposition leader Candice Bergen described the action announced as “ham-fisted”, while her party colleague and favourite to become the next leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre tweeted, “Trudeau has created a political emergency. He can end it, by reversing his mandates and restrictions.”