Trudeau’s use of Emergency Act “was not justified” says court
Justin Trudeau’s government breached protesters’ rights to free expression, while the freezing of Truckers’ Freedom Convoy sympathizers’ bank accounts amounted to illegal search and seizure, ruled Justice Richard Mosley in a decision released Tuesday, January 23rd.
“The decision to issue the proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration,” Mosley wrote. “The decision to issue the proclamation was unreasonable and led to infringement of Charter rights.”
Justice Mosley’s decision is the first federal decision to come from Canada’s justice system. Last night, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told media that the Trudeau government will appeal the decision.
Judges in Canada operate independently and are expected to make decisions based on the law, impartially, unbiased, and free from external influences. They are not aligned with any party involved in the case and must make decisions solely based on the facts presented, the law, and legal precedents. This principle of judicial independence is fundamental to the Canadian legal system.
In contrast, the Public Emergency Order Commission which was conducted in 2022 was headed by a commissioner hand-picked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Liberal supporter Paul Rouleau. Despite having heard numerous police witness testify that they did not need the Emergency Act to maintain order during the Freedom Convoy, Rouleau found that Trudeau’s actions were justified.
