Ottawa appealing use of Emergencies Act ruling during ‘Freedom Convoy’

The federal government is appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada to review decisions by lower courts that ruled against its use of the Emergencies Act during the “Freedom Convoy” protests.

A federal court ruling in 2024 found the then-Trudeau government had used the law unreasonably to clear the 2022 protests in Ottawa, and at some border crossings, and breached charter rights.

A January ruling from the federal court of appeal affirmed that decision.

The court said the government lacked a basis to declare that the events across Canada posed a threat to national security or amounted to a national emergency — requirements that must be satisfied to invoke the Emergencies Act.

The Emergencies Act defines a national emergency as an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians, exceeds the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it and cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.

The Liberal government of today, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the appeal is about making sure it can respond to serious threats to public order and national security.

Opposition Conservatives are criticizing the decision, calling the request a last-minute appeal a waste of time and money.

With files from The Canadian Press.

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