The Canadian Civil Liberties Association plans to fight the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act in court.
The organization first raised concerns earlier this week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the legislation in a bid to end the occupation in downtown Ottawa and protect critical infrastructure like border points from blockades. It said normalizing the use of the Act posed a threat to democracy and civil liberties.
"We have retained Ewa Krajewska of Henein Hutchinson LLP to take the federal government to court," said Executive Director Noa Mendelsohn. "We have said all along that the federal government did not meet the high burden necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act."
Although the convoy protests have been disruptive, Mendelsohn said governments already have the means to address them.
"This use of the Emergencies Act is unnecessary, unjustifiable, and unconstitutional," he said.
The federal government is using the Act to freeze bank accounts used to finance protesters, prohibit public gatherings in downtown Ottawa, and deploy RCMP officers to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offences. Police also have greater power to make arrests and impose fines.
Police began moving in on protesters in downtown Ottawa on Friday after repeatedly warning them they could be arrested if they did not leave. However, the association said the crisis did not endanger the lives, health, or safety of Canadians.
"The emergency orders that the government has tabled are not targeted," argued Abby Deshman, the association's Director of Criminal Justice. "They are not limited to specific protests or specific geographic locations. They are expansive emergency orders that have already come into effect and apply equally across the entire country. And, they place unprecedented restrictions on every single Canadian's constitutional rights."
The Emergencies Act went into effect on Monday, but still requires approval in the House of Commons and Senate. On Friday, debate in the House of Commons was cancelled by the police operation in front of Parliament Hill.
