The Canadian Civil Liberties Association came out against the use of the Emergency Act.
@cancivlib Defending Canadian rights and freedoms since 1964.
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CCLA STATEMENT ON THE EMERGENCIES ACT
By CCLA February 15, 2022
Home » PRESS RELEASES » CCLA Statement on the Emergencies Act
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 government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met.
The Emergencies Act can only be invoked, according to its own terms, when a situation “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it,” or “seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada” and when the situation “cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.”
The Emergencies Act is there to address these kinds of extreme threats to Canada, not to protect the economy.
Governments regularly deal with difficult situations, and do so using powers granted to them by democratically elected representatives. Emergency legislation should not be normalized. It threatens our democracy and our civil liberties.
TV interview with the very new head of CCLA, Noa Mendelsohn Aviv.
Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib·Feb 9
We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Noa Mendelsohn Aviv (@NMACanada) as the CCLA's new Executive Director and General Counsel.
Congratulations Noa, wishing you the best of success in your new role!
Video is here:
https://www.cp24.com/video?clipId=2382262
Not seeing anything from the US ACLU but it's Canada I guess.
BBC has a deep dive into the Act at
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60381096. The Act only lasts for 30 days; the fruckers clearly haven't read or understood it.
Canada trucker protest: What powers will Emergencies Act give Trudeau?
Published 15 hours ago
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked the never-used Emergencies Act to give his government enhanced authority in response to the anti-vaccine mandate protests and blockades gripping Canada. The law will grant
Mr Trudeau's government extraordinary powers for 30 days - including the power to prohibit public assembly, travel and the use of specific property. The move comes amid weeks of disruptive - and expensive - demonstrations against Covid-19 restrictions.
► Show Spoiler
Law enforcement on Sunday re-opened the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor - a critical crossing for Canada-US trade - after a week-long standstill. But in Ottawa, hundreds of demonstrators have begun their third week of occupation around the city's Parliament Hill. Here's a look at what the Emergencies Act is, and what it can actually do.
What is the Emergencies Act?
The Emergencies Act, passed in 1988, bestows the government with added powers in times of national crisis. The situation must meet a high bar, specifically an "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians". And Cabinet may only invoke the legislation if the emergency cannot be addressed by any existing federal law and if it exceeds the capacity of the provinces to handle it effectively.
The Emergencies Act outlines four different types of emergencies: public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies. If the legislation is invoked this week, it will likely be under the 'public order' category. Again, the criteria here is strict - lawful protests do not qualify. Instead, the situation must be considered a threat to the security of Canada, as defined by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. This law outlines four possible scenarios:
Espionage or sabotage
Foreign-influenced activities
Threats or use of acts of serious violence for political, religious or ideological objectives
Covert, unlawful acts intended to undermine or overthrow the constitutionally established government
It is so far unclear which scenario Mr Trudeau would rely on to justify the use of the Emergency Act - none of these four scenarios have been clearly present in Ontario.
To invoke the law, the prime minister must also consult with the premiers of any impacted provinces before putting the move before Parliament. If the act does not pass a vote there, the proclamation will be revoked. On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would support the federal government and "any proposals they have to bring law and order back to our province". The premier of Quebec, Francois Legault, told reporters he didn't want to see the act applied in his province.
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Has the Act ever been used before?
No, the Emergencies Act has never been applied. The law was considered in the early days of the pandemic under the public welfare category but was ultimately ruled unnecessary. A predecessor of the law, called the War Measures Act, was used three times in Canadian history: during the First World War, the Second World War and, most controversially, by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau - Justin Trudeau's father - during the October Crisis.
The elder Mr Trudeau used this earlier law in 1970 to suspend civil liberties and send in armed forces to respond to the political kidnappings of a British diplomat and a Quebec politician by home-grown terrorists known as the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ). Army tanks and more than 1,000 troops from across Canada were called in to support police in Quebec, ushering in comparisons to a police state. Pressed by reporters about how far he would go in response to the crisis, Pierre Trudeau responded with the famous phrase: "Just watch me."
Fascinating to consider the balance of civil liberties with the economic and security issues the fruckers and protesters have created. While I get the CCLA's position, considering this has been going on for a long time with no real leader and massive disruption, I'm for using the Emergency Act if that's what Canada wants to do. It's their business. Does anybody have a counter opinion, that the Act shouldn't be passed in Parliament?