Ottawa appeals court decision calling use of Emergencies Act on convoy protests unreasonable

The federal government has filed an appeal to contest a federal court's decision that said the use of the Emergencies Act in early 2022 to clear convoy protesters was unreasonable and infringed on Charter rights.

A spokesperson for the department of justice confirmed that the appeal was filed on Thursday.

In January, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that while the protests against the federal government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic «reflected an unacceptable breakdown of public order,» the invocation of the Emergencies Act «does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness — justification, transparency and intelligibility.»

Ultimately, there «was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act,» he wrote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022, after thousands of protesters angry with the Liberal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine requirements, gridlocked downtown Ottawa for nearly a month and blocked border points elsewhere across the country.

The protests gained international attention for bringing parts of the capital to a halt.

The act gave law enforcement extraordinary powers to remove and arrest protesters and gave the government the power to freeze the finances of those connected to the protests. The temporary emergency powers also gave authorities the ability to commandeer tow trucks to remove vehicles belonging to protesters.

In his ruling, Mosley concluded the economic orders violated protesters' Charter rights «by permitting unreasonable search and seizure of the financial information of designated persons and the freezing of their bank and credit card accounts.»

The Federal Court case was argued by two