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.

WATCH | Judge's ruling says use of Emergencies Act was 'unreasonable':

Using Emergencies Act over convoy protests wasn’t justified, court rules

10 months ago

Duration 2:32

A federal judge has ruled the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 convoy protests was unreasonable and violated two sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government says it plans to appeal.

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 national groups, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and two people whose bank accounts were frozen. They argued Ottawa did not meet the legal threshold when it invoked the legislation, which had never been used before.

In a copy of the appeal obtained by CBC News, the federal government argues that the federal court applied the reasonableness standard "in an incorrect manner" and that it adopted an "overly narrow articulation" of the Charter.