The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) calls itself “Freedom’s Defence Team.” It participated in the Emergencies Act hearings, and has since filed a two-part closing submission (see here and here.)
Together, these documents should chill the blood of anyone who believes Canadians have rights that governments must never trample. Part 1 tells us the Emergencies Act is “dangerous legislation” and that it’s invocation last February “was illegal.”
Lawyers Sujit Choudhry and Janani Shanmuganathan explain that the Emergencies Act allows a small group of people - the federal Cabinet, with the Prime Minister in charge - “to create new criminal offences and police powers” without advance notice, public debate, or any discussion in Parliament.
It allows these same people to interfere in areas normally managed by provincial governments - without the bother of even consulting the provinces, never mind obtaining their consent.
Here are some of the other issues highlighted by the CCF lawyers (all bolding added by me):
Prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act “there had been no rioting and…Not one person had been seriously injured.”
“the protests were not even close to the sort of national crisis Parliament had in mind when it passed the Emergencies Act.”
During the Emergencies Act hearings in November - 10 months after the fact - Justin Trudeau’s government “for the very first time” said it had relied on a new and novel interpretation of what constitutes a national security threat (italics by the lawyers).
When asked to explain this interpretation, the government said the legal opinion on which it relied is a secret.
Something horrifying happened in Canada last year. Peaceful protesters were violently shut down by an outrageous government overreaction. Since then, those responsible have offered shockingly lame, shockingly thin explanations for their behaviour.
So here’s a question: Why aren’t members of other political parties hollering about this at every opportunity? Why aren’t they insisting, day after day in Parliament, that the government come clean - that it release its secret legal reasoning?
This is a scandal. This is a historic blot on Canada’s record that will shame us for generations. Yet members of our political class are remarkably uninterested in talking about it.
The old saying about the corrupting quality of power is proven once again. Acknowledging these abuses is only the first step to controlling them in the future. Accountability for unconstitutional actions is required as well. Some of the police refused the orders as unconstitutional. Many of the bloggers opined that the invocation of the Emergencies Act was unconstitutional. In that they got it right and it took a secret legal opinion to come to an alternate conclusion, the siren call of power is clearly demonstrated. It will not get better without effort. It needs to be put back in a stronger box.
If you believe in rights and freedom, this should terrify you. If it does not, then you are obviously okay with tyranny, or at the very least, tyranny against those who you oppose.
Here is part of my recommendation:
Anything that infringes on or even appears that it might infringe on any of our rights and freedoms, be it ever so slight, should always be subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If in the most extreme circumstances it is ever deemed necessary to infringe in any way on those rights and freedoms, then first a specific law must be enacted that meets the following criteria:
Voting Requirements for the Specific Law
For the purposes of such a vote an official party would be any party holding 10 or more seats. If there are 10 or more independents, they will be treated like an official party.
The vote should be a free vote and it should be a criminal offence for anyone, including a party leader or party whip to interfere with any members freedom to vote their conscience.
At least 50% of MPs from each official party must vote.
At least 50% of those voting from each official party must vote in favour.
At least 75% of all those voting must vote in favour.
http://heinzegroup.com/insight.htm#29