The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said it was disappointed in the report from the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) about the Freedom Convoy. .“In our view, the threshold set out in the Emergencies Act was clearly not met,” said JCCF lawyer Rob Kittredge in a Friday press release. .“Leaving aside the question of whether a s. 2 CSIS Act ‘threat to the security of Canada’ existed, it was clear from the evidence before the Commission that the protests could have and would have been dealt with under existing law.”.The POEC determined on Friday the Canadian government met the high threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy. .READ MORE: Commissioner finds Liberals met threshold for invoking Emergencies Act for Freedom Convoy.“It is only in rare instances, when the state cannot otherwise fulfill its fundamental obligation to ensure the safety and security of people and property, that resort to emergency measures will be found to be appropriate,” said POEC Commissioner Paul Rouleau. .“It is regrettable that such as a situation arose here, because in my view, it could have been avoided.”.The release said the seven weeks of hearings showed the protests across Canada were disruptive but peaceful. It said the hearings provided evidence to show they did not pose a threat to Canada’s security. .The Emergencies Act requires a public inquiry be held into the circumstances of the declaration of the emergency and the appropriateness of the measures taken. It was formed by an order in council in April and was chaired by Rouleau. .The JCCF was granted participatory standing at the POEC and was represented by Kittredge and lawyer Hatim Kheir. .The JCCF argued the circumstances leading up to the invocation of the Emergencies Act did not meet the threshold set out in the statute to declare an emergency. In order to lawfully declare a public order emergency, it requires there be threats to Canada’s security so serious to be a national emergency which cannot be dealt with under any other law. .It filed closing submissions arguing the Canadian government failed to show this threshold was met, so the invocation was unlawful. .Kittredge acknowledged Rouleau said his findings are not binding on the courts which might hear legal challenges to the use of the act. .“Applications for judicial review of the invocation of the Act are currently before the Federal Court, and we are optimistic that the Federal Courts will indeed reach a different conclusion,” he said. .The JCCF filed a constitutional challenge on behalf of four Canadians to the federal government invoking the Emergencies Act in 2022. .“The freezing of bank accounts is a gross abuse of government power, used to punish those who supported a peaceful protest for the return of Charter rights and freedoms that were taken away from Canadians 23 months ago,” said JCCF President John Carpay..Two of the applicants represented by the JCCF had their bank accounts frozen and seized, without judicial authorization or a review process, using laws which apply to terrorists and enemy countries. Its lawsuit will argue the use of the act was unconstitutional and an excessive use of executive power.
