The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has filed an appeal on behalf of former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford and People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier for their lawsuit against COVID-19 vaccine travel mandates..“The travel mandate represents one of the most egregious infringements of Canadians’ mobility rights in Canadian history,” said JCCF lawyer Allison Pejovic in a Monday press release. .“Canadians need to have confidence in our justice system.”.Federal Court of Canada Associate Chief Justice Jocelyne Gagne axed several challenges to Canada’s former vaccine mandate for travel on October 20. .READ MORE: 'Logic is dead': Dire day for air travel vaccine lawsuits.The Federal Court of Canada was set to hear cases set forth by Peckford, Bernier, business executives Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickard, and others. Gagne passed the attorney general's application to block the challenges about two weeks before court hearings commenced. .“The applicants' applications for judicial review are struck out as moot," she said. .Gagne said on October 27 using judicial resources for a five-day hearing, when the travel mandate had been lifted, outweighed the public interest in having the case heard on its merits. .The Canadian government suspended its vaccine mandate for domestic and outbound international travellers, federally-regulated transportation employees, and government workers in June. .READ MORE: Federal government to suspend vaccine mandates for travellers, federal workers next week."Today's announcement is possible because Canadians stepped up to protect each other,” said Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc. .The change allowed unvaccinated Canadians to board planes and trains travelling within Canada or to international locations. Travellers were required to follow rules around testing and quarantine upon re-entry from international destinations..The release said lawyers for Peckford, Bernier, and the other applicants appealed on the grounds Gagne failed to exercise her discretion to hear and decide the constitutional challenge for the travel mandate. It said they will argue she erred in her determination judicial economy considerations outweighed the public interest and uncertainty in the law. .“It is a profound injustice for millions of Canadians to be denied a court ruling on the lawfulness of the federal government’s prohibition on their travel overseas or across our large country in a practical way,” said Pejovic.
