Court File No.: T-316-22

The CCLA’s concerns were later echoed by the Honourable Perrin Beatty, then Minister of Defence, who at the time said to the Legislative Committee: Before the Government of Canada can issue declaration of emergency, the act requires that the government of any province directly affected by the declaration must be consulted about the declaration and about the emergency measures the Government of Can. [...] In particular, the application challenges the orders that prohibit public assembly as a violation of section 2 of the Charter and the measures that direct the freezing of assets and the reporting of transactions as violations of section 8 of the Charter. [...] The impact of the resolution of these issues will extend well beyond the immediate interests of those parties impacted by the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and well beyond the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current protests giving rise to that invocation. [...] The immediate effect and serious consequences of the government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on the rights and freedoms of people across Canada requires a similarly immediate consideration of the legality of that decision. [...] On February 18, 2022, ahead of a vote in the House of Commons on whether to ratify the usage of the Emergencies Act, Premier Kenney stated that his government would challenge the use of the Act and potentially join as an intervener with the CCLA.