Subdued One-Year Anniversary of the Invocation of Emergencies Act in Ottawa

Hundreds gather at Parliament Hill to celebrate the first anniversary of the Freedom Convoy movement in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2023. (Lucy Zhou/The Epoch Times)

The one-year anniversary of the Trudeau government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to clear the Freedom Convoy protest saw a return of protesters to the nation’s capital, but in much smaller numbers than the thousands in Ottawa in 2022.

Only about one dozen protesters came to Parliament Hill on Feb. 14, outnumbered by police and bylaw officers whose numbers were increased in case of a possible convoy reunion.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) held a press conference to mark the anniversary, announcing that their legal challenge against the government was ongoing and would include evidence that was put before the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC).

Paul Rouleau, the commissioner of the POEC, is expected to release on Feb. 20 his report on the decision made by the government to use the extraordinary powers of the Emergencies Act for the first time in history. The commission reviewed thousands of documents and heard from dozens of witnesses during weeks of hearings that began on Oct. 13, 2022, and continued until Dec. 2.

CCLA director Cara Zwibel said, “We anxiously await the release of the POEC report,” adding that it is the CCLA’s position that the legal “threshold for using the act was not met.”

She said while most people would “probably prefer to forget” the anniversary of the use of the Emergencies Act, it was a “significant event in Canada.”

“At the time that the emergency was invoked, we had not seen acts or threats of serious acts of violence against persons,” said Zwibel.

She said that to qualify legally as a public order emergency, there has to be “a threat to the security of Canada, that rises to the level of a national emergency,” which would be based on definitions under the CSIS Act—“things like sabotage, or espionage, or threats of serious violence to persons or property,” she said.

The government put forward its reasons for invoking the Act, said Zwibel, but “those reasons didn’t really specify any threat of violence or acts of violence that had been committed or were expected to be committed. It talked in sort of vague and speculative terms about what might happen.”

She added that the government’s use of the Act created “severe restrictions on the freedom to peacefully assemble” and “the possibility of having your personal assets frozen with no notice and no due process” on Canadians across the country.

Calling these “extraordinary powers,” Zwibel said, “there is a good reason why we set a high threshold in the act” for the government to be able to use them.

The CCLA’s judicial review hearing over the government’s use of the Emergencies Act is scheduled for early April.

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said he was also looking forward to receiving the POEC report.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.