How will the government use it?

Trudeau insisted that the scope of the measures will be “time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address." “We are not using the Emergencies Act to call in the military,” he said. “We are not suspending fundamental rights or overriding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We’re not limiting people’s freedom of speech. We are not limiting freedom of peaceful assembly.” The regulations say that the powers granted to police could be used to ban public gatherings near critical infrastructure — including airports, border crossings and train stations — that “may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of peace.” The regulations also establish “protected places.” They include Parliament Hill and the parliamentary precinct, government buildings, war monuments, defense buildings and officials’ residences. Senior officials said the measures prohibit bringing minor children to or “near” illegal assemblies, and they ban foreign nationals from entering Canada to participate in or facilitate those gatherings. The government will also be able to compel individuals or firms, such as tow-truck companies, to remove vehicles that have been blocking roads. The federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police could be employed to enforce provincial and municipal laws. The measures also give financial institutions powers to choke off the convoy from the massive amount of money it has raised through crowdfunding sites, in part from foreign sources. Banks will be able to temporarily freeze the accounts of those suspected of supporting the blockades, without a court order. Crowdfunding platforms, such as GoFundMe, will have to report suspicious activities to Canada’s financial intelligence unit, and they will be subject to anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing laws. Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, said the corporate accounts of companies whose vehicles are part of the blockades will be frozen and their insurance suspended. Justice Minister David Lametti said the declaration lasts for 30 days but that he hopes to revoke it “sooner.”

How have Canadians reacted?

Responses have been mixed. Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said the government had failed to meet the threshold for invoking the act, arguing that it was not being used to deal with an extreme threat to Canada but to “protect the economy.” “Governments regularly deal with difficult situations, and do so using powers granted to them by democratically elected representatives,” she said. “Emergency legislation should not be normalized. It threatens our democracy and our civil liberties.” But Errol Mendes, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, told the Globe and Mail that the demonstrations are becoming a national security threat that merits a “national response.” The government said that act was necessary because the blockades “are being carried on in conjunction with activities that are directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property” and “for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective.” It said they are harming Canada’s economic security. “There have been those who have tried to characterize these illegal blockades [as being] about vaccines and mandates and fatigue with the pandemic,” said Marco Mendicino, Canada’s public safety minister. “What is driving this movement is a very small, organized group that is driven by an ideology to overthrow the government.” Leah West, an international affairs professor at Carleton University, said that while the government doesn’t use the word in its declaration, the language used is typically how Canadian law defines “terrorism.” She said you “have to kind of squint” to satisfy the legal thresholds. “That to me is really problematic because it sets a precedent for potential future abuse,” she said. West also said that there are many laws on the books that criminalize much of what has taken place. “Whether or not it resolves the protest, I think it’s going to come down to enforcement,” she said.

How have Canadian lawmakers responded?

Before Trudeau made his announcement, he met with the provincial premiers, who must be consulted. Several, including those from Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, pushed back. “We really need not to put oil on the fire,” Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters on Monday. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province is particularly affected, supports the invocation. Several federal opposition lawmakers said Trudeau had failed as a leader. Candice Bergen, the interim leader of the federal Conservatives, who for several weeks cheered the convoy as it approached Ottawa and took over much of the downtown core, said Trudeau’s turn to the act was evidence that he had politicized the pandemic. “The prime minister had the opportunity to talk and listen to so many he disagreed with, and he refused to do so,” she said, “so this looks like a ham-fisted approach that will have the opposite effect.” Although the emergency declaration takes effect immediately, the government still needs to obtain approval from Parliament within seven days. If the House of Commons or the Senate votes against the motion, the declaration is revoked. Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal New Democratic Party, has said he will support the government, ensuring that Trudeau has enough votes to get the motion through the House of Commons. The Emergencies Act requires that a public inquiry be launched with 60 days of the expiration or revocation of the act that would probe the circumstances that provoked its declaration. That report must be presented within a year.

Americas

What is the Emergencies Act, which Trudeau invoked against Canada’s trucker protests?

Q: What is the Emergencies Act?

The Emergencies Act gives the Canadian government broad powers and tools to respond to national emergencies . It’s supposed to be a measure of last resort — when there are no other laws that can help. It allows the prime minister and cabinet to “take special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times,” according to the text. It must be used in “urgent” situations that threaten “the lives, health or safety of Canadians” or the country’s power to protect its “sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.” “It’s exceptional,” said Malcolm Lavoie, an associate professor of law at the University of Alberta. “It’s unusual for it to be invoked, in part because it’s based on a federal power that allows it to intrude into areas that would normally be under provincial jurisdiction during an emergency.” The Emergencies Act was passed in 1988 to replace the War Measures Act, which had been invoked three times, two of them during the world wars. Trudeau’s father, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, turned to it most recently in 1970 after Quebec separatists kidnapped a British trade commissioner and a provincial labor minister, later killing him. Asked how far he would go to restore order, Pierre Trudeau famously said: “Just watch me.” Critics of the War Measures Act charged that it overreached in curtailing civil liberties. It allowed police to carry out searches and arrests without warrants and to detain people without bail. The War Measures Act still stirs strong, negative feelings in Quebec. The Emergencies Act contains more checks.

By Amanda Coletta

and

Miriam Berger

Updated February 16, 2022 at 12:36 p.m. EST|Published February 15, 2022 at 10:14 a.m. EST

A demonstrator bangs gas canisters together in Ottawa on Feb. 10. (Blair Gable/Reuters)

Comment

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday invoked far-reaching, never-before-used emergency powers to try to end the demonstrations that have blocked major thoroughfares in the Canadian capital for more than two weeks and snarled traffic on the U.S.-Canada border.

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The invocation of the Emergencies Act came as law enforcement officials at all levels of government were drawing intense criticism for a response to a spiraling crisis that many here have felt was insufficient — weighing on Canada’s international reputation and trust in public institutions.

“The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety,” Trudeau, flanked by several top cabinet ministers, told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.”

What started in late January as a self-styled “Freedom Convoy” of demonstrators opposed to vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers has metastasized into protests against all coronavirus measures and Trudeau. The protests have drawn some far-right agitators, rippled across Canada and inspired copycats abroad.

Here’s what you need to know about the Emergencies Act and what could happen next.

Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act against Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ trucker protest