November 07, 2024 18:44 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
After Salman, now Shah Rukh Khan receives death threat, case filed | Sexual harassment case can't be cancelled over compromise between accused and complainant: Supreme Court | Australia plans to ban social media for children under 16 | Jammu and Kashmir Assembly sees brawl over Article 370, House adjourned | PM Modi calls Donald Trump to congratulate on his 'spectacular victory'
Canada court rebukes Justin Trudeau for 'unjustified' emergency powers use to suppress 'freedom convoy' protests
Justin Trudeau
Photo courtesy: Facebook/Justin Trudeau

Canada court rebukes Justin Trudeau for 'unjustified' emergency powers use to suppress 'freedom convoy' protests

| @indiablooms | 25 Jan 2024, 12:23 am

The Federal Court of Canada has rebuked the Justin Trudeau government over the use of emergency powers to suppress the "freedom convoy" protests in 2022 and called it "unjustified and disproportionate".

Justice Richard Mosley said that even though the situation was urgent, it could have been managed with existing laws.

"I conclude that there was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act and the decision to do so was therefore unreasonable and ultra vires," Mosley wrote while delivering the decision on Tuesday.

The court determined that the act of freezing the bank accounts of individuals associated with protests was also unwarranted.

"The harassment of residents, workers and business owners in downtown Ottawa and the general infringement of the right to peaceful enjoyment of public spaces there, though highly objectionable, did not amount to serious violence or threats of serious violence," the judge wrote.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilivre slammed the Canadian PM and said "Trudeau said he admired the basic Chinese communist dictatorship. He meant it: Violating the Charter. Breaking the law. Seizing bank accounts. Censoring the internet."

The decision casts a shadow on Trudeau's government that defended the decision of using the Emergencies Act as necessary as the protest took place amid Covid-19 pandemic.

The Freedom Convoy protest took place in early 2022 over stringent public health mandates and vaccine requirements.

Trudeau, facing a national deadlock, deployed the emergency powers and labelled the same as necessary citing protesters' non-negotiable stance.

(By Suman Das/IBNS)

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos