Canada Invokes Emergency Powers to Stop Protests

Feb. 15, 2022

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked federal emergency powers to quell the trucker-led protests towards COVID-19 restrictions which have clogged the capital metropolis of Ottawa and different components of the nation.

Trudeau mentioned he didn’t plan to make use of the navy towards the protesters, however he threatened to have the truckers’ automobiles towed, freeze truckers’ private and company financial institution accounts, and droop insurance coverage on the vans, in line with The Associated Press.

“These blockades are illegal, and if you are still participating, the time to go home is now,” Trudeau mentioned in an deal with to the nation. He didn’t specify when the powers could be enforced.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland mentioned the Canadian authorities additionally will use anti-money-laundering legal guidelines to go after crowd-funding websites supporting the blockaders.

Some protesters mentioned they weren’t transferring.

“We want only one thing: to finish with this lockdown and these restrictions,” protesting Montreal trucker Cadalin Valcea mentioned, in line with The Associated Press.

The Associated Press mentioned an earlier model of the emergency powers act, referred to as the War Measures Act, had solely been used as soon as in Canada throughout peacetime. That occurred in 1970 when Justin Trudeau’s father, then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, responded to a militant Quebec independence motion.

For greater than two weeks a whole bunch of truckers have blocked streets and intersections in Ottawa, together with close to Parliament Hill. Thousands of non-trucker supporters have joined them.

Over the weekend Ottawa police cleared protesters off the Ambassador Bridge that connects Canada and the United States.

The demonstrations started as an outcry towards a Canadian rule that truckers wanted to be vaccinated to cross into the United States. The protests rapidly expanded into motion towards pandemic restrictions akin to provincial masks and vaccine mandates in addition to the Trudeau’s management, The New York Times mentioned.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association mentioned the scenario didn’t warrant use of the emergency powers act.

On Twitter, the affiliation mentioned, “The Emergencies Act can only be invoked when a situation ‘seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada’ & when the situation ‘cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada. Governments regularly deal with difficult situations and do so using powers granted to them by democratically elected representatives. Emergency legislation should not be normalized. It threatens our democracy and our civil liberties.”

On Tuesday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly resigned below strain due to his dealing with to the trucker protests within the metropolis, CTV News reported.