Tell Canadian politicians not repeat Alberta’s energy nightmare – send a message now
(LifeSiteNews) –– The Federal Court judge who ruled last week that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s use of the Emergencies Act (EA) to quash the truckers’ Freedom Convoy in 2022 was unconstitutional, is a Liberal-appointed and well-respected judge with decades of experience.
Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley, 74, is a longtime resident of Ottawa and once served as assistant deputy justice minister under then-Attorney General Anne McLellan, before he was appointed to the Federal Court in 2003, which was Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s last year in office.
Mosley admitted that at the start of the court proceedings, he “had not reached a decision on any of the four applications,” noting he was “leaning to the view the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was reasonable.”
“I considered the events that occurred in Ottawa and other locations in January and February 2022 went beyond legitimate protest and reflected an unacceptable breakdown of public order,” he added.
He also observed how it was civil rights lawyers who ended up changing his mind about the case.
Mosley also said that he had, and continues to have, “considerable sympathy for those in government who were confronted with this situation,” and that had he “been at their tables at that time I may have agreed it was necessary to invoke the Act.”
Last Tuesday, Canada’s Federal Court announced that the use of the EA by the Trudeau government in early 2022 to shut down Freedom Convoy, which was calling for an end to COVID mandates, was a direct violation of the nation’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and thus was “not justified.”
The January 23 decision by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley saw the judge write, “Having found that the infringements of Charter sections 2(b) and 8 were not minimally impairing, I find that they were not justified under section 1.”
The legal victory follows a lengthy court battle that was launched by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association along with many applicants, including some provincial governments such as Alberta that all argued the use of the EA was a violation of rights.
The ruling was celebrated by prominent conservative Canadian politicians and independent media pundits alike.
However, the Trudeau government last week said it will appeal the federal court’s decision.
Despite Mosley’s ruling, Canada’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner, in April of 2022, while speaking to Québec daily Le Devoir, claimed the Freedom Convoy protests was the start of anarchy in Canada.
“What we saw on Wellington Street here was the beginning of anarchy where certain people decided to take other citizens hostage, to take the law into their own hands,” he said.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Trudeau’s government enacted the EA on February 14, 2022.
During the clear-out of protesters after the EA was put in place, one protester, an elderly lady, was trampled by a police horse, and one conservative female reporter was beaten by police and shot with a tear gas canister.
Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23.
The EA controversially allowed the government to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in assemblies the government deemed illegal.
An investigation into the use of the EA, as per Canadian law, was launched by Trudeau. However, it was headed by Liberal-friendly Judge Paul Rouleau, who led the Public Order Emergency Commission. This commission was stuck to investigate the Liberal government’s unprecedented use of the EA against the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy protest. Unsurprisingly, the commission exonerated Trudeau’s use of the EA.
Tell Canadian politicians not repeat Alberta’s energy nightmare – send a message now