TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) — A top Canadian constitutional rights group filed a lawsuit against the federal government’s mandatory ArriveCAN travel app, arguing the program is in direct violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The Democracy Fund (TDF) has filed a Notice of Application in the Federal Court of Canada on behalf of several Canadians against the Minister of Health for the government’s use of the ArriveCAN app that has so frustrated travelers,” The Democracy Fund announced in a press release on Wednesday, the same day the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announced their own lawsuit against ArriveCAN.
“The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the collection, use and dissemination of the private health information of Canadians by the government is a breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” the press release added.
READ: 11 Canadians file lawsuit challenging mandatory use of ArriveCAN travel app
In the suit, TDF’s lawyers argue that the Quarantine Act — the legislation under which ArriveCAN operates — “does not confer jurisdiction on the government to compel persons entering Canada to disclose intimate details about their health and personal choices under threat of fines or imprisonment.”
Due to this lack of jurisdiction, the lawsuit alleges that by requiring Canadians to reveal such information through the mandatory ArriveCAN app in order to re-enter Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government “unreasonably and unjustifiably infringes” on each Canadian’s right “to be free from unreasonable search and seizure as protected by sections 7 and 8 of the Charter.”
According to the lawsuit, these sections explicitly enshrine each Canadian’s right to not have their “private information” and “medical information” seized “without requisite constitutional grounds.”
TDF also notes that these privacy concerns are only amplified due to the fact that ArriveCAN’s own privacy statement says that “any information obtained through the application can be retained indefinitely and can also be shared with international organizations and foreign governments whom Canada cannot regulate.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, TDF’s lawsuit is one of two high-profile lawsuits against the Trudeau government’s ArriveCAN app, with the Justice Centre filing a similar lawsuit on behalf of 11 Canadians on Wednesday.
Neither lawsuit came as a surprise to Canadians who have been following the issue, as multiple lawyers and legal groups have been decrying the invasive nature and potential unconstitutionality of the app for months.
READ: ‘Scope’ of Trudeau’s ArriveCAN app poses ‘serious threats to privacy,’ attorney warns
In June, after Trudeau’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino indicated ArriveCAN was to be used “beyond” the scope of the so-called pandemic, Justice Centre lawyer Hatim Kheir warned LifeSiteNews that “the growth of the scope of the ArriveCAN app is troubling.”
“It started as a tool for monitoring quarantine. It was expanded to include health data, specifically, COVID vaccination status. It is being further expanded to include customs information,” Kheir stated in his email.
“Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, every Canadian citizen has the right to enter Canada. The app infringes that right of mobility by acting as a barrier to returning,” explained the lawyer, adding, “The app also poses serious threats to privacy” as “Canadians should not be required to disclose personal, medical information as a precondition to exercising their right to return home.”