HomeNationalConstitutional groups demand unredacted documents for full disclosure of Emergencies Act evidence

Constitutional groups demand unredacted documents for full disclosure of Emergencies Act evidence

The Trudeau government’s secrecy surrounding the use of the Emergencies Act was contested on Monday in the Federal Court of Canada by the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF).

Attorneys for CCF are requesting that the federal government make available all previously redacted materials from cabinet and incident response meetings that were held before the Act was applied in February to crush the Freedom Convoy.

“If the government made better decisions about what record to put before this court — a proper record — then we would not be here,” said lawyer Sujit Choudhry. 

“We are here because the government has left us no choice to try and get the truth.”

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association joined the CCF in challenging the use of the extraordinary measures of emergency powers.

Legal organizations contend that Ottawa already had the authority and powers to handle the convoy demonstrations and that using such drastic measures was overreaching.

“There’s no evidence that they wouldn’t have been legally effective in addressing the border blockades and the Ottawa protest,” Choudhry told the National Post. 

In order to keep the specifics of their response to the convoy under wraps, the Liberal government has frequently claimed cabinet confidence.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would waive cabinet confidence in the release of a series of documents Ottawa had used to support the Act’s use after coming under public pressure.

In a press statement on the subject, the Public Order Emergency Commission, which was established to look into the use of the matter, noted that this was the fourth instance since Confederation in which access to cabinet secrets has been granted to a public inquiry.

“This exceptional step recognizes the fundamental importance of the Commission’s work and how critical these documents are in inquiring into why the Government declared a public order emergency,” said Commission counsel co-lead Shantona Chaudhury and Jeffrey Leon.

“On behalf of Commissioner (Paul) Rouleau, we took the position that Cabinet documents must be released to facilitate the Commission’s examination and assessment of the basis for the Government’s decision to declare the emergency and fulfil the Commission’s mandate.” 

The records, which will be provided to the committee as evidence, are anticipated to be made available soon by the Trudeau government.

“It is in the public interest that this Public Inquiry be fully informed of the circumstances that led to Cabinet’s decision to declare the emergency and adopt the measures,” said Chaudry and Leon.

“We appreciate that the Government has acknowledged this and cooperated by making this voluntary disclosure. This is an important step in moving the Commission’s work forward.”

After the invoking the Emergencies Act the Trudeau government made a series of claims that have all been debunked such as saying the police requested the Emergencies act and they needed the Emergencies Act because there was no tow trucks available.

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Jordan
Jordan
Jordan is a casual reporter for BC Rise
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