On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau activated emergency powers to stop the protests across the country against COVID-19 restrictions.
Reuters reported that, “Under the Emergencies Act, the government introduced measures intended to cut off protesters’ funding and took steps to reinforce provincial and local law enforcement with federal police”.
In a news conference, Trudeau said, “The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety”. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue”.
The Prime Minister shared a video of his speech on Twitter, saying, “I want to be very clear about what we are – and are not – doing by invoking the Emergencies Act, and how taking this step will help get the situation under control”.
Trudeau’s actions have drawn criticism from several civil liberties groups. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued that the protests have not met the standard to invoke the Emergencies Act.
“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,'” it said on Twitter.
“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,” the group added.
Lori Williams, a politics professor at Mount Royal University, Calgary, warned that the action against the protests “could create more problems”.
“There’s the danger this could create more problems, that’s why this has to be done with the cooperation of premiers and if they don’t want help, then the federal government needs to hang back,” she said, according to Reuters.
The Emergencies Act threatens to tow vehicles to keep essential services running, freeze truckers’ personal and corporate bank accounts, and strike at sources of financial support.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told the Freedom Convoy, “Consider yourselves warned”. “If your truck is used in these blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended. Send your rigs home”.