Top court will hear appeal on ruling that found feds violated Charter during convoy protest

The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal of a 2024 Federal Court ruling that found the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau infringed the Charter rights of convoy participants when it invoked the Emergencies Act in 2022.

2024 Federal Court ruling said invoking Emergencies Act in 2022 lacked justification

Listen to this article

Estimated 3 minutes

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.

The Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday that it will hear an appeal of a 2024 Federal Court ruling that found the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau infringed the Charter rights of convoy participants when it invoked the Emergencies Act in 2022. 

The federal government appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal, which in January 2026 agreed with the the lower court's decision.

In agreeing, the Federal Court of Appeal said Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley was correct when he ruled in 2024 that the Liberal cabinet at the time did not have reasonable grounds to believe that the convoy protest posed a threat to national security, and therefore the decision to invoke the act fell short of the legal threshold required.

"As disturbing and disruptive the blockades and the convoy protests in Ottawa could be, they fell well short of a threat to national security," wrote the three judges on the Federal Court of Appeal.

The federal government sought leave to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which said Thursday that it will hear the case.

• Federal government loses Emergencies Act appeal, court says use during convoy protest was unreasonable

• Ottawa's use of Emergencies Act against convoy protests was unreasonable, violated Charter, court rules

In 2022, a protest largely against vaccine requirements attracted thousands of people to the capital for weeks, many in trucks, who had a slew of grievances aimed at Trudeau and his government.

In an effort to clear protesters who had occupied Ottawa and border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, the Liberal government invoked the act on Feb. 14, 2022.

Invoking the act gave law enforcement extraordinary powers to remove and arrest protesters, while allowing the government to freeze the finances of those connected to the protests.

It was the first time the law had been invoked since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.

2023 commission said feds met legal threshold

A mandatory inquiry, led by Commissioner Paul Rouleau, reviewed the government's use of the Emergencies Act and came to a different conclusion in early 2023 than the subsequent legal challenges.

Rouleau concluded the federal government met the "very high" threshold needed to invoke the Emergencies Act, citing a failure in policing and federalism.

Rouleau, an Ontario Court of Appeal justice, did say he reached his conclusion with some reluctance.

"I do not come to this conclusion easily, as I do not consider the factual basis for it to be overwhelming," he said in statements he gave after his report was made public.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Zimonjic is a senior writer for CBC News who reports for digital, radio and television. He has worked as a reporter and columnist in London, England, for the Telegraph, Times and Daily Mail, and in Canada for the Ottawa Citizen, Torstar and Sun Media. He is the author of Into The Darkness: An Account of 7/7, published by Vintage.