{"id":611,"date":"2022-11-25T20:37:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/?p=611"},"modified":"2022-11-25T20:37:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:37:23","slug":"emergencies-act-wont-be-abused-by-future-governments-trudeau-tells-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/2022\/11\/25\/emergencies-act-wont-be-abused-by-future-governments-trudeau-tells-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergencies Act won\u2019t be abused by future governments, Trudeau tells inquiry<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Yumna Iftikhar and Polina Ilinykh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testifying Friday at the culmination of the Emergencies Act inquiry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has faith in Canadians and added future governments will not overuse the rights-suspending act that has become a lightning rod for debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime minister defended his government\u2019s use of the act, which it invoked on Feb. 14, weeks after protesters clogged downtown Ottawa streets and also blocked borders in Windsor, Ont. and Coutts, Alta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was needed and it was effective,\u201d Trudeau said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hearing room at Library and Archives Canada, where the hearings have been held for the past six weeks, was packed with members of the public, including some who scoffed and laughed at various times while Trudeau testified, prompting an admonishment from Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is any more trouble, that side of the room will be expelled,\u201d Rouleau said, gesturing to where many protesters sat. \u201cIs that clear enough?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime minister was the final witness before the Public Order Emergency Commission, which will analyze<\/a> the federal government\u2019s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The act, invoked for the first time since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, was implemented in response to the \u201cFreedom Convoy\u201d protests earlier this year. The protests were a result of growing resentment towards the federal government and COVID-19 mandates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trudeau told the hearing his government had reasonable grounds to declare a public-order emergency, given the information cabinet had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the large part, Canadians have been able to see through the process,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cI am confident that the reasonable test was met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, as Trudeau was testifying inside, a small group of protesters gathered outside the Library and Archives building, some waving Canadian and pro-convoy flags and carrying signs that read, \u201cDare to think for yourself\u201d and \u201cThe biggest war Canada will ever fight for democracy and freedom is now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard Kwan said he believes the Emergencies Act was invoked \u201cillegally\u201d because the protest, in his eyes, was completely peaceful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Howard Kwan is waving pro-convoy signs in front of the Library and Archives Canada building during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s testimony. Kwan says he believes the Emergencies Act was invoked \u201cillegally\u201d because the protest, in his eyes, was completely peaceful. (Polina Ilinykh\/Reloading News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything that was done here was peaceful and legal,\u201d Kwan said. \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to cover it up but are being exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwan accused Trudeau of not speaking to protesters and said protesters need a full disclosure from the government, as well as full investigation into the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Derksen said he would like to hear an apology from Trudeau for never speaking to the protesters despite every opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brian Derksen is waving pro-convoy flags outside the Library and Archives building. (Polina Ilinykh\/Reloading News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He says he doesn\u2019t believe in the existence of the pandemic and added it\u2019s used as a way to regulate the population of the Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Friday, more than 6.6 million people have died of COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derksen said he came to Friday\u2019s protest to make his stand as a Canadian, believing he\u2019s fighting for his freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was my business, this was my job, this was my life. But I could not stand on principle and continue doing business with this country, so I chose principle over money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the hearing, the prime minister was asked about the protests not meeting the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act\u2019s threshold for declaring a threat to national security under the <\/strong>Emergencies Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Trudeau said CSIS\u2019s threshold for invoking the Emergency Act is different from the Governor in Council\u2019s threshold for invoking the act during a national emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCSIS isn\u2019t the decision maker,\u201d Trudeau said, adding the Governor in Council can, on reasonable grounds, declare a public order emergency if they believe it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emergencies Act identifies a public order emergency as a threat to Canadian national security. The prime minister said CSIS\u2019s definition of when they can use the act can be different to when Governor in Council makes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When asked whether the use of the Emergencies Act would open the \u201cfloodgates\u201d for future uses, the prime minister said he does not think this will happen. Rather, he said future governments would be more cautious about implementing the act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFuture governments are likely to say, \u2018It\u2019s not something we want to use lightly, but the law is in the books,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trudeau told the hearing it would have been much worse to not invoke the act out of fear of what future governments might do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But protester Neil Marion said protesters are pushing back because they believe the Act is likely to be invoked again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Protesters (left to right) Morry Safi, Salman Sima and Neil Marion protest outside the Library and Archives building. (Polina Ilinykh\/Reloading News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Government of Canada is testing the waters. And if we let them away with this Emergencies Act invocation once, they will certainly use it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked whether he thought the use of the act caused a division among Canadians, Trudeau agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that it would be fair to describe it as significant but there certainly are different perspectives on the use of the Emergencies Act,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cI know that there was a lot of consensus on one side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the commission, the final report of the inquiry<\/a> must be presented to both the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada by Feb. 20, 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has faith the future government will not abuse the Emergencies Act<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Members of the public and the media waiting for the final Emergencies Act Inquiry to begin. (Yumna Iftikhar \/ Reloading News)","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44,1,5],"tags":[79,9],"ppma_author":[31,17],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page","category-home","category-news","tag-emergencies-act","tag-ottawa"],"authors":[{"term_id":31,"user_id":11,"is_guest":0,"slug":"yumnaiftikhar","display_name":"Yumna Iftikhar","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124609_550-scaled-e1668556665184.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124609_550-scaled-e1668556665184.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"Iftikhar","first_name":"Yumna","description":"Yumna Iftikhar is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist interested in international affairs and disability studies. In 2020, Yumna decided to write for news and watch horror films instead of reading news and writing for horror films. Yumna\u2019s new normal includes learning languages and attempting to cook traditional dishes from as many countries as she can."},{"term_id":17,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"polinailinykh","display_name":"Polina Ilinykh","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124143_505-scaled-e1668556858862.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124143_505-scaled-e1668556858862.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"Ilinykh","first_name":"Polina","description":"Polina is a freelance journalist from Ukraine interested in covering social issues. During the pandemic, Polina took a month to go biking in the forest with her sister, found a new job and had her first internship in journalism. Moving to Canada, where she studies journalism, has created Polina\u2019s new normal."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}