By Cam James

A number of legal challenges emerged countering mandates, restrictions, and government overreach. Most resolutions to date were in favour of protesters and those opposing government mandates. The fines imposed on Artur Pawlowski, as well as many other Canadians, were thrown out in court and many protesters have been released. Overall, public support for harsh treatment is waning.

Here are a few of the major cases starting or continuing this fall mounted by civil liberties groups:
JCCF- The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms
https://jccf.ca

The JCCF is supporting past Newfoundland Premiere Hon. Brian Peckford and others in the trial Peckford et al. v. Transport Minister. They wished to challenge the entirety of the COVID mandates and restrictions but had to pick a specific violation for the courts. Their argument claims the travel ban directly infringes upon section 2, 6, 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The travel ban was announced in October of 2021 and the case filed the following January. In May and June the JCCF cross-examined five government expert witnesses and compiled 14,000 pages of evidence. The governments-chosen experts had some shaky grounds for support of the mandate:

•  Celia Lorenko, approved the vaccines as they were, “above 50% effective” and later admitted that it was closer to 20% effective and after mutation protection disappeared nearly completely.
• Fertility expert, Paula Quinn, when asked about the Pfizer data dump, stated she had not heard of it.
• Jennifer Little, a member of the COVID response team, stated there was no medical reason for the domestic travel ban and it was the most strict in the world, suggesting vaccine mandates were politically motivated.

The Liberals announced the suspension of the travel ban during these cross-examinations and requested that the case be rendered moot. After the dates for hearing were released they were pushed back several times. The mootness hearing is September 20 and the main hearing was set for October 31, if not determined obsolete. They are also challenging vaccine mandates in Ontario.

An earlier challenge lead to a cross-examination of Deena Hinshaw and the release of memos which revealed she may have perjured herself. They are waiting on a trial date for a challenge against ArriveCAN. Seneca College students are being supported by the JCCF against campus mandates.

CCLA-Canadian Civil Liberties Association

https://ccla.org

The CCLA is pushing a challenge to the use of the emergencies act, separate from the public hearing. They recently pressed a related motion to compel the government to release more documents. These were claimed to be protected by cabinet confidence. Liberals will be scrutinized more heavily and will need to broaden their provisions and reduce redactions in some capacities going forward. Justice Mosely determined there should be more scrutiny to what falls under cabinet confidence. These files will be made available in the coming weeks.

The Supreme Court will hear the CCLA’s views on broadening cabinet confidence use in relation to transparency and oversight in an unrelated case.

TDF – The Democracy Fund

https://thedemocracyfund.ca

TDF is mounting cases for the students of Western University and University of Toronto in response to mandates on campus in the fall. They have written letters to the Universities recommending alternatives that are less disruptive, but will likely need to resolve the issue in court. The cross-examinations in these kinds of cases elucidated much obscured or protected information. Preliminary scheduling commenced on September 9 for the trial concerning Western.

A notice of application was filed against the Minister of Health over the ArriveCAN app. The government has been relying on the Quarantine Act to justify most mandates and restrictions. TDF is arguing that the imposition and forced collection of personal data violates the Charter of Rights and would not be justified by the Quarantine Act.

Public Order Emergency Commission into the use of the Emergencies Act

Civil liberties groups including the JCCF, TDF and CCF will be involved in Rouleau Commission (https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca), an inquiry that is enshrined in the Emergencies Act. The justice appointed by the Liberals is a long-time Liberal donor and the legal groups expect more disruptions to the processes. This commission has been delayed as Justice Rouleau is currently recovering from surgery where it will now resume October 13 and conclude November 25.