OTTAWA—Near the two-year anniversary of the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act, hundreds of people gathered on Parliament Hill on Feb. 17 to celebrate the original Freedom Convoy protest and a recent victory in Federal Court.
“This is like coming home again. It’s a big family reunion,” said Edward Vachon, who attended the original trucker protest in early 2022.
“The spirit that was there two years ago is still here. We still have the same convictions and we’re standing up.”
Hundreds of people, many of whom attended the original truckers’ Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa, gathered on Parliament Hill and on Wellington Street in front of the Hill, waving Canadian flags and holding signs against government overreach.
Dozens of vehicles drove by the protest honking and waving Canadian flags throughout the day, but the Ottawa Police Service ensured that none of them parked downtown. The police wanted to avoid a repeat of the original Freedom Convoy protest where trucks encamped in the downtown core for weeks.
Later in the afternoon, the crowd participated in a march through downtown Ottawa under the close watch of Ottawa police.
Bethan Nodwell, who helped organize the original Freedom Convoy protest, said the 2022 event “changed the course of Canadian history.” She said many of the people attending this weekend’s event were “forever changed” by the convoy and will continue to meet every year to celebrate “the new Canada that was born in 2022.”
Genevieve Desmarais, wearing a Canadian flag draped around her back, told our friends at The Epoch Times that she came to the Freedom Convoy protest two years ago because she was upset by government overreach with its COVID-19 restrictions.
Ms. Desmarais said the trucker protest started a movement “not just in Canada, but across the world,” citing farmers’ protests in the Netherlands against climate mandates and a recent “Take Our Border Back” convoy to the southern U.S. border. “So celebrating this after two years is just a celebration of the unity,” she said.
Louis Desmarais said he saw the day’s events not only as a commemoration of the anniversary of the trucker protest but also as a celebration of the recent victory in Federal Court.
On Jan. 24, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act “was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration.”
“Finally, we got a federal judge to say ‘No, it was wrong to call the Emergencies Act, it wasn’t justified.’ That’s a big moment,” Mr. Desmarais said.
“Now the lawsuits are going to come out, that’s going to bring out the truth about all the lies, so that’s a step in the right direction.”
Federal Court Justice Mosley found that invocation of the Emergencies Act infringed on Section 2(b) and Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 2(b) deals with “freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression,” and Section 8 deals with the “right to be secure against unreasonable search seizure.”
The freezing of protesters’ bank accounts was also not “minimally impairing,” Justice Mosley said, as the directive was overly broad and there were “less impairing options available.”
Emboldened by the court ruling, the original organizers of the Freedom Convoy filed a $2 million lawsuit on Feb. 13 against the federal government for violating their charter rights when it invoked the Emergencies Act. On Feb. 14, a total of 20 people who had their bank accounts frozen under the act also filed a tort lawsuit against federal ministers and financial institutions behind the decision.
Justice Mosley’s ruling was in contrast with that of the Public Order Emergency Commission created after the Emergencies Act was invoked, tasked with evaluating whether its use was justified. Justice Paul Rouleau, who oversaw the commission, ultimately said the government was within its rights to invoke the act on Feb. 14, 2022, to clear the protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa will appeal Justice Mosley’s ruling, saying that the decision to invoke the act was done following “careful deliberation” and was “the necessary thing to do.”
For the Silo, Matthew Horwood/ The Epoch Times.
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