The Supreme Court of Canada has announced that it will review a 2024 Federal Court ruling that determined the former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government violated the Charter rights of participants in the convoy by implementing the Emergencies Act in 2022.
Following the initial ruling, the federal government challenged the decision in the Federal Court of Appeal, which upheld the lower court’s judgment in January 2026. The Federal Court of Appeal supported Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley’s 2024 ruling, stating that the Liberal government lacked reasonable grounds to perceive the convoy protest as a national security threat, thereby failing to meet the required legal threshold for invoking the act.
Although acknowledging the disruptive nature of the blockades and convoy protests in Ottawa, the three judges at the Federal Court of Appeal emphasized that these activities did not pose a significant national security threat.
In response to the verdict, the federal government sought permission to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case.
In 2022, a protest primarily opposing vaccine mandates drew thousands of individuals, including truckers, to the capital for an extended period, expressing various grievances against Trudeau and his administration. To disperse the protesters occupying Ottawa and border crossings like the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, the Liberal government activated the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022. This activation granted law enforcement expanded authority to remove and detain protesters and enabled the government to freeze the funds of individuals associated with the demonstrations.
This marked the first utilization of the Emergencies Act since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.
In a separate development, a 2023 inquiry led by Commissioner Paul Rouleau assessed the government’s implementation of the Emergencies Act and reached a different conclusion early in 2023 compared to subsequent legal challenges. Rouleau determined that the federal government had satisfied the rigorous criteria required to invoke the Emergencies Act, attributing the need for its activation to policing and federalism deficiencies. Despite his affirmative decision, Rouleau, who serves as an Ontario Court of Appeal justice, expressed some reluctance in reaching his conclusion, emphasizing the lack of overwhelming evidence to support it.
