Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act to shut down blockades & occupations

In an ongoing press conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in order to end the illegal blockades that continue in various parts of Canada, including the continuing occupation of Ottawa.

The trucker convoy protest movement against vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions has been spreading across Canada for the past three weeks.

The emergencies act grants the federal government extraordinary powers for 30 days, including the power to prohibit public assembly, travel and the use of specific property.

“With each illegal blockade, local law-enforcement agencies have been acting to keep the peace within their jurisdictions. Despite their best efforts, it is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement’s ability to effectively enforce the law.

“The scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable & proportionate to the threats they are meant to address.”

—Justin Trudeau

“We are re-enforcing the principles, values, and institutions that keep all Canadians free,” asserts Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa as he discusses the federal government’s invoking of the Emergencies Act as part of an effort to resolve ongoing truck blockades.#cdnpoli https://t.co/vcLLhR2Ier

— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) February 14, 2022

In 1988, legislation was passed to replace the pre-existing War Measures Act with the Emergencies Act, which gives the federal government similar powers. The War Measures act was famously invoked by Justin Trudeau’s father Pierre Trudeau in 1970 during the October Crisis, when Trudeau Senior was prime minister.

This response to the trucker convoy protest movement is the first time that the Emergencies Act has ever been invoked.

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