'No evidence of a threat': Freedom Convoy lawyer says Trudeau unlawfully invoked Emergencies Act

Freedom Convoy lawyer Eva Chipiuk said Thursday that a judge assessing the legality of invoking the Emergencies Act to smother a trucker protest has a lot “to wrap his head around.” 

Chipiuk, who is representing the Freedom Convoy protesters who challenged the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, said she is overall optimistic that federal judge Richard Mosley will rule against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act but that would present the judge with a dilemma. 

Mosley heard testimony this week from those opposing and supporting the Emergencies Act invocation and will rule whether it was lawful or unlawful for Trudeau to use it. 

She noted that Mosley will then have to suggest how Trudeau should have acted and what, if any, punishment he should receive for unlawfully invoking the act. 

But Chipiuk said it should be clear who was right and who was wrong when Trudeau clamped down on the protest on Feb. 14, 2022. 

“The evidence just isn’t there for the federal government to justify invoking the Emergencies Act and I really hope that Justice Richard Mosley in this case sees it as well.  There was no evidence to show that there was a threat to national security except for what could have been, maybe was, or in imaginary land.” 

She noted that there was “no concrete evidence [or] affidavits” showing that there was a national emergency. 

“The evidence showed the opposite, there was a lack of serious violence.” 

Chipiuk remembered that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said one before the act was invoked: “It will cause more extreme views and it will cause people to be disillusioned with the government.“

In a letter to Canada’s provincial premiers, Trudeau said the federal government believed it had reached a point “where there is a national emergency arising from threats to Canada’s security.” 

Chipiuk said she was outraged when on the first day of the three-day court hearings, government lawyers argued that the challenge should be dismissed. 

She said those lawyers should have been told, “You work for Canadians and Canadians need their day in court.”

“I’m getting a little bit tired of it,” Chipiuk said, noting that taxpayers are paying for these federal government lawyers. “That’s what the court system is for.” 

She said one of the worst elements of the Emergencies Act was that it allowed the federal government to freeze the bank accounts of not only protesters but anyone who supported the protest.  

“It should be terrifying for the judge and Canadians and investors and people who want to come to Canada” because it takes away “people’s ability to sustain themselves.” 

“The overreach that the government did was incredibly chilling and the government needs to own up to what it did.” 

Mosley, did appear to be opposing those account freezes Wednesday when he said, “I have a lot of trouble with the idea that this is not some form of seizure I understand your argument but it looks like a duck to me you're holding on to the contents of somebody's bank account they can't access those contents they can't do anything they can't access their credit cards or the credit that is associated with their cards.”

Although she acknowledged that the courts are becoming politicized in Canada as they are in the United States, Chipiuk blamed politicians for being afraid to speak out. 

“I’ve been quite disappointed with the amount of opposition that we’ve had in this country. Elected officials are not stepping up. Politicians want to stay in their safe zone … don’t want to get out of their box.” 

She said the “big task” is to find “healing” for those who were stigmatized and vilified during the protests by a prime minister who called them racists and misogynists. Whether Trudeau is removed by a vote of non-confidence in the House of Commons or in the next federal election “we need to address that there were wrongs that occurred.” 

Chipiuk said if Mosley rules in favor of the government, it “certainly would have a chilling effect on protests.”