'A massive victory for civil liberties': Calgary-based Canadian Constitution Foundation lauds Emergencies Act ruling

The Alberta Government says it's ready to intervene if the federal government appeals a court decision finding the Liberals' use of the Emergencies Act not justified.

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Ottawa's use of the Emergencies Act during the 2022 freedom convoy protests was unreasonable and unconstitutional.

"I have concluded that the decision to issue the proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness -- justification, transparency and intelligibility -- and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration," stated federal court Justice Richard Mosley.

The act, which was invoked in February 2022, allowed the government to enact wide-sweeping but temporary powers to help officials crack down on protesters' access to funds, grant the RCMP jurisdiction to enforce local laws, designate critical infrastructure and services and impose fines and imprisonment on participants who refused to leave the protest zone.

"The main takeaway of this decision is that the federal government illegally used one of the most powerful tools in our legislative toolbox," said Christine van Geyn, litigation director at the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

"They illegally used it against what the court found was non-violent domestic protesters to silence a protest that they did not like."

The federal Liberal government stands by its use of the act, noting it plans to appeal.

"We respect Canada's independent judiciary; however, we do not agree with this decision," said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland at a press conference from the cabinet retreat in Montreal on Tuesday.

In response, Premier Danielle Smith issued a joint statement with her justice minister, slamming the feds and outlining how Alberta will continue to intervene if an appeal moves forward.

"The unnecessary use of the Emergencies Act set a dark and dangerous precedent, and if the federal government will not acknowledge that fact, Alberta will continue to champion the charter rights of Albertans and all Canadians," read the statement in part.

Trevor Harrison, a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Lethbridge, said the court challenge wasn't surprising, as the freedom convoy protest was the first and only time the act had been used.

"And so, to some extent, we've been waiting since it was first passed for a kind of test case. And so it is proper and appropriate, actually, that having been used now, we will set the limits and the standards by which it shouldn't be used in future," said Harrison.

Harrison noted the strongest case for supporting the government's use of the Emergencies Act was in Alberta, specifically at the Coutts border crossing, where RCMP seized weapons from a cache and charged several protesters with conspiracy to murder RCMP officers.

An appeal by the federal government sets up a legal battle that could go to the Supreme Court of Canada.

But for now, the Calgary-based Canadian Constitution Foundation -- one of two groups that brought the case to the federal court -- is calling it a win.

"I'm absolutely thrilled. This is a massive victory for civil liberties," said van Geyn.