Canada’s Prime Minister invokes the Emergency Act for the first time to deal with trucker protests in the country

Justin Trudeau lamented that the protests “disrupt the lives of too many Canadians.”

The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has invoked this Monday for the first time in the country’s history the Emergency Law, which will grant additional power to the Federal Government to deal with trucker protests against anticovid restrictions.

“We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue ,” Trudeau said, while stressing that the carriers’ mobilization “is not a peaceful protest .

The prime minister also lamented that the protests “disrupt the lives of too many Canadians.” “This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs and restoring trust in our institutions,” Trudeau said. “We are reinforcing the principles, values and institutions that keep all Canadians safe,” he added.

Under the Emergency Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, a national emergency is defined as an “urgent and critical situation” that “seriously endangers the lives, health, or safety of Canadians.” being “of proportions or of such a nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it”. According to Trudeau, the Act will provide the Government with ” additional tools not subject to federal, provincial or territorial law.”

At the same time, he stressed that these are “temporary, geographically focused and reasonable” measures justified by the “threats” against which they are directed. ” We are not suspending fundamental rights or annulling the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are not limiting people’s right to freedom of expression, we are not limiting the right to peaceful assembly,” he specified.

On the other hand, he explained that in the coming days measures will be adopted to support local businesses in Ottawa that were forced to close amid the protests.

The carriers arrived in the country’s capital on January 29 in the so-called ‘freedom convoy’ to peacefully protest against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the decision of the Canadian authorities to force truckers to get vaccinated, which came into force January 15.

Since then, truckers and their supporters have continued to demonstrate, as their movement spreads across the country, with protests in Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver and other cities.