OTTAWA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian federal government has filed an appeal to contest a federal court's decision calling the use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 to clear convoy protesters unreasonable, local media reported on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice confirmed that the appeal was filed on Thursday, and the federal government argued that the court applied the reasonableness standard "in an incorrect manner," CBC News reported.
In January, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that while the protests against the federal government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic reflected an unacceptable breakdown of public order, the invocation of the Emergencies Act does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness, it said.
The federal court case was brought by two national groups, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
Thousands of protesters angry with the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine requirements, descended on Ottawa in January 2022 and blocked border points elsewhere. The protesters parked large vehicles on key arteries in the capital city for nearly a month.
The government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022. It gave law enforcement extraordinary powers to remove and arrest protesters and gave the government the power to freeze the finances of those connected to the protests. The temporary emergency powers also allowed authorities to commandeer tow trucks to remove protesters' vehicles from the streets of the capital. ■
