A local human rights advocate says the Emergencies Act invoked this week by Ottawa does little to address underlying issues fueling the protests and blockades seen in some parts of the country.
It’s the first time the Emergencies Act has been invoked since it was created in the 1980s as part of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Executive Director of the NL Human Rights Commission, Carey Majid, says it is in the very early stages and difficult to tell exactly how it will be used but the Act is clear on what constitutes a national emergency including an urgent, temporary, and critical situation that seriously endangers the health or safety of Canadians, or threatens the ability of government to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada. She says the Act also outlines that it can be invoked when the situation cannot be effectively dealt with by provincial, territorial or other laws of Canada.
Majid says concerns have been raised among civil liberations about the federal government’s decision to invoke the Act.
She says the Civil Liberties Association has raised the concern that invoking the Act not be “normalized.”
In the meantime, she says some critics are saying the Act does nothing to address some of the underlying issues within the protest movement.
(File photo.)
Others are saying the act does nothing to address radicalization, misinformation and anti-social movements.
