February 14th, commonly known as a day for lovers, chocolates, and stressed out significant others trying to reach a florist before heading home.

This year, February 14th stands alone as a historical day in the Canadian tapestry. Under the Liberal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time ever in response to ongoing blockades and protests against pandemic restrictions. Replacing the War Measures Act in 1988, the new legislation contains a specific definition of “national emergency” that sets the bar for how serious a situation needs to be before the Act can be relied upon.

Defined as “an urgent, temporary and critical situation that seriously endangers the health and safety of Canadians or that seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada. It must be a situation that cannot be effectively dealt with by the provinces and territories, or by any other law of Canada”.

There are four types of emergencies that can be declared under the Emergencies Act:

• A public welfare emergency

• A public order emergency

• An international emergency

• A war emergency

How Did we get here?

For almost three weeks, protests against the pandemic restrictions, both at a federal and provincial level, have taken place across Canada. Media outlets have followed the “Freedom Convoy” since January 14th when organizers Tamara Lich and BJ Ditcher created a GoFundMe fundraiser on behalf of truckers who were upset over mandates requiring them to be fully vaccinated before crossing the Canada-US border.

On January 23rd, a convoy of truckers left BC en route to Ottawa where they pledged not to leave until the mandate is revoked. Since arriving in Ottawa, there have been rallies, speeches on Parliament Hill, reports of vandalism and damage to public property, as well as support from American heavyweights, including former President Trump.

Ottawa has reached the point where police are outnumbered, protestors are ignoring further provincial mandates, and city centers continue to see more people arrive in support. Most noteworthy, over the past weekend, the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor and Detroit was blocked, affecting around $390 million in trade. Considered the busiest international crossing in North America, the idea that further flow could cause continued congestion, the Prime Minister no doubt felt pressured to take bolder action.

Breaking it all down

As outlined on Monday by the Prime Minister, the measures will be “time-limited, geographically targeted as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address”- but what does that entail?

Well first, none of the measures will override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Despite some sources claiming the government is invoking martial law, the Act does not allow the government to take control of the police force or replace civil rules with military authority. Instead, police will be given more tools to help restore order. These include imposing fines, directing any person to render services with compensation ( ie. towing trucks which block streets), regulating and prohibiting public assembly, travel and specific properties.

Next, the government is broadening the reach of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules to include crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, who now must register with FINTRAC and report large and suspicious transactions. One point to highlight is that this change also extends to cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

Other measures include:

• Financial institutions are allowed to temporarily suspend services, for both personal and corporate accounts, where the institution suspects that an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations.

• Banks or other financial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order.

• Canadian financial institutions are encouraged to review relationships with any accounts involved in the illegal blockades and report them to the RCMP or CSIS.

• Corporate accounts will be frozen for any truck involved in the protest.

• Insurance on vehicles involved in the protests will be suspended.

next steps

The seven days proceeding the Act being enacted are time sensitive. While it takes effect immediately, the government needs to introduce a motion into the House of Commons. Once tabled, the motion is debated until votes are ready to be called. Such an event occurred on February 21st, which saw the New Democrats give the Liberal minority the votes they needed to approve the extraordinary and temporary measures in the Act. Now that the motion has passed, it will ascend to the Senate for the process to be repeated. If the Senate votes against the motion, the declaration is revoked.

For now, the measures approved in the Act will remain in place until mid-march at the latest.

Stay tuned as we watch history unfold.