The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announced its intention to challenge Transport Canada’s Ministerial Order 47 in Federal Court.
Announced on November 30 by Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra, the new Ministerial Order prevents unvaccinated Canadians from boarding planes, trains, and marine passenger vessels, anywhere in Canada for domestic travel.
As of Tuesday, all unvaccinated travellers 12 and older cannot travel by plane or train in Canada. A negative COVID test is no longer an acceptable substitute for the vaccine.
“If you indicate to your airline or railway company that you’re eligible to board but fail to provide proof of vaccination or valid COVID-19 test result, you won’t be allowed to travel and could face penalties or fines,” reads the government’s website.
“Ministerial Order 47 from Transport Canada is an act of appalling cruelty and persecution not seen in Canada in the past half-century,” states Jay Cameron, Litigation Director at the Justice Centre. “Vilifying an identifiable group in society as ‘dirty’ or claiming that they are ‘spreaders of disease’ is a page from the playbook of history’s most abhorrent tyrants.”
Allison Pejovic, a staff lawyer at the Justice Centre, adds the policy prevents millions of Canadians from travelling by plane or train, calling it a gross infringement of their civil liberties.
“We see [the] government escalating its persecution of the millions of Canadians who are exercising their constitutional right to bodily autonomy. [They] have opted out of receiving one of the new Covid vaccines that have not been subjected to any long-term safety testing,” she said, adding COVID vaccines are still in clinical trials until 2023.
“We are certainly encouraging and motivating people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in August. “We always know there are people who won’t get vaccinated, and not necessarily through a personal or political choice.”
A Justice Centre release cites medical and scientific evidence establishing both the vaccinated and unvaccinated spread, and can be hospitalized and die from COVID.
Trudeau confirmed a broad range of reasons why someone might not get vaccinated. “I’m worried about creating undesirable effects in our community,” he said.
The release notes that the natural immunity of those with COVID is an effective deterrent to the virus, considering some vaccines have harmful side effects like myocarditis. The concerns attributed to the medical treatment caused many Canadians to withhold their informed consent to take one.
Regardless, Air Canada and WestJet confirmed their adoption of the federal policy and continue to check passengers for their proof of vaccination. The airlines will also maintain their mandates on wearing masks and COVID screenings.
“Parliament has not been consulted about this blatant violation of section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which provides that Canadians have the right to enter and leave the country freely,” adds Pejovic. She maintains the measure is guaranteed to hurt their employment, businesses and ability to feed their families.
Sayeh Hassan, also a staff lawyer at the Justice Centre, added: “Ministerial Order 47 is blatantly unconstitutional and is a dangerous escalation of the divisive policies that have become the hallmark of our federal and provincial governments in the past 21 months.”
Hassan accused the Trudeau government of ruling via ministerial fiat, not democratic checks and balances.
In August, Trudeau hoped to avoid “more extreme measures” with the vast majority of Canadians looking to get vaccinated.
The Canadian Constitution makes no provision for the kind of autocratic rule that has become normal in Canada at both federal and provincial levels since March 2020.
“Measures stripping millions of Canadians of their mobility rights must go before Parliament and not be left to the arbitrary and unchecked will of one Minister,” said Cameron. “We are preparing court documents to file in Federal Court, to ask the judge to uphold Canadian’s Charter rights and freedoms in the face of unprecedented government oppression,” he concludes.
