Chris Barber, a main organizer of the “Freedom Convoy” is suing the federal government for using the Emergencies Act to freeze his bank accounts, arguing it breached his Charter rights to protest COVID-19 mandates.

  • AnotherDirtyAnglo@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Yes… Let’s re-open this bucket of bullshit. When they left for Ottawa, they had a written declaration and were planning on overthrowing the democratically elected government with some ridiculously ignorant idea for dissolving parliament and placing themselves in control.

    This is too stupid to not be plain old grift.

    • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Fear and anxiety is what this folks living and working in Ottawa were feeling.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      suffered and experienced fear and anxiety due to the anticipated loss of income

      They should counter sue him for ‘suffered and experienced fear and anxiety due to the anticipated loss of DEMOCRACY’

  • jadero@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    The inquiry into the invocation of the emergencies act found that it was justified, although not without problems. Those problems don’t seem to have been in any way related to the freezing of accounts.

    My opinion is that he’s got, as we old-timers like to say, a tough row to hoe. (Or a snowball’s chance in hell; take your pick.)

    • mrbn@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      Ok, now I’m confused, the article you linked says:

      1. Federal government was justified in using the Emergencies Act

      But in this (OP) article, it says:

      Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley ruled it was unreasonable for the federal government to use the Emergencies Act to quell the protests.

      And then this article says:

      Ottawa has filed to appeal a Federal Court decision that found its invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests was unjustified.

      Anyone out there want to loop me in?

      • sik0fewl@kbin.socialOP
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        8 months ago

        The Public Order Emergency Commission, was a public inquiry created by the Liberal government and Trudeau appointed a Justice to lead the commission. This commission found that the invocation of the emergency act was justified.

        However, later there was a federal court that found that it was unjustified.

        What’s the right answer? I don’t know, but I would think that the commission took a much more thorough look. We probably won’t have a single answer unless it goes to the Supreme Court.

      • jadero@lemmy.ca
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        8 months ago

        What the hell? Journalism really has disappeared. Why isn’t there a single story from a major outlet that includes both results, explaining the differences and implications?

        Thanks for the update.

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      The federal court recently found that it was unjustified, and I bet that’s the basis for this lawsuit

  • psvrh@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    I said this in another post on this topic: this is a white guy who is shocked–shocked, I tell you!–to find out that the legal system doesn’t just punish brown people.

    FINTRAC was freezing bank accounts on brown people with impunity in the 2000s, but white conservatives didn’t care, but oh no, now the law applies to them and they’re finding out that, holy shit, the law is a motherfucker. And do they think it’s unfair to everyone? That perhaps we need to reexamine things and think about civil liberties? Nope, it’s Big Daddy Justin being mean to them, it can’t be that they’re finally getting the experience what everyone else has.

    Hell hast no whining like a white conservative who’s found out that the law applies to them, too.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A main organizer of the “Freedom Convoy” is suing the federal government for using the Emergencies Act to freeze his bank accounts, arguing it breached his Charter rights to protest COVID-19 mandates.

    Barber and Tamara Lich, who is from Medicine Hat, Alta., spearheaded protests in opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates that gridlocked downtown Ottawa and key border points in 2022.

    He specifically cited a federal failure to require that “some objective standard be satisfied” before bank accounts were frozen, concluding it breached the Charter prohibition against unreasonable search or seizure.

    He also “suffered and experienced fear and anxiety due to the anticipated loss of income,” because his salary, wage, and business revenue payments were going to the frozen accounts, it says.

    It alleges the federal government froze bank accounts for the “improper purpose of dissuading and punishing” protesters for exercising fundamental Charter rights.

    Mizu, who lives in a rural municipality south of Saskatoon, previously worked as a branch manager for a financial services company, says the document.


    The original article contains 671 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!