Canada:PM Trudeau declares national emergency to end protests

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared a national emergency in response to the ongoing truckers’ protests against various Covid-19 related measures including vaccine mandates. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue,” he said in Ottawa. The emergency powers came into immediate effect and will last for 30 days. “I want to be very clear: the scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically-targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address,” he said.

In addition, the act will allow the government to go after crowdfunding platforms and payment processors that have been used by the Freedom Convoy 2022 to fund their protest, and compel financial institutions to freeze accounts of individuals or organisations linked to the agitation. An orders issued on Tuesday, explains why the government believes the trucker blockades constitute a national emergency, also says potential measures can include the designation of protected places; the direction of any person to render essential services; the use of federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to enforce municipal and provincial laws, and the imprisonment of, or imposition of fines on, people breaching the order.