Those who participated in the 2022 protest convoy were exercising their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when the federal government declared an emergency, creating a large secure zone and dispersing the truckers’ demonstration. These rights, especially the freedom of peaceful assembly, form the backdrop to consideration of the federal government’s decision to declare an emergency under the Emergencies Act and enact regulations for bringing the demonstrations to an end.
Though it is one of the Charter’s fundamental freedoms, section 2(c)’s freedom of peaceful assembly received little or no attention in the first 40 years of Charter interpretation and jurisprudence. However, now that the convoy and its dispersal has brought section 2(c) into the spotlight, this presentation will provide some much needed analysis of the provision's underlying values and purposes, of how it should be interpreted, and of how its infringement can be justified under section 1 of the Charter.