The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires governments to justify in court any law or policy that violates one or more of our charter freedoms of association, assembly, religion, conscience, mobility and expression, or that violates our right to privacy and bodily autonomy. Unless the government can provide persuasive evidence to show that its law or policy is doing more good than harm, Canadian judges are morally and legally obligated to strike down laws that violate citizens’ rights and freedoms.
Sadly, some judges ignore the evidence placed before them when approving government violations of charter rights and freedoms.
In November 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the Ontario government’s total ban on all outdoor gatherings as a justified violation of the charter freedom of citizens to assemble peacefully. Ontario’s 2021 ban on outdoor gatherings was extreme, making it illegal for as few as three people to meet outdoors, even if standing six feet apart from each other. Despite the absence of a sound medical or scientific basis for this extreme policy, the court ruled in favour of the Ontario government and against former MPP Randy Hillier. The court upheld Ontario’s policy without considering seriously the very real and very grave harm that lockdowns inflicted on millions of people.