Quarantine Hotel Court Hearing Being Expedited

Quarantine Hotel Court Hearing Being Expedited

July 28, 2021 ctn_admin

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms says its appeal challenging the constitutionality of federal quarantine hotels and quarantine facilities will be moving forward on an expedited basis at the Federal Court of Appeal.

The Justice Centre brought a Motion on July 9, 2021, requesting that the Court expedite the hearing of the Appeal on the basis that: thousands of Canadians are being impacted by these oppressive measures every day, and that an expedited hearing was necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the remedy sought, namely a ruling that the learned trial judge erred in finding that the government’s measures do not violate the Charter rights of Canadians.

The Federal Court of Appeal agreed with the Justice Centre on July 28, 2021 that this appeal should move forward at a faster pace than an ordinary appeal due to great public interest surrounding the issue.

“Canadian air travellers will no longer have to quarantine at quarantine hotels as of August 9^th 2021,” solicitor Sayeh Hassan of the Justice Centre said in an email to Canadian Travel News. “However this litigation is still very important and relevant as the government can bring these measures back anytime in the future, if the Covid-19 numbers rise or if there is a different variant or a fourth wave.

“The government can also bring similar measures in future emergencies because the Federal Court has found that it is constitutional to detain Canadians en masse. Lastly the Federal Court found that even more stringent measures would be considered constitutional under the current circumstances, which sets a very dangerous precedent,” she said.

The Justice Centre appeared in Federal Court on June 1–3 on behalf of Pastor Nicole Mathis and 10 other clients: Barbara Spencer, Sabry Belhouchet, Blain Gowing, Dennis Ward, Reid Nehring, Cindy Crane, Denise Thomson, Norman Thomson, and Michel Lafontaine, and Steven Duesing, who are challenging the government’s policy of forcing returning Canadians into federally chosen quarantine hotels and quarantine facilities at their own expense.

The Justice Centre argued that these oppressive measures violated seven different sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the infringements were not justified in a free and democratic society. Nine out of the original eleven clients will be moving forward with the appeal.