New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday invoked rarely used emergency powers for the first time in 50 years offering extra powers to the government to quell protests against the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Speaking at a news conference on Parliament Hill, Trudeau said, "It is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law."
Trudeau clarified that the measures will be geographically targeted and "reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address", according to ANI report.
Known as the "Freedom Convoy" protests, Canadian truckers are opposing a Covid-19 vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers and garnered support from those opposed to Trudeau's policies on everything from pandemic restrictions to a carbon tax.
Similar trucker protests have spilled to Israel, France, Australia, and New Zealand.
The deployment of the Emergencies Act will offer police more tools to restore order in places where public assemblies constitute illegal and dangerous activities, such as blockades and occupations, he said, reported CBC News.
Under the provision of the Act, the government aims to designate and secure critical areas such as border crossings and airports. In fact, the act will also allow the government to make sure that essential services -- such as towing services to remove trucks -- are rendered, said Trudeau, according to ANI report.
The act also permits the federal government to direct financial institutions to render essential services to address the situation, and to prohibit the use of the property to fund or support illegal blockades, reported the channel.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will get the power to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offences where required. "This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people's jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions," said Trudeau.
What’s the Emergencies Act?
The Emergencies Act was enacted to replace the War Measures Act in the 1980s. The act defines a national emergency as a temporary "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it."
With the deployment of the Act, special powers will enable authorities to respond to emergency scenarios affecting public welfare (natural disasters, disease outbreaks), public order (civil unrest), international emergencies, or war emergencies, reported CBC news.
Apart from this, the Act grants the ability to the Cabinet to "take special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times" to cope with an "urgent and critical situation" and the resulting fallout. It is still subject to the protection of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The protesters against vaccine mandates have outnumbered Ottawa police in the capital. Flouting the provincial state of emergency which calls for arrest and jail time, protesters flocked to the city's center over the weekend, reported CBC News.
Demonstrators have erected tents, a stage, a large video screen, and even a hot tub on various streets -including Wellington Street, which runs in front of the Parliament Buildings and the Prime Minister's Office.
Ottawa police said "safety concerns" -- including "aggressive, illegal behaviour" by demonstrators -- are to blame for the "limited police enforcement capabilities." The police had arrested 12 while dispersing the crowd at a blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, a key supply link between Canada and the US.
(With agency inputs)