Canadian - Filed, Served and Ruled Covid Lawsuits

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Law firm: Ryan O’Connor, of Zayouna Law Firm

Applicants:  Jason Fielden and Glenn Edwards   

Respondent:  Province of Ontario

Argument:  Constitutional challenge filed against Ontario's organized sports ban 

•  Concerned over their idle kids wellbeing, Jason Fielden and Glenn Edwards are taking the province to court. Like many frustrated at the cancellation of kids’ sports programs, Jason Fielden and fellow sports-dad Glenn Edwards have filed a constitutional challenge alleging portions of the Reopening Ontario Act violate sections 2(b), 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• "The effects on kids has been devastating," Fielden said.  "Depression, anxiety - I know kids with ADHD, sports is their coping mechanism." 

Full text:  TorontoSun.com 

Law firm: Ryan O’Connor, of Zayouna Law Firm

Ruled: Alberta Health Services drops case, pays for Applicants legal fees – Café stays open
In January, Whistle Stop Café defied province’s public health orders and kept their doors open. The Alberta Health Services took them to court, only to drop the cases stating “Upon the easing of restrictions, and given that dine-in services are now permitted, AHS is no longer pursuing compliance of the executive officer order through the Court of Queen’s Bench.” They also paid for the Cafés legal expenses. This sets a strong message for civil disobedience. 

Full text:  GlobalNews.ca 

Law firm: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (Calgary, AB) 

Applicant: Province of Alberta 

Respondent:  Pastor James Coates, Grace Life Church

Argument: Pastor charged and jailed for holding church services

• Pastor Coates was charged with three counts under Alberta’s Public Health Act for holding church services. He refused to sign a bail condition to comply with provincial health orders that violate his Charter freedoms of conscience, religion, expression, association and peaceful assembly. 
• The Justice Centre is appealing the Courts decision to keep him in jail until his May trial date.  

Full text:  JCCF.ca 

Law firm: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (Calgary, AB) 

Applicants: 13 individuals 

Respondent:  Federal Government

Argument: Forcible confinement for travelers

• The Justice Centre has filed legal action against the Federal Government in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declaring to media that Canadians returning from travel will be forcibly confined in hotels at a cost of $2,000 per traveler even though they return in possession of a negative PCR test.
• The Justice Centre first sent a legal demand letter to Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra on January 29, 2021 warning it would sue in Federal Court if the government proceeded with its threat to confine returning Canadians at secret locations, even those who had already tested negative for Covid.
• The Justice Centre represents 13 individual applicants, including Steve Duesing, pictured above, in the comprehensive new lawsuit and is advising dozens more. The non-profit law firm and registered charity has received thousands of emails of outrage from travelling Canadians since the federal government first announced that all citizens, regardless of their reason for travel, would be forced to have a Covid PCR test in order to board an airplane to return to Canada, then be forced to take another PCR test on arrival, and then be forcibly confined for up to three days while waiting for a negative test result, and also be forced to pay $2,000.

Full text:  JCCF.ca 

Law firm:  Rath & Company (Calgary, AB) 

Applicant:  Dominic Colvin of Kelowna, BC - CEO of CannaPharmaRx 

Respondents:  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and the office of the Attorney General  

Argument:  Forced Quarantine at Federal Facilities – Travelers’ returning to Canada

• “The rule of law and the constitutional rights of Canadian citizens and other individuals are not suspended by the declaration of a public health crisis,” the court document states about the latest response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• The court challenge says the latest measures don’t explain the rationale between “the forced quarantine of any individual testing negative prior to the entering Canada” and the fight to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 
• Along with an order quashing the measures, the application seeks a declaration from the court “that the decision of the respondents is an unreasonable, disproportionate, arbitrary and capricious exercise of their statutory power under the Quarantine Act.”

Full text:  News article by CalgaryHerald.com

RULED: Gyms (select few) allowed to re-open to serve clients with disabilities

Kitchener gym, NorthX Fitness, who specializes on serving individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities, brought a legal challenge to Ontario provincial government on January 21, 2021 by lawyer Ryan O’Connor, of Zayouna Law Firm.  They were seeking immediate injunction to suspend the law from applying to it and also challenged the constitutionality of lockdown order.  The lockdown order was amended on February 5 to allow gyms to reopen if they cater solely to disabled Ontarians who have a medical note requiring physical therapy that they cannot receive elsewhere. This was the only amendment that was made on February 5. “Ontarians should not need to go to court in order for the government to recognize their Charter protected rights. These amendments appear to be a direct response to this application. We firmly believe that without litigation, the government would not have amended the lockdown order and would have continued to violate Ontarians’ Charter protected rights,” continued Van Geyn. “The government appears to have accepted the strength of our position, by changing the law along the lines of what the injunction was seeking just two days after CCF was granted intervener status.” said Honickman.

Full text:  Press release by the Canadian Constitution Foundation  

Law firms:  Nirmala Armstrong Law Office, narmstronglaw@gmail.com  (Markham, ON) and  Michael Swinwood, Elders Without Borders, spiritualelders@gmail.com (Ottawa, ON)
Applicants:  Adamson Barbecue Limited and William Adamson Skelly

Respondent:  Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario

Argument:   Notice of Constitutional Question – three questions on the constitutional validity (or applicability) of the Reopening Ontario Act

1. Do the Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments have lawful constitutional authority to unequivocally adopt, adhere and legislate in relation to the international recommendations and guidelines of the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic without oversight and due process?
2. If it is found that the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent emergency measures were lawful despite the lack of oversight and due process, does the Provincial government have constitutional authority under s.91 of the Constitution Act to legislate the suspension of rights and freedoms with criminal law sanctions and dire emotional, financial and health consequences for Ontarians, on matters concerning the health and welfare for all Canadians based on purely preventative concerns?
3. Are the Applicants' sections 2,7,8,9 and 15 rights and freedoms infringed by the implementation and application of the preventative measures as legislated and applied, and if so, is that infringement justified under s.1?

Press Conference:   February 20, 2021 - Adam Skelly video below

Full text:   Statement of Claim, PDF download available below