Canadian - COVID-19 Lawsuits

Law firm: Rocco Galati, Constitutional Rights Centre
Applicants: 19 Active and Retired Police Officers in Ontario
Respondents: Attorney General Ontario, 5 Chiefs of Police in Ontario, Ontario Premier and Attorney General of Canada
Argument: Seeking Declarations on Constitutionality of Police Enforcing Covid Measures 

• There are several declarations being sought in this 25 page Application, citing Supreme Court of Canada rulings. A declaration that the covid measures and declarations of emergency do not meet the required criteria and fall out of jurisdiction between powers which the Federal and Provincial governments each have. Declarations of Police enforcement issues which contravene Charter rights.

Full text: Constitutional Rights Centre
Press Conference  YouTube 

RULED:  Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) -  Landmark Ruling Regarding Visits to Loved Ones in Congregate Care 

Barrie mom Pamela Libralesso, wins her right to gain appropriate access to her nearly 15-year-old special needs son during the pandemic. In a 41-page decision, released March 23, adjudicator Jennifer Scott found that the caregiving agency did not carry out its duty to accommodate her son’s specific needs and allow his parents to visit him in his group home while managing the potential safety risk of the pandemic. “Human rights protections do not go away in a pandemic,” Scott wrote.  

Full text:  TorontoSun

RULED:  Burlington Couple Don’t Always Have to Wear Masks in their Condo Building

Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that a Burlington couple can move about their condo building without masks, provided they avoid non-essential areas. The judge also ended a temporary order he imposed when the court case began on March 2nd, which stated the couple could only leave their unit if they wore masks. The couple, Vily Mitrovic, 72, and Zoran Zupanc, 68, who say they cannot wear masks due to medical issues, were taken to court by their condo corporation for not wearing masks in the common areas of 5250 Lakeshore Rd.  “I’m very excited about this,” said Mitrovic, following the ruling. "What’s most important is that I have set an example for others to not be afraid … The law is here to protect us.”

Full text:  Original story - TheStar   

Follow-up story - TheStar  

Final story - InsideHalton

Court Ruling:  CanLII

Law firm:   Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP – JSS Barristers 

Applicants:  Rebel News Network Ltd and Keeane Bexte 

Respondent:  Attorney General of Canada
Argument:   Federal Challenge to the Quarantine Act in respect of Travellers 

• This is a legal challenge to the constitutionality of forced detention at quarantine facilities for travellers.

Full text:  RebelNews 

Law firm:  Dominic Desjarlais, of Desjarlais Avocat 

Applicants:  FDDLP,  Benoit Boisvert and Lily Monier 

Respondent:  Dr. Horacio Arruada, Director of Public Health and François Legault, Premier of Québec 

Argument:  Challenging Declaration of Emergency and Constitutionality of Various Government Measures

• The Foundation for the Defense of the Rights and Freedoms of the People (FDDLP), which is a civil rights group in Québec, filed an application for judicial review to challenge the continuity of the declaration of a state of emergency and the constitutionality of the various measures decreed by the Government of Québec in connection with COVID-19. 

Full text:  PPNSource.com 

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) 

Applicants: 13 individuals 

Respondent:  Federal Government

Argument: Forcible confinement for travellers

• 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.

Update:  April 23, 2021 by the Justice Centre 

• Partial Ruling:  Federal Court agrees isolation hotels violate Charter protection against arbitrary detention, declines to issue injunction.  Full hearing on the constitutionality of quarantine hotels and quarantine facilities is scheduled for June 1-3, 2021

Full text:  JCCF.ca (Update)

Full text:  JCCF.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.  

Update:  May 3-5 2021 Trial by the Justice Centre

•  The Judge reserved his Decision and adjourned the trial to June 7, which will take place in Stony Plain. The Judge will then provide his decision on the Charter breaches and potential remedy. The case still has a further hearing where the Alberta Government will be forced to produce their evidence for lockdowns. 

Update:  March 17 2021 by the Justice Centre

• Crown Prosecutors agreed to withdraw all but one of the Public Health Act offences that Pastor James Coates has been charged with. The Justice Centre expects Pastor Coates will be released from jail in the coming days, without any conditions, pending his May 3-5 trial in Provincial Court.
• The Justice Centre will defend Pastor Coates on one remaining charge of violating an Order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health by challenging the lawfulness of the public health order that he is charged with violating.

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 – Travellers’ 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 firm:  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 – four 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 global 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 of all Canadians based on purely preventative concerns?
3. Are the Applicants' sections 2,7,8,9 and 15 rights and freedoms under the Canadian Charter of 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?
4. Finally, has the Provincial and Federal Government breached their constitutional commitment to promote equal opportunities pursuant to s. 36(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, to specifically (a) promote equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians, (b) furthering economic development to reduce disparity in opportunities, and (c) provide essential public services of reasonable quality to all Canadians? 

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

Full text:   Notice of Constitutional Question, PDF download available below