The Federal Court has dismissed an application from 11 Canadians who challenged the Quarantine Act after being fined up to $3,000 for not presenting proof of vaccination upon entering Canada.
In her decision, Justice Avvy Yao-Yao Go said that the argument of whether the charter rights of the applicants were infringed is now “moot” since mask and vaccine mandates have since been lifted.
“The Applicants argue that the Motions Judge erred in finding the Application moot, as there is a live controversy based on the fact that many of them face outstanding fines resulting from the violations of the OICs [Order in Council],” wrote Justice Go in the ruling, which was first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“In my view, the Motions Judge did not err in finding the Application moot on the basis that there is no live controversy between the parties,” she added.
According to the court document, the 11 applicants entered Canada by air or land between April and July 2022 and “refused to comply” with COVID-19-related public health orders, which were ultimately repealed on Sept. 30, 2022. The applicants refused to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or to quarantine for 14 days upon entry, which resulted in each receiving a fine for non-compliance.
Justice Go said while there have been numerous instances “where courts decided to grant declaratory relief regarding a past breach of a Charter or other right,” it was not mandatory. The court added that the quarantine orders were enforced “in an exceptional context, namely a specific point of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In court challenges across Canada, judges have acknowledged that pandemic orders were unconstitutional but said they were justified due to extraordinary circumstances.
When dismissing a 2021 challenge of quarantine hotels, Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton wrote that they could be defined as “detentions,” but said that as in times of war, “pandemics call for sacrifices to save lives and avoid broad-based suffering.”
In January 2022, Brian Peckford, the last living drafter and signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, sued the federal government over its travel ban for the unvaccinated arguing it was “completely against the democratic and Canadian values I love about this country.”
Later in October, the Federal Court struck down the applications of Mr. Peckford and others to challenge the COVID-19 vaccine travel mandates arguing they were considered moot.
On May 30, 2023, a military administrative tribunal ruled that the Canadian Armed Forces COVID-19 vaccine mandate violated the Section 7 charter rights of members who refused vaccination as the policy was “arbitrary” in some aspects and “overly broad.”
