The Attorney General (AG) has signalled its intent to file a motion in Federal Court to have a lawsuit seeking damages for the COVID-era travel vaccine mandate dismissed.
Lawyers for the AG filed their notice on July 2, arguing that some charter rights weren’t breached by the measure.
Businessmen Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickard filed their second lawsuit against the minister of Transportation and the AG in November 2023, seeking $1 million each in damages for the alleged violation of their charter rights.
Their action followed a loss at the Federal Court of Appeal weeks prior with regard to their initial lawsuit against the travel mandate. The appellate justices upheld the lower court’s decision, which ruled their case was “moot” since the mandate has been repealed.
While the AG has filed a motion to strike Mr. Harrison and Mr. Rickard’s second lawsuit, government lawyers said they would allow the plaintiffs to amend their statement of claim to indicate whether or not they’re Canadian citizens, as it relates to section 6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Section 6 pertains to mobility rights and states under point 6(1) that “every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.”
“The Plaintiffs have failed to plead the necessary elements of a section 6(1) claim and have not disclosed a reasonable cause of action with respect to section 6(1),” the notice says.
The AG’s motion also states the mandate did not violate the rights protected in sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
Section 7 relates to the right to “life, liberty and security of the person,” while section 15 protects against discrimination along different lines such as race and sex.
The AG argues that section 7 “does not confer protection for the ability to travel by federally regulated means of transportation.” It adds that a Ministerial Order that requires an individual to make a choice “does not undermine the liberty interest.”
Government lawyers added that vaccination status is not a recognized ground for discrimination under section 15.
“It is not contrary to section 15 of the Charter for individuals to be treated differently based on their choice whether or not to be vaccinated,” they wrote.
Allegations
Mr. Harrison and Mr. Rickard have claimed their rights were violated “as a result of government decision-making and conduct that was rooted in negligence, bad faith and willfully blind to the absence of scientific evidence or disconfirming scientific evidence regarding the role, and, in particular, the unknown efficacy, of Covid-19 vaccination in reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission and infection within the transportation sector.”The federal government brought in a travel vaccine mandate on travel by air, rail, and some marine vessels in the fall of 2021.
The mandate was suspended in June 22, with Ottawa saying it could be reinstated if needed.
