Special Temporary Measures

Before the war in eastern Europe came to dominate the world’s attention, a small protest movement in Canada was capturing international headlines. After a few weeks, the federal government’s decision to implement emergency legislation — to deal with demonstrations against vaccines and other pandemic-related mandates — made the story even more captivating. And because the statute had never been used, many people both here and abroad were learning about this country’s troubled history with emergency powers.

The decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was certainly contentious. The law had been passed in 1988 to replace the War Measures Act, which many Canadians considered over-broad and prone to abuse. That revoked legislation had been called upon twice in peacetime, and historians largely agree that it was unnecessary in both cases — and that it led to widespread violations of rights...