This letter is written with the upmost respect for the Senate of Canada.

The Senate of Canada’s primary role is to be a complementary legislative body to the elected House of Commons in providing sober second thought. The work of the senate is important, as it allows a second look at the actions of government to ensure all law is enacted in good faith, free from vengeance, vindication and retribution, and ensure the power entrusted to the government by the people are not abused.

The current government is going through the process of enacting the Emergencies Act. The threshold for this act is as follows;

“For the purposes of this Act, a national emergency is an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that

• (a) seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it, or
• (b) seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada

and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.”

I ask of you, do the ongoing protests that are occurring in this country meet this threshold?

1. Are the lives, health or safety of Canadians in danger to such proportions that exceed the capacity of current authorities and laws?
2. Is the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada seriously threatened by these protests, to the extent they can not be dealt with under existing law.
   
   

The anecdotal assessment is that is does not, and far from it. The protests have been well organized and peaceful, almost a carnival like atmosphere. Yes there have been isolated incident of unruly behaviour, but the authorities easily managed these and in many cases with the support of the protesters.

In simple terms, the act was meant to be used for times of war or invasion, where severe conditions exist that may temporarily require the government to exceed it’s legislative authority. This act is being used as a weapon, a bludgeon against working class Canadians, who have largely been ignored over the last 2 years and suffered great hardship. They simply want to be heard. The Prime Minister would not even grant the opportunity to meet to discuss the concerns.

The right to protest is a fundamental protection under the Charter. The Charter is a rule book for governments, guard rails to ensure these protections remain in place.

Protests have been fundamental in shaping this and other free countries world wide. Protests are almost always a minority of the population, but that does not lessen the importance. The Constitution of Canada is not a protection for the majority, it’s a protection of the minority, of the individual, and it has been applied over our history to free people from majority imposed laws that were later found to be unjust.

We, as Canadians, are alarmed at the unfolding efforts by this government to shut down lawful and constitutionally protected protests in this country. The overreach is unacceptable, and the majority of Canadians do not approve. 

We urge the Senate of Canada to reject this effort and restore Canada’s reputation as a free and responsibly governed country, respecting the rights of it's citizens.