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Police - Constitutional. Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Civil Liberties Association
In Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Civil Liberties Association (Fed CA, 2026) the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a federal AG JR, this brought against "the Federal Court’s finding that the declaration of a public order emergency was unreasonable and that some provisions of the Regulations and of the Economic Order violated the Charter", here where the emergency order was made under the federal Emergencies Act.
Here the court states the allocation of policing responsibility within the Canadian federation:[286] In a federation, provinces should be left to determine for themselves how best to deal with a critical situation, especially when it largely calls for the application of the Criminal Code by police forces. The emergency power (and, with it, the suspension of the constitutional division of powers) cannot be employed to override a provincial government’s decision not to exercise its powers, or to exercise them in a manner that does not conform with the preferences of the federal government. To the extent that a situation is not of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of the provinces, they should be left to their own devices. Of course, the federal government could nevertheless issue a declaration of a public order emergency if the situation seriously threatens its ability to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada, pursuant to the second branch of the national emergency definition at section 3 of the Act.
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