Decision says charter rights of protest organizers infringed
People gathered at Halifax’s Grand Parade in February to protest public health measures around the COVID-19 virus. - StaffThe Supreme Court of Nova Scotia allowed the government to infringe the charter rights of organizers of anti-vaccine protests without allowing them an opportunity to defend themselves, and that shouldn’t have happened, according to a decision by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
But those parties were neither informed of the court action against them nor were they allowed to present evidence to defend themselves. Wednesday’s decision was to overrule the province and allow the appeal of the now-dropped injunction by the civil liberties association because it is in the public interest.
“At the time that the injunction application was sought, the province had been monitoring COVID-19 transmission by contact tracing for many months,” reads the decision, written by Justice Duncan Beveridge.