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Concept
Emergencies Act
Summary
The Emergencies Act (Loi sur les mesures d'urgence) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1988 which authorizes the Government of Canada to take extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies. The law replaces the War Measures Act passed in 1914. It asserts that any government action continues to be subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights.
Under the Emergencies Act, the Cabinet of Canada can declare a national emergency in response to an urgent and critical situation that cannot be dealt with by any existing law, and either is beyond the capability of a province to deal with it or threatens the sovereignty of Canada. Before declaring a national emergency, the federal cabinet must consult with provincial cabinets. In the case of a public welfare or public order emergency where the effects of the emergency are confined to, or occur principally in, one province, the Emergencies Act cannot be used if the provincial cabinet does not indicate that the situation is beyond the capacity of the province to deal with it. Once an emergency is declared, it is subject to confirmation by the House of Commons and Senate.
The Emergencies Act has been invoked only once since it was enacted in 1988, in response to the Canada convoy protest in 2022.
Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP#Recommendations
The impetus for reform of the War Measures Act came in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped Pierre Laporte (the provincial labour minister) and British diplomat James Cross. These events, called the October Crisis, resulted in Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoking the War Measures Act for the first time during peacetime. During the October Crisis, concerns were raised in Parliament about instances of possible abuse of civil rights, and ineffective flow of information from Cabinet to Parliament.
Official source
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