Proclamation Declaring a Public Order Emergency (SOR/2022-20)

Mary May Simon

[L.S.]

Canada

ELIZABETH THE SECOND, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories QUEEN, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

François Daigle

Deputy Attorney General of Canada

Great Seal of Canada

TO ALL WHOM these presents shall come or whom the same may in any way concern,

GREETING:

A Proclamation

Whereas the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, that a public order emergency exists and necessitates the taking of special temporary measures for dealing with the emergency;

Whereas the Governor in Council has, before declaring a public order emergency and in accordance with subsection 25(1) of the Emergencies Act, consulted the Lieutenant Governor in Council of each province, the Commissioners of Yukon and the Northwest Territories, acting with consent of their respective Executive Councils, and the Commissioner of Nunavut;

Now Know You that We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada, pursuant to subsection 17(1) of the Emergencies Act, do by this Our Proclamation declare that a public order emergency exists throughout Canada and necessitates the taking of special temporary measures for dealing with the emergency;

And We do specify the emergency as constituted of

• (a) the continuing blockades by both persons and motor vehicles that is occurring at various locations throughout Canada and the continuing threats to oppose measures to remove the blockades, including by force, which blockades are being carried on in conjunction with activities that are directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property, including critical infrastructure, for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective within Canada,

• (b) the adverse effects on the Canadian economy — recovering from the impact of the pandemic known as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) — and threats to its economic security resulting from the impacts of blockades of critical infrastructure, including trade corridors and international border crossings,

• (c) the adverse effects resulting from the impacts of the blockades on Canada’s relationship with its trading partners, including the United States, that are detrimental to the interests of Canada,

• (d) the breakdown in the distribution chain and availability of essential goods, services and resources caused by the existing blockades and the risk that this breakdown will continue as blockades continue and increase in number, and

• (e) the potential for an increase in the level of unrest and violence that would further threaten the safety and security of Canadians;

And We do further specify that the special temporary measures that may be necessary for dealing with the emergency, as anticipated by the Governor in Council, are

• (a) measures to regulate or prohibit any public assembly — other than lawful advocacy, protest or dissent — that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace, or the travel to, from or within any specified area, to regulate or prohibit the use of specified property, including goods to be used with respect to a blockade, and to designate and secure protected places, including critical infrastructure,

• (b) measures to authorize or direct any person to render essential services of a type that the person is competent to provide, including services related to removal, towing and storage of any vehicle, equipment, structure or other object that is part of a blockade anywhere in Canada, to relieve the impacts of the blockades on Canada’s public and economic safety, including measures to identify those essential services and the persons competent to render them and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered,

• (c) measures to authorize or direct any person to render essential services to relieve the impacts of the blockade, including to regulate or prohibit the use of property to fund or support the blockade, to require any crowdfunding platform and payment processor to report certain transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and to require any financial service provider to determine whether they have in their possession or control property that belongs to a person who participates in the blockade,

• (d) measures to authorize the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to enforce municipal and provincial laws by means of incorporation by reference,

• (e) the imposition of fines or imprisonment for contravention of any order or regulation made under section 19 of the Emergencies Act; and

• (f) other temporary measures authorized under section 19 of the Emergencies Act that are not yet known.

In testimony whereof, We have caused this Our Proclamation to be published and the Great Seal of Canada to be affixed to it.

WITNESS:

Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Mary May Simon, Chancellor and Principal Companion of Our Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of Our Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of Our Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.

At Our Government House, in Our City of Ottawa, this fourteenth day of February in the year of Our Lord two thousand and twenty-two and in the seventy-first year of Our Reign.

BY COMMAND,