A constitutional rights group is challenging the federal government’s ability to require travellers to use the ArriveCAN app. The legal challenge, on behalf of 11 Canadians, also questions the legality of forcing unvaccinated travellers to quarantine.
According to a report by CTVNews, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is undertaking the case against Ottawa. Documents it has filed claim that some of the clients were fined “almost $10,000, hefty fines” for not using the app correctly. It says most were ordered to quarantine.
The legal challenge is on the basis that the requirements breach many charter rights, including freedom of mobility, of privacy, of religion, as well as liberty and equality.
The challengers contend that the health minister has “failed or refused to provide evidence that ArriveCan's data collection is legal or secure,” and that the app has been proven to malfunction, with serious consequences for unsuspecting travellers.
“I do think the court should hear these arguments so that Canadians know, so the government knows whether or not it can take the steps it did,” said Eva Chipiuk, one of the lawyers working on the case for the Justice Centre.
She asserts that “the science is not there to defend and justify a 14-day quarantine for unvaccinated people.”
In an indication that the motivation for the case is not money, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is seeking a relatively token $1000 in damages for each of the applicants represented in the challenge. Just a fraction of the fines the Centre says they had to pay.
“If there's laws in place like this without justification, are they lawful? Those are questions the court is going to have to address.”
“Kitchen Sink” Legal Approach Unlikely to Hold Water
At least one legal expert isn’t confident a constitutional challenge of the app will be a success. University of Windsor law professor Richard Moon calls the action a “kitchen sink” approach with so many constitutional violations thrown into the mix.
However, the challenge of quarantine requirements may be different.
“Section 7 of the Charter of Rights provides that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and the right not to be deprived of these except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice,” said Moon.
“The quarantine requirement involves a deprivation of liberty and so the federal government must show that it has good reason to impose such a requirement and this will depend on the available scientific evidence.”
The challengers are awaiting a trial date. Government lawyers have not yet responded with a statement of defence.
