Travel Ban Case
On August 13, 2021, the Canadian government announced that anyone who hadn’t been vaccinated against Covid would soon be barred from planes and trains inside Canada or out of Canada (the “Travel Ban”). The Travel Ban took effect on October 30, 2021. As a result, roughly six million unvaccinated Canadians were barred from visiting loved ones, working or otherwise traveling.
Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickards launched a judicial review that challenged the basis of Travel Ban. Throughout the summer of 2022, parties underwent extensive cross-examination to assess the strength of the evidence that supported the Travel Ban. On June 14, 2022, and in the middle of the 1.5 month cross-examination, the Canadian government announced – out-of-the blue – that they were suspending the Travel Ban. Thousands of pages of evidence was amassed notably that the agents that enacted the Travel Ban had no formal education in public health, that likely a senior official directed that the Travel Ban must be imposed and that days before implementing the Travel Ban transportation officials were seeking rational to support the Travel Ban. Within days, lawyers for the Canadian government filed a motion to shut down the Travel Ban Case on grounds that the case was moot.
View the Examination Transcripts.
In September 2022 the parties went before Associate Chief Justice Gagne challenging the Canadian governments motion that the Travel Ban Case is moot.
On October 20, 2022, Justice Gagne decided (Gagne decision) in favour of the Canadian Government and stated:
these Applications will be struck as moot. The air and rail passenger vaccine mandates were repealed, as have other related public health measures. The Applicants have substantially received the remedies sought and as such, there is no live controversy to adjudicate.
There is no important public interest or inconsistency in the law that would justify allocating significant judicial resources to hear these moot Applications.
Finally, it is not the role of the Court to dictate or prevent future government actions.
Harrison and Rickards have appealed Justice Gagne’s decision (Notice of Appeal) (Memorandum of Fact) arguing that the principle of mootness in the Canadian courts needs to be reviewed and that it is squarely the role of the courts in Canada to hear cases that challenge government policies on the basis of whether they are found to be unconstitutional, discriminatory and egregious. The Attorney General filed the following response to the appeal on May 29, 2023 (AG response)
The Federal Appeal Court will hear this appeal October 11, 2023.
Updates and information
Our Vaccine Travel Mandates lawsuit
Jordan Peterson Podcast
Watch the full length Jordan Peterson podcast here Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent
News Our live interview on GB News in the UK tonight
Live interview with GB News in the UK – August 29th 2022
Rupa Subramanya
Read Rupa Subramanya’s breaking story on Bari Weiss’ Substack. Court Documents Reveal Canada’s Travel Ban..
The Daily Telegraph article which ran in the UK
A lawsuit has shown Canada’s travel vaccine mandate had little to do with science and everything to do with politics
