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The Court of Appeal said this was borne out by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s own assessment, and the judges pointed to the fact that although an alternative threat assessment was requested, the Emergencies Act was invoked before it could be completed.

The Emergencies Act defines a national emergency as an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians, exceeds the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it and cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.

The Court of Appeal concluded the government “did not have reasonable grounds to believe that a national emergency existed,” taking into account the wording of the act, its constitutional underpinning and the record that was before it at the time the decision was made.

The judges said the failure to meet the requirements to declare a public order emergency led them to conclude the federal proclamation “was unreasonable” and exceeded the bounds of legal authority.