The former premier said the travel ban is ‘completely against the democratic and Canadian values I love’
“I must show Canadians that I’m so concerned as a citizen, as a former first minister that helped craft this Constitution Act of 1982, that I must take action against my own government. Because they have violated rights that I and others helped craft in 1981 and 1982,”
The last living drafter and signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is the highest law of the land, is suing the Canadian federal government over its travel ban for the unvaccinated.
Former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford, 79, is the main applicant in a case brought against the federal government by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, according to a press release.
“It is becoming more obvious that being vaccinated does not stop people from getting Covid and does not stop them from spreading it,” the former premier said in a statement. “The government has not shown that the policy makes flying safer—it simply discriminates.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rolled out one of the world’s strictest COVID-19 vaccine mandates last fall. By Oct. 30, employees in all federally regulated industries were required to be vaccinated or face termination. Anyone aged 12 and over who wished to travel by plane, train or ship was also ordered to be vaccinated.
“When I heard Prime Minister Trudeau call the unvaccinated ‘racists,’ ‘misogynists, ‘anti-science’ and ‘extremist,’ and his musing, ‘do we tolerate these people?’ it became clear he is sowing divisions and advancing his vendetta against a specific group of Canadians,” Peckford continued, referencing a resurfaced interview with Trudeau from September 2021.
“This is completely against the democratic and Canadian values I love about this country,” he said.
