(LifeSiteNews) –– Canada’s Supreme Court will decide whether or not COVID-era dictates violated a woman’s constitutional mobility rights by preventing her from attending her mother’s funeral in 2020.
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to rule in the case of Kimberley Taylor from Nova Scotia, who filed a court application on May 20, 2020, to challenge Newfoundland and Labrador’s COVID-era travel restrictions after the province denied her entry to attend her mother’s funeral.
Taylor, along with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), are listed as applicants in the case. The case names as respondents Newfoundland and Labrador and the province’s chief medical officer of health Janice Fitzgerald.
In a September 17, 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Donald H. Burrage ruled that while Taylor’s constitutional right to travel freely was infringed upon, it was justifiable due to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms “reasonable limits” clause.
He noted that “Ms. Taylor’s s. 6(1) Charter right to mobility was infringed, albeit fleetingly, when she was denied entry into the province. Ms. Taylor’s s. 7 right to liberty was not engaged,” adding, that the “infringement of Ms. Taylor’s right to mobility was demonstrably justified under s. 1 of the Charter in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Taylor, along with the CCLA, are asking the Supreme Court to appeal Burrage’s decision. The top court evaluated the application on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Taylor and the CCLA are asking the court to see if Burrage’s decision, which was based on section 6 of the Charter on mobility rights, was fair and applicable.
Burrage wrote that Taylor’s rights were not violated as per section 6(2) (a) of the Charter. This section reads that citizens as well as residents can “move to and take up residence in any province.”
However, the judge said that this provision is only valid when one is moving to another province, and not for travel.
The CCLA says the case is important for Canada as it could decide whether the nation’s Charter’s mobility rights extend absolutely to interprovincial travel.
As it stands, Canada’s Supreme Court will only accept an appeal if it deems the case to be of “public significance.”
Interestingly, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador also wants to appeal Burrage’s decision, not because it agrees with Taylor and the CCAA but because it believes the Charter’s mobility rights only apply to international movement.
COVID jab mandates, which also came from provincial governments with the support of the federal government, split Canadian society. The shots have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects, such as death, including in children.
