The Supreme Court of Canada declined Thursday to review two cases challenging a rescinded Covid-19 vaccine requirement for air travellers.
Former Progressive Conservative Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford filed one of the judicial review applications along with five other plaintiffs. People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier brought the second case.
Both cases had been responses to a vaccine mandate implemented by Transport Canada from 2021 to 2022. The federal government announced the vaccine requirement for individuals travelling on planes, trains, and ships in August of 2021, and put it into effect that fall.
The plaintiffs alleged the mandate violated their mobility rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because it effectively barred them from travelling across or out of the country.
The government ended the mandate in June 2022, days after cross examinations in the cases had concluded. The federal court went on to dismiss both cases as moot that fall, and the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the subsequent appeals, ruling that there were no reviewable errors that would allow it to intervene.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for Transport Canada said the department welcomed the SCC’s decision.
“The Government of Canada’s position is that the vaccination mandate that was in place until June 20, 2022 was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as Canada’s obligations in the area of human rights,” the spokesperson said. “Transport Canada’s priority will always be to safeguard Canada’s transportation system, including travellers and workers.”
Pejovic Law lawyer Allison Pejovic, who represented the plaintiffs in both cases, said in a statement, “This case was of paramount importance to all Canadians, and they have been denied the right to know whether the federal government acted lawfully in preventing them from travelling and leaving the country based on their refusal to take a novel medication that failed to prevent transmission of Covid, and that has caused death and serious harm to many people worldwide.”
“Deeming cases challenging draconian emergency orders that harmed millions of Canadians moot damages confidence in the justice system and undermines the rule of law,” Pejovic added.