As the demonstrations in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs halted trains across the country for the seventh day on Wednesday, many have questioned the legality of the protests.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government recognizes the “important democratic right” of peaceful protest but said Canada is a “country of the rule of law.”
“And we need to make sure those laws are respected,” he told reporters in Senegal.
Last week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received an injunction to enter a blockade on unceded Wet’suwet’en land, and in the days following, a number of arrests were made.
Since then, protests have sprung up across the country, disrupting not only rail lines but ports and bridges too — a show of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who are protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northern British Columbia.
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Are the anti-pipeline protests in B.C. and Ontario legal? Can protesters be arrested? What laws protect demonstrators in Canada?
What laws protect protesters?
Section one of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees everyone in Canada has the right to “freedom of expression” and the “freedom of peaceful assembly.”
Section two affords Canadians the “freedom of association.”
Cara Faith Zwibel, the director of the Fundamental Freedoms Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said these rights give protesters in Canada “the highest level of protection set out under the Canadian constitution.”
But, according to Zwibel, all of the rights are subject to limits.
“It’s about determining what the limits are and how those limits, whether those limits are reasonable or not,” she said. “That’s kind of where the rubber hits the road, and we start to kind of figure out what police are allowed to do and what private companies that are being picketed may be able to do.”
Under Section 63 of Canada’s Criminal Code, a gathering of three people or more that makes another person fear that they will “disturb the peace tumultuously” or will provoke others to disturb the peace is considered to be “unlawful assembly.”
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Section 31 of the Criminal Code says a police officer can arrest anyone who they deem to has “breached the peace.” The code says an officer can also arrest anyone who — on reasonable grounds — is believed to be “about to join in or renew the breach of peace.”
On Tuesday, Canada’s Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the protests in B.C. and Ontario were illegal because they had infringed upon the Railway Safety Act.
2:06 Pipeline battle splits Wet’suwet’en community
Pipeline battle splits Wet’suwet’en community
Zwibel said there are “all kinds of laws” that may be interpreted to limit protests, but that is very circumstantial.
“Laws like the highway traffic laws that say you can’t block roads,” she said. “But in many cases, a court might find that using a law like that to shut down a protest is not a reasonable restriction on free expression or freedom of peaceful assembly.”
And, while there is guidance from the courts on how to interpret these laws and others, it is ultimately up to police on the ground to determine how to implement them.
“In the moment, if the police decide to take a slightly different interpretation and maybe arrest more people than a stricter interpretation would allow, then the people who are being arrested don’t have much they can do about it, except maybe fight it after the fact,” Zwibel said. “But in the moment, you basically have to comply with the police.”
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Roberta Lexier from Mount Royal University said this creates a “balancing act.”
“The idea is that we’re constantly trying to balance those charter rights and the individual rights with other potential conflicting rights like freedom of movement and also property rights and industrial rights,” she said. “But in general, in a democracy, the idea is that people have the right to protest and that that is a requirement of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.“
Are the B.C. anti-pipeline protests legal?
When asked if the protests in B.C. and Ontario are legal, Lexier said it’s a difficult question to answer.
“People have the right to protest,” she said. “But those rights are limited in particular ways by the government and others.”
She said technically, if an injunction is granted, then protesters are violating the law and can be arrested.
“But the reality is that injunctions are used in particular ways by particular groups to infringe upon more broadly respected democratic rights, like freedom to protest,” she said. “And so it’s really this tricky issue of balancing those kinds of property rights, and the rights of companies in particular, and those rights of free speech.“
1:03 Trudeau says pipeline protests across Canada ‘an issue that is of concern’
Trudeau says pipeline protests across Canada ‘an issue that is of concern’
Lexier said Canada would “definitely” benefit from more guidelines on how to address these “points of contention between different rights.”
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“So, many might say, ‘why does your freedom of speech trump your ability of freedom of movement?’” she said. “And so more guidelines, I think, would help the police on the ground on a case-by-case basis.”
But when it comes to demonstrations, Zwibel said arresting protests should not be a “first resort” for police, especially if other attempts to negotiate have not taken place.
In this case, Zwibel said police should try to determine how they can accommodate those impacted by the blocked roads and railways.
“While at the same time not unduly limiting the rights of protesters and just taking action to step in and make arrests immediately I don’t think would be a way to kind of appropriately balance those things,” she said.
– With files from Alexandra Mazur and The Canadian Press
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
