Martin: ‘The right to freedom doesn’t trump the rule of law’

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Freedom of speech is one of the most cherished rights, not only in Canada, but in democracies across the world.

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One need only to look at countries where such a right doesn’t exist to fully appreciate how important it is to a free and democratic society.

But no freedom can be unfettered. The rights of one individual cannot be used to supersede those of others.

The Constitution Act, aka the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, recognizes that.

Section 1 of the Charter places a provison over all the guaranteed freedoms Canadians enjoy, including of conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression.

Heck, it even covers freedom of the press and other media forms of communication.

It states: “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

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For example, the right not to be arbitrarily detained doesn’t prevent police departments from setting up check stops and pulling over people randomly to look for impaired drivers because drunk motorists pose such a risk to general society.

The same applies to peaceful protests against government policy. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association applies to all Canadians, providing they don’t stray into criminal behaviour in doing so.

It’s why Albertans Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick were handed lengthy prison terms on Monday.

The Coutts border blockade in early 2022 in protest of government-imposed restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic caused much consternation among many Canadians.

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Measures such as mandatory masking, business closures and ultimately vaccine passports which allowed some people to enjoy public activities caused much outcry and in hindsight may have resulted in government overreach.

But the pandemic was also unprecedented, and while the measures may be debated for years to come, it can arguably be said they saved many lives.

And for months many protests occurred, specifically in downtown Calgary, which inconvenienced many individuals and businesses as parades of anti-COVID measures protesters conducted regular weekend marches.

None of those, however, involved criminal behaviour, such as the mischief of shutting the border down for more than two weeks causing millions of dollars in economic damages to average Albertans when they could least afford it.

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But more importantly, none involved individuals heavily arming themselves and getting ready for a perceived war.

That’s precisely what Olienick and Carbert did and it’s why Justice David Labrenz handed the two men 6½-year prison terms on weapons charges.

As reported by the Canadian Press, Labrenz said while they believed their cause was just, the court couldn’t condone such criminal conduct.

“Both Olienick and Carbert used the blockade as a last stand against police,” Labrenz said in his sentencing decision in a Lethbridge Court of King’s Bench courtroom where dozens of the offenders’ supporters had gathered.

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“(They) knew they were actively participating in something that was illegal, but they didn’t care because they thought their cause had been worthy.”

Labrenz added: “The law does not allow people to take the law into their own hands. Both men bear a high degree of moral culpability.”

To be clear, these men, and others involved with them, were ready for a revolution in protest of TEMPORARY health measures which have all been lifted.

As the Canadian Press also reported, Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston, in seeking an even higher sentence than Labrenz meted out, cast an even more dire shadow on the protesters’ activities.

“Mr. Carbert and Mr. Olienick believed they were at war. They were prepared to die for their cause. The very real risk is that a firefight would have occurred,” Johnston said.

Those are behaviours one might expect in response to true government tyranny, not the inconvenience of abiding by temporary health measures.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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