The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the 2021 COVID-19 gathering restrictions violated the Charter right to peaceful assembly. Former MPP Randy Hillier, charged for hosting protests against the restrictions, successfully appealed a previous dismissal of his challenge. Justice Lauwers emphasized that peaceful assembly is fundamental to democracy and criticized the earlier ruling for failing to accommodate this right. He pointed out the inconsistency in how the province tailored restrictions for religious gatherings while ignoring the right to protest, highlighting the importance of constitutional rights even during crises.
He also noted that Ontario managed to come up with more tailored restrictions on religious gatherings in order to facilitate freedom of religion, but "no such tailoring was performed to facilitate the right to peacefully assemble."
Justice Peter Lauwers wrote that peaceful assembly and political protest are "integral to a functioning democracy," and that the effect of shutdown and stay-at-home orders was to "stifle" assemblies protesting those bans.
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