No longer demonstrably justified: An Analysis of Alberta’s COVID-19 Modelling – May 13, 2020

COVID-19 poses a significant threat to the lives of the elderly as well as people of all ages with certain pre-existing health conditions. Nevertheless, the problems and challenges of COVID-19 cannot be reduced only to their physical or medical aspects. Bound up with the goal of reducing transmission and preventing health care system overloads are the equally important questions of Charter rights and freedoms, and the lockdown’s harmful impact on life, health and well-being, including the ability of Albertans to earn a livelihood.

The constitutional question is whether the Alberta Government’s Charter violations are reasonable and “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” This requires serious analysis not only of the purported benefits of the lockdown of Alberta’s society and the economy, but also of its harmful consequences, including adverse effects on human health and well-being. Under the Charter, when governments violate the freedoms of citizens to move, travel, associate, assemble and practice their faith, the onus is on government (not the citizen) to show that freedom-violating measures will do more good than harm.

Read the report: No Longer Demonstrably Justified: An Analysis of Alberta’s COVID-19 Modelling and find out more.