The Justice Centre has released a comprehensive Charter analysis of the BC Government’s violations of Charter freedoms to move, travel, assemble, associate and worship, by way of COVID-19 lockdown measures that have not yet been fully lifted. The report questions whether the BC Government has properly considered COVID-19 within its global and historical context.
Entitled “Benefits assumed, harms ignored,” this analysis addresses:
- the nature of the government’s lockdown measures and how they violate Charter freedoms;
- the BC Government’s Charter obligation to justify these violations;
- the inaccurate claims made about COVID-19 in March and April of 2020;
- the economic harm caused by lockdown measures;
- the relationship between a prosperous economy and the ability to pay for good health care;
- the negative impacts of the lockdown measures on health care; and
- a detailed analysis of the modelling released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Read the report: Benefits assumed, harms ignored: A Charter Analysis of British Columbia’s Response to COVID-19