By John Carpay
Corrupted by Fear
How the Charter was betrayed — and what Canadians can do about it.
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About the book
As Canadians, we depend on our courts to protect us when the government violates our Charter rights and freedoms. After extensive Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates, many are left wondering how such violations could go unchecked.
How is it that we still don’t have clear explanations as to why judges preferred the evidence of the government over the evidence of citizens fighting for their Charter freedoms?
All Canadians, regardless of their views on the pandemic, should be concerned about courts repeating media narratives in their judgments, seemingly turning a blind eye to the violations of human rights, and failing to consider the real harms suffered by people.
Corrupted by Fear reviews, through the eyes of analyst John Carpay, the evidence before courts in Charter challenges to Covid lockdowns. Carpay explains how harsh measures that turned our world upside down were not subjected to proper scrutiny. He explores crucial lessons Canadians can learn from history, particularly the collapse of democracy and human rights into fascism in Europe in the 1930s.
Read Chapter 16: The Fascist elements of the lockdown regime
From readers
“Corrupted by Fear is an infuriating book. Not because the author is wrong but because he is right about the disastrous and self-satisfied way Canada’s governing institutions, and especially the judiciary, failed us over Covid lockdowns. It is painful to read and remember, but dangerous to ignore.”
Dr. John Robson
Academic, author, and Executive Director of the Climate Discussion Nexus
“This is a first-of-its-kind book that critically and systematically examines the Covid era in Canada when policies seem to have been driven by fear instead of rational and scientific planning. Anyone who cares about the relationship between the State and its citizens should read this book. John Carpay provides a clear and cogent analysis of the legal challenges Canada faced for almost two years, and presents ideas on how to be better prepared for the next fear-driven crisis.”
Dr. Moin Yahya
Faculty of Law, University of Alberta
"Many Canadians appear to believe that their governments are benevolent, that they act in good faith, and that they have the best interests of the people and the country at heart. Covid taught us that this belief is false. Covid’s bitter lesson is that we have been played by our ruling elites: our political leaders, our technocrats, our academics, and especially our legal profession. Corrupted by Fear is a damning indictment of Canada’s polite society and the chattering classes who run it."
Bruce Pardy
Faculty of Law, Queen’s University
"Never has a book been more eagerly anticipated than John Carpay's Corrupted by Fear. Unfortunately, no individual or group had the resources to secure legal counsel to pursue justice, except for John Carpay and the Justice Centre, who stepped in when few others would. It was a legal battle that involved navigating an inhospitable judiciary, media, and government that upheld a narrative dismissive of the justice owed to those standing at the bar. Now, we have the opportunity to understand what transpired behind the scenes in this powerful and compelling account of legal failures that imposed further hardship on those already suffering."
Dr. Barry W. Bussey
First Freedoms Foundation
"Government actions in response to Covid were undoubtably the most egregious violations of fundamental constitutional freedoms in the 150-year history of our country. Opposing those violations became a punishable offence with some alleged violators still incarcerated, and others still being persecuted in never-ending court trials. Corrupted by Fear serves as warning that those fundamental freedoms continue to be under attack."
Gwyn Morgan
CEO and Founder, EnCana Corporation
"John Carpay was a tireless and courageous voice against the tyranny of government Covid measures during the pandemic. He has now produced a riveting and well documented explanation of what happened, why it happened, and most importantly—how we can prevent it from ever happening again. “Corrupted By Fear” is a must-read for every Canadian who cherishes liberty, the rule of law, and honouring the promises made to all Canadians by the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms."
Leighton Grey
Named one of Canada's Top 50 Lawyers
"Corrupted by Fear by John Carpay is a brilliant and passionate analysis of Canada’s catastrophic management of Covid. In chilling detail, Carpay documents our nation’s decline into a pernicious form of modern fascism with unbridled power of the administrative state. For Canadians who value our enlightenment values, you will cherish this book and want to share it. Anyone who reads it will be disturbed at first but ultimately empowered with hope and motivation so that this travesty never happens again."
David Leis
President and CEO, Frontier Centre for Public Policy
"The most important thing to take away from Corrupted by Fear is that Canadians have put far too much faith in institutions and rules as the bulwarks of their freedom. Those things are important, but they cannot substitute for an informed citizenry imbued with a deep sense of both the centrality of freedom to human flourishing and the certainty that protecting that freedom falls first of all to them and no one else."
Brian Lee Crowley
Managing Director and Founder, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
“John Carpay has written a concise and well-researched expose of the authoritarian excesses of Canada’s Covid policy and the judicial response to anyone who challenged it. While some will disagree with the comparisons made to twentieth-century fascist regimes, no one should be complacent about the lessons of this country’s largely unsatisfactory and in some respects sinister response to the pandemic.”
Conrad Black
Acclaimed publisher and historian
"It's a national nightmare we'd probably rather forget, but the years of Covid-era tyranny are bound to repeat themselves unless we learn the lessons of our history. John Carpay's brilliant expose of how government overreach and a complicit judiciary destroyed lives and livelihoods and shattered trust in institutions is paired with the blueprints for rebuilding a Canada that is, once again, the True North, Strong and Free."
Peter Stock
President, Home School Legal Defence Association
"Most of Canada’s self-described civil liberties advocates hid under their desks during the bonfire of the pandemic. John Carpay and the Justice Centre were one of the first (and one of the only) to warn of the authoritarian tidal wave that was about to crash over our country. And more than just warning us about it, John fought it tooth and nail, and at great personal cost."
Ezra Levant
CEO and Founder, Rebel News
"Corrupted by Fear is a powerful indictment of how fear can be weaponized by governments to trample on civil liberties - a lesson Canadians must heed. John Carpay's deep dive into historical and contemporary abuses of power underscores the urgent need for vigilance in defending the freedoms guaranteed by our Charter. For anyone who cherishes liberty and the rule of law, this book is a wake-up call and a blueprint for resisting tyranny."
Scott Hennig
President and CEO, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
"As someone who stood alongside fellow Canadians in Ottawa to defend our fundamental Charter rights and freedoms, I found this book to be an essential and timely read. John Carpay's thorough analysis resonates deeply with those of us who witnessed firsthand the unprecedented challenges to our civil liberties. The book articulates what many of us experienced but perhaps struggled to express.”
Chris Barber
Key activist in the Freedom Convoy
"I heartily endorse Corrupted by Fear. This book is an excellent compendium of evidence against one of the largest disinformation campaigns conducted by governments in human history. It details how every previously trusted institution corruptly supported governments’ propaganda, resulting in an unfounded Pandemic of Fear.”
Dr. Roger Hodkinson
Fellow, Royal College of Physicians
"John Carpay’s epic research is fast becoming the go-to reference for those who value truth over emotion. Neither a Covid denial nor a “vax attack,” it is a “facts attack” that meticulously catalogues a horror story of global and local media and governmental collaboration that swept too many justices from their historic constitutional moorings. With echoes of “never again,” John Carpay concludes with some must do’s that just may prevent another epidemic of lost freedoms – if we “fear not” to speak up."
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Former Alberta cabinet minister and federal Opposition Leader
"John Carpay’s summary of the tyranny of fascist Germany demonstrates how similar were the actions of our Canadian governments. Corrupted By Fear reveals that our “all too human” judges, doctors, journalists and others failed us miserably. These are important lessons if Canada hopes to recover from the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms and become a free and law-abiding country again."
Ted Kuntz
President, Vaccine Choice Canada
“Corrupted by Fear is must-read material for anyone wanting to understand how Canada descended into tyranny in response to Covid, but also wishing to find hope in the continuing aftermath. John Carpay explains the triumph of ideology over rationality and the rule of law. Finally, John Carpay describes the freedom movement, still a work in process, which arose in response to Covid tyranny and provides thoughtful suggestions for the way forward, as well as reasons for optimism."
Brian Heck
Retired lawyer, Alberta
"John Carpay begins by reviewing the nature and character of twentieth-century fascist regimes in Europe. This inclusion is an appropriate backdrop of what could happen, and does happen, to civil liberties when governments wield unchecked power. Hopefully, however, future historians and legal minds will reflect upon the Canadian Judiciary's explicit cooperation in the wholesale degradation of Canadian society and law during the era of Covid lockdowns. This is likely a tall order to achieve, but voices like John Carpay's are needed so that this teachable moment is not lost to history."
Robert Donick
Lawyer and entrepreneur, British Columbia