We interviewed Paul Jaffe, a veteran lawyer from Vancouver, who has been affiliated with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF). Paul Jaffe had one of the very first cases in the BC Supreme Court challenging the health care mandates, …
We interviewed Paul Jaffe, a veteran lawyer from Vancouver, who has been affiliated with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF). Paul Jaffe had one of the very first cases in the BC Supreme Court challenging the health care mandates, when he represented three Fraser Valley churches who were struggling to stay open, in defiance of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s arbitrary and non-scientific restrictions that allowed big box stores and pubs to stay open, but churches were forced to close or risk expensive fines.
Key Takeaways:
“The Canadian legal system has suffered from the politicization of the courts as the pandemic related litigation indicates. Long story short: the doctrine of constitutional supremacy is on life support.”
“Back in the early 80’s before the charter became part of our constitution, critics of the proposed charter were concerned about the inevitable politicization of our court system … if you put in the hands of these politically appointed judges the power to decide where the government overreach is permissible … it inevitably leads to the politicization of the courts.”
“In the last decade or so, there’s been an increasing tendency by judges to resort to section one of the charter and uphold government infringements of what are supposed to be guaranteed rights.”
“People who speak out pay a heavy price, and it’s abhorrent, to a country that calls itself a free and democratic society.”
“Poilievre himself is of course an impressive guy in many ways, but he is from Ottawa … I don’t think he can do a slash-and-burn on the Feds, which I think is needed, and still survive himself. His constituents are Federal civil servants. Ideally, you would see someone come in there and just take a big hacksaw to a bloated, inefficient and corrupt Federal government.”
“One of the most horrifying aspect of the last few years of history was the lack of any opposition, either provincially or federally to what we saw happening—the closing down of society, the persecution of people whose views were unacceptable … this whole scale massive abdication of what I see is their role in opposition to challenge governments and hold their feet to the fire. None of that took place either provincially or federally, in relation to the measures that governments were taking throughout the pandemic."
