Governments’ accountability for Canada’s pandemic response

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic—with its wide-reaching social, political, and economic implications—showcases the importance of public health governance. Governmental accountability is at the forefront of societal preoccupations, as state actors attempt to manage the pandemic by using sweeping emergency powers which grant them significant discretion. Though emergency measures have tremendous impacts on citizens’ lives, elected officials and civil society have little input in how governments wield these powers. We reviewed available mechanisms in Canadian private, constitutional, and criminal law and found them to be unlikely sources of much-needed accountability. Therefore, we propose that provincial and territorial legislatures modify public health legislation to expand mechanisms to foster public confidence in decision-makers, and bolster accountability to parliaments and citizens.

The obligation to use face masks in public spaces as a public health measure and permissible limits on civil liberties

“…The Court found infringement of the principle of "fair balance" because "the overarching objective of the court was to strike a proper balance between preserving the accused's fundamental constitutional rights and ensuring public safety within the four walls of the courtroom." The Court of Quebec is supported by the Supreme Court of Canada that had adopted the principle of proportionality as the universal legal criterion for assessing all restrictions introduced by the Canadian public authorities in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic [33].…”