1 week Ago By Postmedia News
Article content Some recent court decisions related to COVID-era restrictions raise questions about just how much overreach there was in implementing lockdowns during the pandemic. Earlier this month, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were found guilty of just two charges out of a combined total of 13 charges. They were found not guilty of four and had others stayed in relation to the truck convoy that tied up downtown Ottawa in 2022.
In another case, the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned a lower court’s decision, saying provincial restrictions on gatherings that prohibited peaceful protests in Ontario for several weeks during the pandemic were unconstitutional. The case involved former provincial politician Randy Hillier, who had originally faced dozens of charges related to protests across the province. “The effect of the ban in this case was to stifle assembly aimed at expressing collective opposition to the ban itself,” the appeal court said.
A lower court had said that while the restrictions did violate his right to peaceful protest, they were justified and, therefore, constitutional. These court outcomes point to overreach in the implementation of lockdowns during the pandemic and a heavy-handed response by authorities in enforcing rigid bans. We have not had an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, despite this country having some of the longest and most restrictive lockdowns in the Western world.
In some cities, parks and playgrounds were off-limits. Students in Ontario were out of the classroom for more than 20 weeks, from March 2020 to May 2021. We have yet to see a comprehensive study on how this affected the outcomes for students.
Anecdotally, parents and educators will tell you the prolonged absence from schools had a profound impact on young people. They didn’t just fall behind academically — the isolation hurt their mental health. How many lives did the restrictions save? How many did they ruin? Now, the courts are saying some measures were unconstitutional and some charges were unfounded.
There will be other pandemics, yet we have no hard data on where this country dropped the ball and what we could have done better. Those who fail to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them. We need to do better and be smarter next time.
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