Judicial Review December Update

Dear members and other friends, first an apology for the radio silence for the last number of weeks. Our team has been working on analyzing the Record as the government sees it provided to the Court by legal counsel for the Attorney General and we have had some wonderful volunteers helping us to review over 12000 pages of information and 20+ hours of video.

We’ve also been doing a lot of writing to get some preliminary motions ready for Court. One of the motions is to amend the Notice for Judicial Review in order to:

1) extend the scope of the Review to include the restated orders up to and including the most recent one of July 6, 2022 (the one which continues the proof of COVID vaccination protocol in health and high-risk settings e.g. health and correctional facilities) and

2) clarify the two main branches of our grounds for review:

a) ultra vires; Latin for Beyond The Powers, this is further described as beyond the scope or in excess of legal power or authority;

b) rights violations; ranging from Charter values to Bill of Rights and more

The other Motion is to incorporate the interests of a proposed additional co-Applicant: a Nova Scotian nurse who is unable to work in Nova Scotia due to the ineffective yet ongoing proof of COVID-vaccination protocol.

Both these motions will bring the Judicial Review up to date and in line with the most recent government restrictions and mandates. As of the morning of December 23rd, both motions were officially filed and court-stamped in Yarmouth; this is an important milestone for the Review and for us all as Nova Scotians!

The court hearing will take place early February 2023 in Halifax and we have requested a virtual option for those who want to call in.

The next motion we are working on relates specifically to the Record as the government sees it and we have been given some time by the Court to complete that. In the meantime, we are preparing to share the data received with you so our membership and followers can get an understanding of the information which the Chief Medical Officer of Health had available and upon which he relied to form the opinion that there were reasonable and probable grounds to impose the restrictions and the COVID vaccine mandate. The Record ought to contain the information, analysis, recommendations and reasons underlying the Health Protection Act section 32 Orders and Protocols, including proof of COVID vaccination. We encourage our readers to skim through and be the judge of whether or not the information accomplishes that.

The download link will be sent out along with some instructions and an invitation to submit analyses and interpretations for anyone who is interested.

Keep in mind that downloads of the data from any websites other than CANS and the Nova Scotia Community Network platform (NSCN) cannot be guaranteed to be the full or accurate representation of the information sent by the government.

In other updates, we are seeking to increase our membership; there is strength in numbers and we encourage you to share the CANS website with interested family, friends and colleagues.

We would also like to put a call out for donations and are grateful for any amount that can be spared to help with legal and operational costs. You can donate directly on the website thecans.ca or send an e-transfer to donations@thecans.ca

As always, thank you so much for staying connected with us and supporting the work we are doing!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you all!