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Alberta union seeks to challenge Bill 1 amid Coutts blockade backlash

Last Updated Feb 11, 2022 at 2:51 pm MDT

(CityNews Image)

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) wants to go to the Supreme Court to fight the law that criminalizes disruptive protests.

The Critical Infrastructure Defence Act was brought into effect in June 2020 in response to protests that blocked rail lines and pipeline development. Many have been calling for Bill 1 to be used now against the ongoing blockade at the Coutts border crossing.

The union says the bill seems to only apply to people the government does not agree with, given the fact it has not been used against those impeding travel at the border.

“Alberta government leaders have spoken at length about using Bill 1 against environmental protests and have a track record of attacking unions and workers,” said AUPE President Guy Smith.

 

“The fact that the government and police waited so long to charge anyone under Bill 1 during the border protests at Coutts and aren’t using the act to shut down the protests entirely suggests that this will be a law that is imposed only on those with whom the government does not agree.”

Cameron Alexis, the CEO of Tribal Chiefs Ventures, says the lack of action taken by the government gives a bad impression.

“The Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, it appears, was created as a racist in the province of Alberta by the UCP government to perhaps sequester Indigenous populace,” he explained.

Alexis says the blockade is harming the economy and believes the bill was only created to criminalize protests against pipelines.

“You have trucks ramming through barricades, police barricades, if that happened with Indigenous nations, I’m quite confident that the situation would be dealt with differently.”


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In December, the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected a challenge from AUPE and the union hopes the country’s top court will agree to hear its claims. The Court of Appeal said AUPE had no grounds to challenge it because nobody had been charged yet.

Similarly, AUPE lawyer Patrick Nugent said the union supports peaceful protests and it appears the aim of the bill is to silence critics of the government after it was introduced in response to environmental demonstrations.

“AUPE believes that peaceful protesting is a cornerstone of our democracy and that the aim of the government is to use the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act to silence opposition to its policies,” Nugent added.

CityNews reached out to the UCP government for comment on the controversy. A statement from the province says the government is clear in its belief that “these blockades need to end, period.”

“Blockading critical infrastructure like highways is against the law, and Alberta has given the RCMP the tools they need to end the blockade, including the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act,” the statement said.

“However, operational and enforcement decisions are the purview and responsibility of the police.”