Former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford.
OTTAWA — The only surviving drafter and signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is suing the federal government for breaching those rights during the pandemic.
Brian Peckford, 79, former Newfoundland premier, is the main applicant in the suit filed Jan. 26 in Federal Court by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. Peckford helped write the Charter in his capacity as one of Canada’s first ministers in the lead-up to the patriation of the Constitution in 1982.
The legal challenge cites violations of Charter rights including freedom of mobility, life, liberty and security of the person, privacy, and discrimination — against those Canadians denied the ability to travel because of the federal vaccination requirement.
Peckford argues that COVID-19 has not been enough of a threat to legally justify curtailing the freedoms enshrined in the Charter, as he explained at length during a Jan. 26 interview on Professor Jordan Peterson’s YouTube channel.
Brian Peckford is the uncle of North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford.
