From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford, and eight others contended citizens’ mobility charter rights were violated, but the case was dismissed because the restrictions are no longer in place.

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal dismissed as “moot” a legal challenge initiated against the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over its COVID jab travel mandates that banned the vaccine free from travel.

The legal challenge was initiated by People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, former Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Brian Peckford, and eight others who said Trudeau’s mandates violated one’s mobility charter rights.

In a judgment issued November 9, Justice George R. Locke of the appeals court, on behalf of two other judges, ruled that the case was “moot for lack of live controversy” as the COVID travel jab mandates are no longer in effect.

“For the foregoing reasons, I would dismiss all of the present appeals,” the judge wrote.

Bernier and Peckford’s lawyers had argued that their case had merit, despite the travel COVID jab mandates being gone, as they could be reintroduced at a moment’s notice.

The appeals court did note that while COVID travel vaccine mandates may be reintroduced in the future, this was “highly speculative.”

Bernier, who was a strong supporter of the Freedom Convoy and did not get the COVID shots, said he was “very disappointed” in the court ruling but vowed to continue the fight against the “unjust” mandates.

“I am very disappointed but not at all surprised by this decision considering the types of slanted questions and comments that the judges made during our hearing a month ago,” Bernier wrote November 9 on X (formerly Twitter).

“I will speak to my colleague Brian Peckford and the other appellants to determine our next step. I will continue to do everything I can to fight these unjust travel mandates and make sure they are never implemented again.”

In February 2022, Bernier, along with Peckford, and eight others filed a court challenge to COVID mandates in place at the time that banned the vaccine-free from air travel. Bernier and Peckford had the help of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

The legal challenge made headlines as Peckford is the last living signatory to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which came into force in 1982.

In November 2021, the Trudeau government introduced COVID jab travel mandates, which remained in place until June 2022.

In October 2022, the Canadian federal court ruled Bernier and Peckford’s and the others court case as “Moot” in light of the federal government dropping COVID mandates in the same month.

Later, in April 2023, Bernier and Peckford, with the help of the JCCF, along with the others in the case filed an appeal in the “mootness” ruling.

JCCF said case was important as COVID travel jab mandates were a ‘Egregious infringement of Canadians’ mobility rights’

Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa heard Bernier and Peckford’s and the others’ court case. JCCF president John Carpay noted at the time that the case was important as well as unique.

“There has never been a more egregious infringement of Canadians’ mobility rights than what occurred due to the unconstitutional and unlawful travel vaccine mandates,” Carpay observed.

“For the Federal Court to find that it is not in the public interest to determine whether the Federal Government acted lawfully in prohibiting 5 million Canadians from flying across the country and internationally to see family members is a grave injustice that the Federal Court of Appeal ought to remedy.”

In September 2022, Bernier thanked all Canadian “freedom fighters” who protested against COVID mandates of all kinds after a federal travel jab mandate for air travel was dropped.

Bernier, who is a former MP and cabinet minister with the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) before creating the PPC in 2018, was one of the most outspoken politicians against the COVID mandates. He would frequently criticize his former party for not speaking out against the mandates.

Eventually, the CPC under its new leader Pierre Poilievre, but after the mandates had been lifted, began to speak out against Trudeau’s mandates.

A recent bill championed by Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre that would have given Canadians back their “bodily autonomy” by banning future jab mandates was voted down yesterday Trudeau’s Liberals and all other parties rejected it.

In October 2021, Trudeau announced unprecedented COVID-19 jab mandates for all federal workers and those in the transportation sector and said the unjabbed would no longer be able to travel by air, boat, or train both domestically and internationally.

This policy resulted in thousands losing their jobs or being placed on leave for non-compliance. It also trapped “unvaccinated” Canadians in the country.

During the so-called COVID pandemic, Trudeau referred to those who chose not to get the experimental COVID shots as terrible people.

In 2021, Trudeau said Canadians “vehemently opposed to vaccination” do “not believe in science,” are “often misogynists, often racists,” and even questioned whether Canada should continue to “tolerate these people.”