Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this afternoon that the Federal Government has invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time ever.
The PM said the government made the decision to bring an end to the blockades that he adds are illegal and not about peaceful protest.
The Act, which came into force in 1988 and has never been used before, will be used to protect what the government says is critical infrastructure such as border crossing and airports. The act creates time-limited powers that previous did not exist.
Other powers provided under the Act include giving banks the power to freeze accounts of support organizations without a court order and force places such as crowdfunding platforms and other currencies to follow anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.
The Federal Government can also send in the RCMP to enforce municipal by-laws.
