Supreme Court of Canada to hear travel ban appeal

The Supreme Court of Canada announced Thursday, April 25, it has granted leave to hear an appeal connected with a COVID-19 related travel ban put in place in Newfoundland and Labrador during the pandemic.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) had joined Halifax resident and native Newfoundlander Kim Taylor in a legal challenge of the travel ban, which was issued as a special measure under the Public Health Protection and Promotion Act on April 29, 2020.

The ban barred all but permanent residents, asymptomatic workers and those granted exemptions from entering the province. It was amended in July 2020 to allow residents of the Maritimes to enter as part of the “Atlantic bubble.”

Taylor had applied to the provincial government for an exemption in order to attend her mother’s funeral. She was originally denied before the province reversed that decision 11 days later.

Taylor and the CCLA argued the travel ban was an arbitrary, unwarranted law that breached Canadians’ fundamental right to mobility within the country. The province argued it was a necessary measure to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and submitted that inter-provincial travel is not a protected right in any case.

Justice Donald Burrage of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court upheld the travel ban, determining it was contrary to Canadians’ protected rights but necessary in the situation.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal denied an application to hear the appeal of Burrage’s decision because the travel ban was no longer in place at that time.

The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which will hear the appeal.