A Canadian provincial government enacted Orwellian-like emergency powers in the name of fighting COVID that allow for officials to detain or remove people without a warrant and seize personal property at will.
Under new health orders, the Saskatchewan minister may “authorize the entry into any building or on any land, without warrant, by any person in the course of implementing an emergency plan.”
The government is also afforded the power to “cause the evacuation of persons and the removal of persons or livestock and personal property from any area of Saskatchewan that is or may be affected by an emergency and make arrangements for the adequate care and protection of those persons or livestock and of the personal property.”
The new Provincial Emergency Order under The Emergency Planning Act was signed September 13, by Premier Scott Moe. The orders were announced by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.
According to the ministry of health, the new orders are needed to “provide for health system labour mobility through greater flexibility in scheduling and redirecting health care workers to areas experiencing capacity pressures and in the use of supplementary resources.”
The new emergency health powers allow the government to “assume direction and control of the emergency response of a local authority.”
They also give the government the power to “acquire or utilize any real or personal property that the minister considers necessary to prevent, combat or alleviate the effects of an emergency.”