Introduction

The first cluster of articles address critical issues around the threshold for declaring an emergency. Definitions create thresholds and thresholds yield power, so such questions are central to maintaining the rule of law in emergency conditions. Notably, a crucial issue before the POEC was the definition of “threats to the security of Canada.” Currently, the Emergencies Act borrows this definition from section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (CSIS Act). A great deal of testimony before the Commission turned on the question of the interpretation and appropriateness of using the CSIS Act definition in the Emergencies Act context, and ultimately, the POEC Final Report recommended Parliament decouple these Acts. Whether this is the correct course of action is the subject of two articles in this volume.