shockedcanadian
Diamond Member
- Aug 6, 2012
- 43,938
- 42,972
- 3,605
Imagine being an American boot licker supporting Canadian violators of their citizens rights. What would that make you?
I always believe if someone is eager to violate a citizens right today they would be most willing to assist the gestapo or Stasi if asked. Different era, different situations but the outcomes in both nations are the same as long as they have cowardly men willing to violate rights.
Canada has such men (and women) in spades I assure you, it is a national pandemic. From the RCMP and CSIS on down...and the Americans, Japanese and others know it now. There is FAR less interest in supporting a Canadian economy and system that is a de facto unaccountable caste system.
What say you America? Is this what you want for your grandkids?
www.thestar.com
Charter rights violations by officers in Ontario’s major police services persist, resulting in evidence being excluded and people accused of serious criminal offences “walking free,” reveals a report examining more than 600 cases over the past decade.
The report follows up on a 2022 Toronto Star investigation into Charter rights violations by police and calls for Ontario and Ottawa to develop a guide for police chiefs on how to handle the rule breaking, including officers who lie in court.
The continuing cost of police Charter violations — the most common being unlawful searches and seizures and delaying access to legal counsel — is resulting in people accused of serious crimes seeing charges tossed and the undermining of public trust, according to the paper, entitled Unlawful Enforcers: Charter Violations by Major Ontario City Police Services.
“Guns, drugs, reliable evidence of child pornography and breathalyzer test results are being excluded from evidence in trials,” finds the report, authored by Sunil Gurmukh, an adjunct law professor at Western University, and University of Toronto criminology professor Scot Wortley.
“Accused, who engaged in criminal activity,” they write, “are walking free.”
From 2015 to 2025, police in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, York and Durham collectively were called out in court more than 1,000 times for Charter violations in 627 cases, the study found. In seven of every 10 of those cases, accused saw evidence excluded, charges tossed or a reduced sentence imposed.
“Police have a tough job, but they can still get the bad guys without breaching the Charter, and that’s especially the case where officers deliberately violated the Charter or were negligent, or where courts have flagged systemic issues,” Gurmukh said in an interview. “These violations are preventable.”
It’s been four years since a groundbreaking Star investigation, with help from Western University law students, delved into police Charter violations across the country. The Star compiled a database detailing more than 600 serious Charter breach cases from 2011 to 2021 involving police services across Canada. More than a quarter of those cases were identified through Western law school’s Hidden Racial Profiling Project, led by Gurmukh.
Today, with additional cases identified by the researchers in the five Ontario police services, the problems persist.
Systemic issues, such as racial profiling and failing to tell “without delay” an accused that they have a right to a lawyer, exacerbate the problem, the researchers found.
In a qualitative analysis of Peel Regional Police and Toronto Police Service cases over the 10 years, Gurmukh and Wortley identified 11 cases where officers from those services “lied or provided false testimony,” and in all but one of those cases evidence was excluded or a stay was granted.
In 15 cases from those services involving allegations of child pornography, 11 ended in courts excluding “reliable evidence of child pornography from trial because of officer violations of the Charter.”
Findings of racial profiling and “hidden” racial profiling, where race was identified, not raised as an issue but inferred as one, were examined in detail in Peel and Toronto criminal cases over the 10 years.
Eight decisions with expressed findings of racial profiling were identified in Peel. “In every case, the accused was a Black man, and in seven of the eight, the Court described the accused as ‘young,’” found the researchers. And in each of those cases, the Black men were unlawfully detained, arrested and/or searched, resulting in the exclusion of evidence. Four cases of expressed racial profiling were identified in Toronto, and in each case the accused was a Black man and police “relied on a hunch or a pre-text” to conduct an investigation.
The two police services were examined in the qualitative analysis because of the sheer volume of Charter breach cases in those jurisdictions.
The 169-page report by Gurmukh and Wortley is endorsed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Black Legal Action Centre and the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and comes with 14 recommendations, including:
I always believe if someone is eager to violate a citizens right today they would be most willing to assist the gestapo or Stasi if asked. Different era, different situations but the outcomes in both nations are the same as long as they have cowardly men willing to violate rights.
Canada has such men (and women) in spades I assure you, it is a national pandemic. From the RCMP and CSIS on down...and the Americans, Japanese and others know it now. There is FAR less interest in supporting a Canadian economy and system that is a de facto unaccountable caste system.
What say you America? Is this what you want for your grandkids?
Police Charter violations persist years after Star found cops violating rights of accused with alarming frequency: report
The continuing cost of police Charter violations is resulting in people accused of serious crimes seeing charges tossed and the undermining of public trust, according to the report.
www.thestar.com
Charter rights violations by officers in Ontario’s major police services persist, resulting in evidence being excluded and people accused of serious criminal offences “walking free,” reveals a report examining more than 600 cases over the past decade.
The report follows up on a 2022 Toronto Star investigation into Charter rights violations by police and calls for Ontario and Ottawa to develop a guide for police chiefs on how to handle the rule breaking, including officers who lie in court.
The continuing cost of police Charter violations — the most common being unlawful searches and seizures and delaying access to legal counsel — is resulting in people accused of serious crimes seeing charges tossed and the undermining of public trust, according to the paper, entitled Unlawful Enforcers: Charter Violations by Major Ontario City Police Services.
“Guns, drugs, reliable evidence of child pornography and breathalyzer test results are being excluded from evidence in trials,” finds the report, authored by Sunil Gurmukh, an adjunct law professor at Western University, and University of Toronto criminology professor Scot Wortley.
“Accused, who engaged in criminal activity,” they write, “are walking free.”
From 2015 to 2025, police in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, York and Durham collectively were called out in court more than 1,000 times for Charter violations in 627 cases, the study found. In seven of every 10 of those cases, accused saw evidence excluded, charges tossed or a reduced sentence imposed.
“Police have a tough job, but they can still get the bad guys without breaching the Charter, and that’s especially the case where officers deliberately violated the Charter or were negligent, or where courts have flagged systemic issues,” Gurmukh said in an interview. “These violations are preventable.”
It’s been four years since a groundbreaking Star investigation, with help from Western University law students, delved into police Charter violations across the country. The Star compiled a database detailing more than 600 serious Charter breach cases from 2011 to 2021 involving police services across Canada. More than a quarter of those cases were identified through Western law school’s Hidden Racial Profiling Project, led by Gurmukh.
Today, with additional cases identified by the researchers in the five Ontario police services, the problems persist.
Systemic issues, such as racial profiling and failing to tell “without delay” an accused that they have a right to a lawyer, exacerbate the problem, the researchers found.
In a qualitative analysis of Peel Regional Police and Toronto Police Service cases over the 10 years, Gurmukh and Wortley identified 11 cases where officers from those services “lied or provided false testimony,” and in all but one of those cases evidence was excluded or a stay was granted.
In 15 cases from those services involving allegations of child pornography, 11 ended in courts excluding “reliable evidence of child pornography from trial because of officer violations of the Charter.”
Findings of racial profiling and “hidden” racial profiling, where race was identified, not raised as an issue but inferred as one, were examined in detail in Peel and Toronto criminal cases over the 10 years.
Eight decisions with expressed findings of racial profiling were identified in Peel. “In every case, the accused was a Black man, and in seven of the eight, the Court described the accused as ‘young,’” found the researchers. And in each of those cases, the Black men were unlawfully detained, arrested and/or searched, resulting in the exclusion of evidence. Four cases of expressed racial profiling were identified in Toronto, and in each case the accused was a Black man and police “relied on a hunch or a pre-text” to conduct an investigation.
The two police services were examined in the qualitative analysis because of the sheer volume of Charter breach cases in those jurisdictions.
The 169-page report by Gurmukh and Wortley is endorsed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Black Legal Action Centre and the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and comes with 14 recommendations, including:
- The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and the Prosecution Service of Canada create a guide for police chiefs on what to do when their officers are found to have violated Charter rights.
- The five largest police services investigate the cases identified in these reported cases, and going forward call on the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency to handle alleged Charter abuses.
- Track and use reported cases of Charter infringements as an “early warning system” to flag potentially problematic behaviour, and identify where it is happening most, such as within a particular police division.
- In Toronto and Peel, the services and their civilian oversight boards review policies, procedures and training around the Charter violations and systemic issues identified in the report.
Last edited:
