This headline and information should be of no surprise to anyone who has followed us for the last 2 1/2 years or anyone who even remotely understands our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms reports that, Christine DeCaire was arrested on February 18th, 2022, after the Emergencies Act was invoked. She was charged with mischief, obstructing/resisting an officer, and disobeying a Lawful Order.

A police officer is required to do many things upon arrest, the most important, we’d argue, is the right to speak to counsel without delay. Section 10(b) of the Charter states that everyone has the right upon arrest or detention “to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right.”
There are many cases that exist that have established this, R. v. Bartle, and R. v. Rover, to name but a few.

The process of arresting protestors during the freedom convoy and the subsequent debacle of processing those arrested, should be an embarrassment to every single police officer and police service involved.

They ought to have known that everything they were doing, went against everything they’ve ever known about the Charter.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the Crown Prosecution Manual on the Government of Ontario website in Section D states that, “A charge may only proceed if there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest…..The community relies upon Prosecutors to pursue charges that can be proven while protecting individuals from the serious repercussions of a criminal charge where there is no reasonable prospect of conviction”

So, our question is, why were these charges even pursued? Every officer, not to mention management, should have known that this was a serious breach of individuals rights!

Once again, the government, along with the blind cooperation of the police services, have completely gone against the very document they swore to uphold.

Hopefully every single person charged proceeds with legal action of their own given this unacceptable and serious breach of rights.

To read the JCCF article, click here