Canadian Law and Policing
CANADIAN LAW AND POLICING
Consider the following Oath of Office for Ontario police:
“I solemnly swear (affirm) that I will be loyal to Her Majesty the Queen and to Canada, and that I will uphold the Constitution of Canada and that I will, to the best of my ability, preserve the peace, prevent offences and discharge my other duties as (insert name of office) faithfully, impartially and according to law.
So help me God.” (https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/100268)
The Canadian public relies on the protection that law enforcement gives, protection from criminals who would rob, fraud, vandalize, hurt and even kill their fellow Canadians. Good governance, peace-keeping patrolling and just legal action is something that Canadians have come to expect, since we are promised rights and freedoms in our Charter of Rights And Freedoms and our Canadian Bill of rights.
Even though we have rights and freedoms given to us in our Charter of Rights And Freedoms and in our Canadian Bill of rights, many of us are becoming more and more disturbed when we see our authorities acting in contradiction to these very rights and freedoms. Canadians don't just want our rights and freedoms on paper, we want to actually have them so that we can live them out.
The Canadian Charter of Rights And Freedoms contains different types of rights and freedoms. It includes Fundamental Freedoms, such as “(a)freedom of conscience and religion;(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association.” (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html)
It includes Democratic Rights, such as the right to vote.
It includes Mobility Rights such as “Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.” (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html)
It includes Legal Rights, such as “Life, liberty and security of person” and limitations on arrest, detention, penalization, etc.
What about our Canadian Bill of Rights? What does that give to us?I am not a legal authority. My understanding is that the Canadian Bill Of Rights applies to federal law but not necessarily to provincial law. We read in its official writing:
“ It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
(d) freedom of speech;
(e) freedom of assembly and association; and
(f) freedom of the press.” (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-12.3/page-1.html)
Canadians have these rights on paper but all too often, it seems that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. In order to have our rights and use them too, we need police who will discharge their duties faithfully, impartially and according to law.
The Canadian public is shocked at how policing has been used in recent years. We thought that law enforcement was there for the common citizen to protect his or her life, liberty and security of the person. We thought that law enforcement and the legal system was there to protect the fundamental freedoms of individual people, that they were there to protect our freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and of association, freedom of movement, freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression.
What happened? Canadians have witnessed the weaponization of the legal system. Politicians with liberal ideological bias have disregarded some of our Charted human rights.
We thought that police forces were there to serve and protect the population, but have such purposes have been de-prioritized and such forces re-deployed to other purposes? What are the other purposes? For one, we have seen a huge shift away from protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens to protecting the environment.We now have “Conservation Officers,” who are well-staffed and well-funded for enforcing restrictions on the public.
That is the emphasis, “restricting the public,” rather than “protecting the rights of the public.” Another huge shift away from protecting the rights of the public, towards restricting the public, is Covid Crisis mandate enforcement. There has been a flood of restrictions placed on the common Canadians and even more-so upon unvaccinated common Canadians.
Unvaccinated Canadians have been denied mobility rights and, for some, rights to employment. We have had our freedom of security of the person, freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of thought, freedom of belief, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression attacked and/or violated.
We have seen the repeated arrest and/or penalizing of Christian pastors or Christian believers for holding services and/or for speaking our sacred beliefs on Biblical ethics. Liberal minded politicians are sometimes offended by our sacred beliefs and by our claims to our Bill of Rights and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
What is our response? Without being bitter or aggressive, we need to speak up and hold our politicians, judges and police accountable. I am advocating for peaceful, non-violent protest and action here.
1)Liberal and leftist politicians need to be voted out of office before they do any more harm than they already have.
2)The harassment of Christian clergy and Christian believers must not be tolerated anymore and instead, that harassment should be criminally prosecuted.
3)Covid restrictions must be dropped.
4)Any attempt to mandate vaccinations must end for they are a violation of the security of the person and a fundamental violation of inalienable, international human rights.
There is a difference between mandates and laws. Laws come about when a body of government, in Canada, the House of Commons (which was elected by the people to represent the wishes of the people) vote it into being and then a Senate approves it. This is a drawn out process that usually involves debate and that is accountable to the public who votes into office those MPs. Mandates are rules that individual Premiers or other authorities just make. Canadians are upset when mandates are treated with greater legal weight than laws or even our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We want to see policing protect freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association and freedom of the press and internet. We want to see the law protect our right to refuse unwanted medical interventions into our own bodies.
Where there are instances of policing going over the line, we need to stand up, in a gracious but firm way, to the mistreatment. They need to know that we take our rights and freedoms seriously, those fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion, expression and association. They need to know that we take our security of our own persons seriously. They need to know that we will hold to our sacred beliefs. We will stand for them in a peaceful, non-violent way.
In fairness, not all overstepping is with malicious intent. There are many, many good and honourable police. Now that the mandate crisis is mostly behind us, we all need to re-focus. We need just policing that goes after criminals who would rob, fraud, vandalize, or hurt their fellow Canadians. Canadians are upset if they see a deficiency here and at the same time see policing being turned on the good citizens of this country instead. We are upset when policing is turned on “soft targets” like business owners, pastors, ministers and common citizens who are minding their own business. More and more, common citizens are standing up and objecting to police enforcement that has gone over the line. Thank you to every officer who has been an example of serving within the lines and who do serve and protect the common Canadian. You are needed more than ever before.
Shawn Stevens