Standing up for my clients' rights as protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a focus of my practice. Respect for the Charter rights of all Canadians is a focus of my concern as a citizen.
Decisions like a series by then Ontario Court Justice of Appeal Michael Moldaver--now one of our Supreme Court of Canada Justices--refusing to exclude evidence in the face of police Charter violations result from a potentially disastrous misunderstanding of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and why it proscribes for the exclusion of unconstitutionally obtained evidence.
The Charter calls for the exclusion of evidence obtained in violation of our rights as its only real means of encouraging a better respect for these rights in the future. When a judge says the state cannot use a seized gun or drugs or stolen property in evidence against an accused, he or she is saying the breach of a Charter-protected right is more of a danger to a free and democratic society than letting a particular accused escape punishment. The judge is not simply protecting that accused's rights, he is protecting our rights. He or she is not freeing that accused so much as he or she is protecting the freedom of all Canadians.
The rights protected by the Charter stop the police from stopping us on the street or coming into our homes on a whim. They prevent the police from stopping us from going about freely in public because they do not like or are afraid of or are suspicious of our religion or the colour of our skin. They ensure we are not humiliated by being searched in front of our children or loved ones because of the mere suspicion we might be up to no good. They recognize our worth and our dignity as individuals.
The protection and sanctification of these rights afforded by this magnificent document hold us together as a society. It gives individuals a reason to believe in society, to honour and fight for it. If we did not have it, and society's agents were free to arbitrarily and unreasonably turn state power against individuals, individuals would have no choice but to turn against society.
What would you think of Canada if the police could stop and search you on a whim and discover materials that indicated you were secretly gay, believed in a religion different from the rest of your family, or had a girlfriend on the side because you still adore and care for your wife but she is too sick to make love with you anymore? What if it kept you from getting to pick-up your child on time, or made your employer think you must be up to no good--or in the wrong political party or part of a fledgling union--and got you fired?
Defending the Charter is my great privilege and passion.
